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European contact
The earliest European contact with Indigenous Australians was by a Dutch ship on Cape York Peninsula. During the 1600's explorers from Portugal, Spain, Holand, Britain and France are recorded as having mad contact with the Australian coast. -
Arrival of the First Fleet
The first of the major migration waves to Australia was the First Fleet of British Convicts. This day is now celebrated yearly as Australia Day, but regarded by some as 'Invasion Day.'
Up to 160,000 migrants were shipped to the Australian colonies. -
Beginning of Free Settler migration.
From 1815 the colony grew rapidly due to free settlers from Britain and Ireland and new lands were opened to farming. Settlers were attracted to Australia by the prospect of a new life for very small costs. Many settlers occupied land without authority; they were known as squatters and became the basis of a powerful landowning class. -
Federation of Australia
The 6 separate colonies of Australia were federated to become the states of the Commonwealth.
Fiji and New Zealand were originally part of the process but decided not to become states. -
Immigration Restriction Act 1901
Limited Immigration to Australia and would form the basis for the White Australia Policy. The policy granted a high amount of discretion to Immigration Officers, with the most important point being the requirement of an entrant to sit a dictation in any European language, not just English. It also excluded certain classes of people. -
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World War I
World War I -
WWII Begins
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Period: to
WWII rages across Europe, then the world.
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WWII ends
The devastation in Europe, North Africa and Asia folowing 6 years of war resulted in large numbers of ex-servicemen, refugees and young-people being resettle in Australia. This was an important chapter in Australia's immigration. -
Establishment of Federal Immigration Portfolio
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Gold Rush
The Gold Rush stimulated migration as people came to Australia insearch of riches. The Chinese became the largest non-British migrant group.
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Click here to view a story from the Victorian Museum about Chinese immigration to the Victorian gold mines. -
The Racial Discrimination Act
The RDA made racially based discrimination illegal and over-rode any state laws that rejected this view. Important aspects were that it became illegal to discriminate in employment, promotion, training or buying or renting a house, buying or applying for something, seeking assitance from government offices, lawyers, doctors and hospitals, accessing venues and advertising jobs on particular racial requirements.
Other sections were brought into law on 31 October 1975. -
Arrival of first Vietnamese boat people
The first boat of Vietnamese refugee's arrived in Darwin harbour carrying just five people. Contrary to popular belief only 2000 refugess' arrived by boat. The majority of Vietnamese refugees were processed in South-East Asian. Vietnamese now represent 1% of the total population.
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Click here to view this story online from The Age -
1976 Census Population
This was the largest census yet undertaken in Australia but due to budget cuts was never fully processed. The population was recorded at: 12,755,638 -
Beginning of Mandatory Detention as a policy.
Mandatory detention laws were introduced by the Keating Labor Government following an influx of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Chinese refugees in the previous years -
1996 Census Population
The Australian population was recorded as being:
17,892,423 -
2001 Census Population
The Australian population was recorded on Census night as being:
18,972,350 -
Greek population of Melbourne
The recorded Greek population in Melbourne at the time of the 2001 census was considered to be the largest community of Greek's living outside of mainland Greece.
The city has long been associated with Greek culture and this contributes to economic trade between the two countries -
Failed Border Protection Bill 2001
Click here to view an online story at SMH about the Tampa Affair<p><p>Following the Tampa affair the government attempted to enact retroactive legislation that would allow the government to remove any ships from Australian waters and deny any asylum claims from those on board. The bill was rejected by the Senate and lead the government to excise coastal islands from the migration zone, eg. Christmas Island.This meant that those who failed to make it to the mainland and ended up on one of these islands could not claim refugee status. -
Cronulla Riots
Click here to read a story online at Sydney Morning HeraldThe Cronulla riots were a serious of racially motivated riots and violence over the course of a few days. then spread into other suburbs. The riots damaged Australia's international reputation and other countries issued travel warnings. They also highlighted issues of white-racisim and tensions towards growing middle-eastern communities in Sydney. Many arrests were made on both sides. -
2006 Census Population
The census put the population at 19.9 million.
Nearly 25% of people living in Australia were born overseas with 45% having at least one parent born overseas.
Of those born overseas:
UK 25.3%
New Zealand 8.8%
China (excluding the Special Autonomous Regions and Taiwan) 4.7%
and Italy 4.5%. -
Number of African migrants cuts
Immigration minister Kevin Andrews announced that the number of Africans granted humanitarian visas will be cut from around 70% to 30%. He cited difficulties with integration as the reason.
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Click here to view this article online at The Age -
Villawood Detention Centre Protests
A Fijian asylum seeker took his own life at Sydney's Villawood Detention centre after hearing her would be deported. Afterwards other detainee's protested by taking the the roof. <p><p><p>
Click here to view a story by ABC's hack -
The Key of Sea
11 Australian bands and muso's have collaborated with muscians from refugee or migrant backgrounds to produce the Key of Sea of album to be released in November. It is about bringing ideas and musical genres together. It seeks to express the experiences and persepctives of migrants and refugee's while showcasing cultures.
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Click here to visit the Key of Sea website
