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Assimilation
Policy of assimilation for migrants is introduced. Non-British migrants are accepted on the understanding that they should shed their cultures and languages and become indistinguishable from Australians of British background. This policy continues until the 1960s. -
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federation
Federation of Australia is established. -
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Aboriginal people denied citizenship | White Australia policy | Deportation of Melanesians
The Constitution denies citizenship, franchise and the right to military duty to Aboriginal People, Asians and Africans. Indigenous people are not included in any census nor regarded as citizens, thus excluding them from civil liberties like Commonwealth voting rights, unless, as in South Australia, they already have the vote in State elections. In Queensland and Western Australia Indigenous people are specifically excluded. -
Naturalisation Act
Commonwealth Naturalisation Act acknowledges all naturalised British residents as subjects in the Commonwealth. Applicants from Asia, Africa or Pacific Islands (except New Zealand) are ineligible for naturalisation.
Male Europeans domiciled in Australia are no longer permitted to bring wives or children into the country. -
QLD Aboriginal Protection Act
Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Queensland Aboriginal Protection Act. -
WA Aborigines Act
Western Australian Aborigines Act extends control over reserves and gives wide powers to the Chief Protector who is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under 16. -
Separation of Aboriginal children | German language prohibited
New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board is empowered to remove and apprentice Aboriginal children without a court hearing. This power is repealed in 1940, when the Board is renamed the Aborigines Welfare Board.
Similar policies allowing the removal of Aboriginal children apply in other states and these practices continue up to the 1970s. -
Immigration Act amended | Big Brother movement | Aborigines’ Progressive Association
Immigration Act is amended to allow government to exclude or restrict non-British immigrants for economic, industrial or racial reasons.
Big Brother movement is launched to assist British adolescents to come to Australia as farm workers.
Australian Aborigines’ Progressive Association is formed to oppose New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board. -
Aborigines Act | Battle of Dingbat Flat | Egon Kisch | Anti-Italian Riots in Kalgoorli
Under the Aborigines Act, Aboriginal people can apply to ‘cease being Aboriginal’ and have access to the same rights as ‘whites’.
‘Battle of Dingbat Flat’ – Italians, Greeks and other non-British immigrants are attacked over increasing numbers of southern Europeans moving into Western Australia.
Dictation Test is used to prevent Czech-Jewish writer Egon Kisch from landing in Australia. -
Aboriginal assimilation | High Commissioner for Refugees | Assisted passage concludes
Federal Government convenes Australian Conference for Native Welfare, with every state and territory represented except Victoria and Tasmania, which claim to have no Aboriginal ‘problem’. The Conference officially adopts a policy of ‘assimilation’ for Aboriginal people. -
Aboriginal vote
The Commonwealth Electoral Act is amended to give franchise to all Aboriginal people; that is, it extends the right to vote to Aboriginal people in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.