Chinese Emigration to Australia around 1900: A Re‐examination of Australia’s ‘Great White Walls’

Taylor, Antony

doi:10.1111/hic3.12032

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The meeting focussed on the subject of mass Chinese immigration and the threat it posed to the cultural and ethnic makeup of the colonies. 78 This was not the first time for such a conference to take place, even on the topic of Chinese immigration, but due to its timing, was pivotal for the cementing of the further development of immigration policy. The outcome of this meeting was that the colonies agreed that further action had to be taken to discourage ongoing Chinese immigration.…”

Section: Colonial Australia's Ontological (In)securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigration, the “Chinese Question”, and Ontological Insecurity in Colonial Australia

Cherry-Smith

2021

Aus J of Politics History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Existing ontological security studies literature has viewed ontological insecurity as when an actor experiences fear and anxiety, as situationally subjective, and defined by the actor. Drawing from Ronald Laing's categories of anxiety, implosion, engulfment, and petrification and depersonalisation, I argue that these can be applied to actors within international relations. I demonstrate this by exploring how colonial Australia's immigration policies and identity narratives during the late nineteenth century was a response to changes in regional power and the development of ontological insecurity within the politics of colonial Australia. Focussing on how Australia's colonial governments responded to the destabilising potential of a rising China, Australia's colonial governments sought to exercise immigration control within their borders and alleviate ontological insecurity which had been caused by Chinese immigrants. The way that the Australian colonial governments did this was through the implementation of immigration control mechanisms.The settler-colonial state of Australia 1 has previously had long-running national policies in place with the aim to maintain an identity which was an expression of its colonial history, desired community, and perceived place in the world. In 1901, after the British colonies federated into what is now known as Australia, one of the first significant pieces of legislation enacted was what would be known as the "White Australia policy". This series of legislative and administrative measures had the express aim to limit and outright stop immigration from non-English speaking, and later non-European, states. These policies would last seventy-two years, undergo successive reforms, and finally be repealed in 1973 by the Whitlam Labor government. The repeal was due in part to a changing domestic political landscape, with immigrant rights groups and student activism becoming the voice of repeal. However, internationally, Australia risked a diplomatic backlash from regional neighbours and its close allies if the country was to maintain the White Australia policy. The changing domestic and international landscapes, which motivated the successive reforms and the eventual repeal of the White Australia policy, are what led to the policy's initial formation and implementation during the nineteenth centurywhen colonial Australia consisted of British colonies whose governments were led by British subjects.The policies which made up what was termed the White Australia policy did not officially come into existence until 1901, but the policy intent can be traced back to the 1850s. At this time, the Australian colonies saw a rise in immigration, specifically of Chinese workers, coming to work on the Victorian goldfields. Subsequently, there was an increase in resentment towards immigrants, specifically between Anglo-Celtic and

show abstract

Section: Colonial Australia's Ontological (In)securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigration, the “Chinese Question”, and Ontological Insecurity in Colonial Australia

Cherry-Smith

2021

Aus J of Politics History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The resulting desire for greater independence from Britain and a perception that co-ordination was required to control Chinese immigration contributed to the federation of the Australian colonies and passing of the national Immigration Restriction Act in 1901. White nationalist sentiments prevailed in the new Commonwealth, articulated in the cry of 'White Australia', and segregation, suppression and exclusion of non-European groups increased (Taylor 2013). One notable exception where relations between Europeans and Chinese migrants appeared to contemporary observers to be amicable, even convivial, was in the agricultural district of Cairns.…”

Section: The Chinese In Nineteenth-century Australia and The Cairns Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Rural cosmopolitanism at the frontier? Chinese farmers and community relations in northern Queensland,c.1890–1920

Woods

2017

Australian Geographer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the experiences of Chinese settlers in the Cairns district of northern Queensland, Australia, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a potential early expression of a 'rural cosmopolitanism' that has more recently been associated in the geographical literature with contemporary international migration. In contrast to other parts of Australia, where Chinese immigration was associated with mining and with racial tensions and segregation, Chinese settlers around Cairns tended to be farmers and store-keepers, and contemporary accounts hint at a degree of tolerance and cross-community interaction that suggests an early form of rural cosmopolitanism. Moreover, the mobilities and aspirations of the Chinese migrants prefigure those of present-day 'cosmopolitan' migrants, whilst the discourses of anti-Chinese agitators are echoed in the concerns, fears and prejudices of current anti-immigration sentiments. Drawing on in-depth archival research, the paper documents the dynamics, experiences and relationships of Chinese settlers and debates concerning their presence, from the 1880s to the depletion of the community in the 1910s under pressure from anti-Chinese legislation. In so doing, the paper seeks to draw lessons from this historical perspective for our understanding of international migration to rural areas, and for the possibilities for rural cosmopolitanism in the twenty-first century.

show abstract

Chinese Emigration to Australia around 1900: A Re‐examination of Australia’s ‘Great White Walls’

Cited by 2 publications

References 14 publications

Immigration, the “Chinese Question”, and Ontological Insecurity in Colonial Australia

Immigration, the “Chinese Question”, and Ontological Insecurity in Colonial Australia

Rural cosmopolitanism at the frontier? Chinese farmers and community relations in northern Queensland,c.1890–1920

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About