Comrade Ryan, International Trade Unionism and White Australia: Global Communism, Trade Unionism and Empire in Interwar India

Subjects and Aliens: Histories of Nationality, Law and Belonging in Australia and New Zealand

“…We find the rhetoric of citizenship attached in particular to the federation movement. 15 But, in terms of legal status, as Guy Aitken and Robert Orr note:…”

“…However, once across the border, persistent efforts were made to regulate 'second tier' immigrants in order to privilege British families (and British values) in forming the nucleus around which rural and urban communities grew. 15 In the early colonial period, naturalisation law was a key mechanism for controlling non-British peoples once inside the borders through its connection to property rights. Prior to 1866, non-British subjects in New Zealand could not own or inherit property; however, they could gain this right by becoming naturalised.…”

“…14 However, this had not been legislated, and, in any case, any advances were usually delayed by 'administrative obfuscation'. 15 Sastri was one of the Indian representatives at the conference, along with the Maharao of Cutch and Edwin Montagu, the secretary of state for India. Sastri pointed out that while Indian representatives had conceded in 1918 'that each Dominion should be free to regulate the composition of its population by suitable immigration laws', 16 the 'full rights of citizenship' 17 should be accorded to Indians legally settled in the dominions.…”

“…He argues that local authorities were unsure whose authority it was to enforce the National Security Act 1939 (Cth), and that xenophobia and distrust of those who were non-British influenced Australian security policies. 15 Leach suggests that, in contrast with the processes governing the internment of enemy aliens, authorities were careful to 'establish solid cases' before interning friendly aliens. 16 Iyko Day and D. C. S. Sissons examine the internment of Japanese aliens in Australia during WWII.…”

“…The lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the legislative frameworks that surrounded them were shaped by a history of violent dispossession and ongoing processes of colonial oppression that were different to immigrant groups who, while not racially 'white', were themselves also colonisers. 15 Views about hierarchies of race shaped how 'evolved' each of these groups were believed to be.…”