Module 3: A Sense of Involvement

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Module 3 A Sense of Involvement
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Announcements

• Proposal due Tuesday 25 March
• Proposal cover sheets collect in tutes or from
  our front desk

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Announcements

• On the blue cover sheet, you must state your
  student number correctly 10 digits, no numbers
  to begin with D or Q
• You must also state your tutors name (P Kitley,
  A Allen, Betty Adcock)

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Overview of todays work

• First part of the lecture
• The 1850s and Australias involvement with Asian
  immigrants
• Second part of the lecture
• Australias involvement with Asia in the post
  World War II period

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Module Objectives

• Have a look at page 3.1 in your Study Book
• The objectives listed there let you know what you
  have to be able to do after studying Module 3
• Objective 1 after successfully completing this
  module, you should be able to explain the
  reaction of the European community to Asian
  immigration in the 19th century.

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Our first question

• Why were European Australians hostile to Asian
  immigrants in the 1880s?

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19th Century Immigration to the Australian
Colonies

• Once the supply of convicts transported to
  Australia ceased around 1840, the colonies
  depended on immigrant labour
• Wages and conditions were fairly good
• Workers organisations feared Asian migrants
  would undercut wages and conditions

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Who Were the Preferred Migrants?

• Opposition to Asian and Pacific Islander labour
  was based on economic factors (wages, jobs) in
  the first place
• Opposition was also based on racial issues the
  colonies saw themselves as outposts of the
  British empire, and did not want to be swamped by
  Asians

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The Effect of the Goldrush

• Discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s
  brought great changes to the state
• The population rose dramatically from 76,000 in
  1850 to 538,000 in 1860 - a rise of 700!

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Origin of Immigrants
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Origin of Immigrants
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Origin of Immigrants in Order of Magnitude
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What was the Basis of Anti-Chinese Sentiment?

• Was it a matter of numbers?
• Was it Chinese miners behaviour?
• Was it of their beliefs?
• Was it a racial issue?
• Lets consider each factor in turn

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Explaining Anti-Chinese Sentiment

• Numbers
• Behaviour
• Beliefs
• Race

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A definition of racism

• Racism is the belief in the inferiority of other
  races, and the damming of other persons of
  different racial origins solely on the basis of
  their inherited, unalterable physical
  characteristics.

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Restricting Immigration by Law

• By 1888, laws in all Australian colonies
  restricted coloured immigrants and kanakas
  (Pacific Islanders)

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Restricting Immigration by Law

• With Federation in 1901, The Pacific Islanders
  Labour Act and the Immigration Restriction Act
  restricted immigration using the dictation test
  criterion

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Summary Asian Immigration in 19th Century
Australia

• In the 19th century, Asian immigrants were
  discriminated against on the basis of their
  racial characteristics.
• At the heart of this discrimination was the
  settlers desire to establish Australia as an
  outpost of the British Empire

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Part 2 of the lecture

• Australias involvement with Asia in the post
  World War II period

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Part 2 Overview

• We will look at Australias new interest in Asia
  and the Pacific after 1945
• We want to be able to explain Australias
  reaction to nationalist and communist movements
  in the region after 1945
• We want to look at strengths and weaknesses in
  Australian foreign policy after 1945

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Regional Relations After 1945

• Since 1945, Australia has been drawn into closer
  involvement with the people and nations of the
  Asia Pacific.
• Involvement has not always been positive it has
  involved armed conflict

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Prime Minister Curtins 1941 Statement

• Australia looks to America
• we shall exert all our energies towards
  shaping of a plan, with the United States as its
  keystone

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Australia Supports the United Nations

• In 1945 Australia supported the creation of a new
  international body - the United Nations
• An Australian, Dr Bert Evans became the first
  Chairperson of the UN General Assembly

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The UN, Indonesia and Australia

• On 17 August, 1945 Indonesia declared
  independence from its Dutch colonial masters
• The Australian Labor government supported
  independent Indonesia and represented its case in
  the UN

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Effect of the Cold War on Australias Regional
Involvement

• Labor Party lost election in 1949
• Liberal Coalition governed from 1949-1972
• The coalition was strongly anti-communist
• Coalition rule had a profound effect on
  Australias regional relations

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Fear of Communism Involved Australia in Regional
Wars

• in Malaya in the 1950s
• in Korea in 1950-53
• in Vietnam 1962-72

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Two Sides to the Story of Australias Involvement
in the Vietnam war

• One view Australia was pressured to join the
  conflict by the excessively anti-communist
  policies of the Coalition
• Australia was pressured to join the conflict by
  the United States

• Another view the first point is probably correct
• the second is not. Australia projected itself
  into the conflict

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Fear of Communism Involved Australia in Regional
Diplomacy

• The Colombo Plan, 1950
• The ANZUS Treaty, 1951
• The SEATO Agreement 1954

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Changing Policy Settings ..

• 1967 Nixons Guam doctrine
• 1971 Whitlams Beijing visit
• Kissingers visit to Beijing (the day the Whitlam
  party left Beijing) wrong footed the Coalition
• December 1972 Labor elected to government
• The Australian government recognised the
  government of the Peoples Republic of China

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Reviewing module objectives

• What have I achieved today?
• I can discuss Australias involvement with Asian
  immigrants in the 1850s
• I can discuss Australias involvement with Asia
  in the post World War II period