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Journal ArticleDOI

The Significance of the Northern Territory in the Formulation of ‘White Australia’ Policies, 1880–1901

Natalie Fong1
25 Sep 2018-Australian Historical Studies (Routledge)-Vol. 49, Iss: 4, pp 527-545
TL;DR: The economic motivations for the formulation of Australia's 'White Australia' policies were expressed by contemporaries and have been discussed by scholars as mentioned in this paper. But what is worthy of further attention is the s...
Abstract: Economic motivations for the formulation of Australia’s ‘White Australia’ policies were expressed by contemporaries and have been discussed by scholars. What is worthy of further attention is the s...

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Citations
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01 Jan 2005

77 citations

Journal Article
Abstract: Review(s) of: Anxious nation: Australia and the rise of Asia 1850-1939, by David Walker, Publisher: University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1999.

29 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
30 May 2019
TL;DR: However, Chinese settlements were not only integral to the development of Australian history, but also the architecture and industry of non-western immigrants as marginal phenomena as mentioned in this paper, which is not the case in most Australian histories.
Abstract: Australian historiography has generally treated both the architecture and the industry of non-Western immigrants as marginal phenomena. However, Chinese settlements were not only integral to the ni...

10 citations


Cites background from "The Significance of the Northern Te..."

  • ...While it was believed that Indigenous people could be ignored once they had been subdued, the Chinese could not be ignored, for it was believed they would triumph if allowed to compete freely; their pioneering efforts in northern Australia were seen as ample evidence of this.(65) As in the goldfields, objections to Darwin’s Chinatown were ostensibly about the unhygienic but apparently chosen nature of the crowded living conditions of the Chinese residents of the town, but implicitly about their ability to prosper in such an environment, in the sense of both outnumbering and out-earning their neighbouring Europeans....

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References
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01 Jan 2005

77 citations

DissertationDOI
01 Dec 2006
TL;DR: This article argued that the labour movement lacked the power to impose such a fundamental national policy, and that the key decisions which led to White Australia were demonstrably not products of labour movement action.
Abstract: This thesis argues that the colonial ruling class developed its first White Australia policy in 1888, creating most of the precedents for the federal legislation of 1901. White Australia was central to the making of the Australian working class, to the shaping of Australian nationalism, and the development of federal political institutions. It has long been understood as a product of labour movement mobilising, but this thesis rejects that approach, arguing that the labour movement lacked the power to impose such a fundamental national policy, and that the key decisions which led to White Australia were demonstrably not products of labour movement action. It finds three great ruling class agendas behind the decisions to exclude Chinese immigrants, and severely limit the use of indentured “coloured labour”. Chinese people were seen as a strategic threat to Anglo-Australian control of the continent, and this fear was sharpened in the mid-1880s when China was seen as a rising military power, and a necessary ally for Britain in its global rivalry with Russia. The second ruling class agenda was the building of a modern industrial economy, which might be threatened by industries resting on indentured labour in the north. The third agenda was the desire to construct an homogenous people, which was seen as necessary for containing social discontent and allowing “free institutions”, such as parliamentary democracy.

75 citations

Book
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In the course of this research it became evident that recorded history had largely neglected the part played by the Chinese in the development of the Territory and that a number of beliefs about the Chinese had no foundation in fact as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Timothy Jones was a graduate of the University of Melbourne and was for many years prior to self government the Canberra based Public Service Inspector for the Northern Territory and well known to many Territorians. A close friendship developed between him and Colin Adams, the then Director of Mines who encouraged him to research and write the Territory's mining history. In the course of this research it became evident that recorded history had largely neglected the part played by the Chinese in the development of the Territory and that a number of beliefs about the Chinese had no foundation in fact. The result is an attempt to set the record straight and to trace the erosion of ethnic differences which led to the foundation of Darwin's multiracial society. He undertook extensive research and writing on Northern Territory history, his main interests being the history of mining and that of the Chinese. His publications include a book on the history of mining in the Northern Territory as well as entries in the 'Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography' and the 'Journal of Northern Territory History'. Timothy Jones was a graduate of the University of Melbourne and was for many years prior to self government the Canberra based Public Service Inspector for the Northern Territory and well known to many Territorians. A close friendship developed between him and Colin Adams, the then Director of Mines who encouraged him to research and write the Territory's mining history. In the course of this research it became evident that recorded history had largely neglected the part played by the Chinese in the development of the Territory and that a number of beliefs about the Chinese had no foundation in fact. The result is an attempt to set the record straight and to trace the erosion of ethnic differences which led to the foundation of Darwin's multiracial society. He undertook extensive research and writing on Northern Territory history, his main interests being the history of mining and that of the Chinese. His publications include a book on the history of mining in the Northern Territory as well as entries in the 'Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography' and the 'Journal of Northern Territory History'.

37 citations

Journal Article
Abstract: Review(s) of: Anxious nation: Australia and the rise of Asia 1850-1939, by David Walker, Publisher: University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1999.

29 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
30 May 2019
TL;DR: However, Chinese settlements were not only integral to the development of Australian history, but also the architecture and industry of non-western immigrants as marginal phenomena as mentioned in this paper, which is not the case in most Australian histories.
Abstract: Australian historiography has generally treated both the architecture and the industry of non-Western immigrants as marginal phenomena. However, Chinese settlements were not only integral to the ni...

10 citations