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Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Australia, New Zealand, grade: Credit, Flinders University (Social Sciences), course: Australian International Relations, language: English, abstract: This essay aims at explaining the changes in Australia’s immigration policy since 1945 and the reasons why governments have implemented major changes. The steps involved in Australia’s movement from the White Australia Policy towards multiculturalism will be examined chronologically. In order to understand the importance of the changes after the Second Word War it is necessary to take a brief look at what policy had been in place until then. From the day of the first settlement in Australia, the country has always been an immigrant society. With the exception of Indigenous Australians, everybody’s ancestors have emigrated from various destinations to live on the continent down under since 1788. Besides the German (largely in South Australia) and the Chinese minorities, a majority of them had British or Irish origin.1 The first regulation implemented to secure who was – or rather who was not – to enter the country is known as the White Australia Policy. This policy had a tremendous effect on immigration in Australia. The roots of this policy go back to the 1850s, when Chinese immigrants working in the mines in Victoria and New South Wales were discriminated against and resented by the white population.2 This was largely due to racist theories like Social Darwinism and a fear of non- Europeans that was strong enough to lead to the Commonwealth Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. Although these words were never explicitly documented in the policy, it aimed at excluding non-European immigrants. [...] 1 James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p.5. 2 Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs, ‘Abolition of the ‘White Australia’ Policy’, Fact Sheet 8, Canberra, 6 November 2002, , consulted 16 June 2003.