White Australia policy
The White Australia Policy was a set of racist historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin – especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders – from immigrating to Australia, starting in 1901, in order to create an Anglo-Celtic ideal. The policy also affected immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European countries, especially in wartime. Governments progressively dismantled such policies between 1949 and 1973.Competition in the gold fields between European and Chinese miners, and labour union opposition to the importation of Pacific Islanders (primarily South Sea Islanders) into the sugar plantations of Queensland, reinforced demands to eliminate or minimize low-wage immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands. From the 1850s colonial governments imposed restrictions on family members joining Chinese miners already in Australia. The colonial authorities levied a special tax on Chinese immigrants and from which other immigrants were exempted.