Asian immigration to Australia
Today, Asian immigrants from a wide range of countries play an important role in the cultural and economic landscape of Australia.
Three ships of the First Fleet, Scarborough, Charlotte and Lady Penrhyn, sailed to Canton after depositing their convicts in the colony to purchase tea and other Chinese goods to sell on their return to Britain.
[6][7] Seamen from eastern Indonesian ports such as Kupang and Makassar also visited Australia's northern coast, collecting trepang or sea cucumber to trade with China.
Many of these convicts were from other parts of Great Britain, including Ireland, and about 1% were from the British outposts in India and Canada, Maoris from New Zealand, Chinese from Hong Kong, and slaves from the Caribbean.
[19] Some Chinese immigrants stayed for the duration of their contracts and then returned home, but there is evidence that others spent the rest of their lives in New South Wales, marrying and starting families.
[20] The British government often overruled attempts by the Australian colonies to exclude Chinese immigration to avoid upsetting the Qing dynasty.
In the late 1830s, more Indians began to arrive in Australia as indentured labourers when the transportation of convicts to New South Wales slowed down and eventually stopped altogether in 1840.
Chinese immigrants to Australia left such conditions as overpopulation, the declining power of the Qing dynasty, the devastation caused by the Taiping Rebellion, and the local Canton Hakka-Punti Clan Wars.
These issues impacted many parts of China, but immigrants to California and the Australian Colonies came mainly from the counties most proximate to the port of Hong Kong.
[28] In the late 19th century, Indians, many of whom were Sikh, worked as merchants, industrialists, and businessmen throughout outback Australia, establishing themselves as "pioneers of the inland".
[9] During the period from the 1860s to 1900, small groups of cameleers, mostly from British India but also from Afghanistan, Egypt, and Turkey, were shipped in and out of Australia on three-year contracts to service the inland pastoral industry.
[30] These workers, who were commonly referred to as "Afghans" or "Ghans", were responsible for carting goods and transporting wool bales by camel train.
According to the 1871 colonial census, 149 Malays were working in Australia as pearl divers, labourers in South Australian mines, and on Queensland's sugar plantations.
The first notable Thai to arrive in Australia was Butra Mahintra, sent by King Rama VI during the early 1920s to purchase racehorses.
[40] East Timorese immigration to Australia also began during World War II, with the arrival of the first migrants from Portuguese Timor in 1943.
[41] Several Japanese and Taiwanese people were born in the internment camp and received British (Australian) birth certificates from a nearby hospital.
The administrator of the Northern Territory, Aubrey Abbott, had written to the Department of the Interior in 1943 proposing the removal of "undesirable elements" from Darwin, stating that the compulsory acquisition and conversion to leasehold would "entirely prevent the Chinese quarter forming again".
The civilian population of the territory had been largely evacuated during the war, and when the former Chinatown residents returned, they found their homes and businesses had been reduced to rubble.
[45] Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Australian Government implemented a policy of repatriation for Japanese internees, sending them back to Occupied Japan.
In the late 1990s, many Chinese Indonesians began migrating to Australia as well, fleeing political and economic turmoil in Indonesia following the May 1998 riots and the fall of Suharto.
This change made Australia a more attractive destination for immigrants from Asia, including Singaporean students who were drawn to the country due to its proximity.
[52] In 1969, the first Korean immigrants arrived in Sydney under the Skilled Migration Program, and by the time of the 1971 Census, there were 468 Korean-born individuals living in Australia.
[53] During this time, assimilation became the dominant policy in Australia, leading to the extension of rights and gradual changes to citizenship laws.
Among the events that contributed to this mass migration were the Indonesian invasion of East Timor,[56] the abolition of the Kingdom of Laos in 1975,[58][59] the declaration of martial law in the Philippines,[60][61] and the Soviet–Afghan War.
[62] Despite facing challenges and discrimination, these refugees made significant contributions to Australian society and helped to shape the country's multicultural identity.
The Citizenship Act in Australia allowed immigrants to become citizens with only two years of residence in the country, provided they had basic English proficiency skills.
Many Asian Australians made significant contributions to their new home, with many holding leadership positions in government, business, and other areas of public life.
As a result, China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) is now the third largest foreign birthplace for Australian residents, after England and New Zealand.
[26] Senator Pauline Hanson, in her 1998 maiden speech to Parliament called for the abolition of multiculturalism and said that "reverse racism" was being applied to "mainstream Australians" who were not entitled to the same welfare and government funding as minority groups.
[83] In March 1984, Professor Geoffrey Blainey, an Australian historian, made a speech criticizing what he saw as disproportionately high levels of Asian immigration to Australia.
