The Buckland riot was an anti-Chinese race riot that occurred on 4 July 1857, in the goldfields of the Buckland Valley , Victoria, Australia , near present-day Porepunkah . At the time approximately 2000 Chinese and 700 European migrants were living in the Buckland area.
94-642: Anti-Chinese sentiment was widespread during the Victorian gold rush . This resentment manifested on 4 July 1857 when around 100 European rioters attacked Chinese settlements. The rioters had just left a public meeting at the Buckland Hotel where the riot ringleaders decided they would attempt to expel all the Chinese in the Buckland Valley. Contemporaneous newspaper reports claim that the riot
188-474: A companion became the first Australians to sail to Europe, where they met King George III . Bungaree accompanied the explorer Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of Australia. Pemulwuy was accused of the first killing of a white settler in 1790, and Windradyne resisted colonial settlement beyond the Blue Mountains. With the establishment of European settlement and its subsequent expansion,
282-549: A federal government without ever having been members of the Australian Parliament. The vast new Federation had a population of just 3.8 million, was yet to elect a Parliament, and had not settled on a location for a capital city. Thus, in January 1901, in an election speech, Barton set out such priorities for the nation as: providing for female franchise ; setting up a High Court of Australia ; selecting
376-551: A grand ceremony in Centennial Park , Sydney, on 1 January 1901. He and his cabinet were sworn in by Australia's first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun before an estimated crowd of 250,000 people. Hopetoun had first offered the position to the Premier of New South Wales Sir William Lyne (an opponent of Federation), but the other members of Cabinet and the general population saw Barton as the logical choice. The appointment
470-465: A modern nation, saw explicit and implicit racial discrimination against Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians continue to be subjected to racist government policy and community attitudes. Racist community attitudes towards Aboriginal people have been confirmed as continuing both by surveys of Indigenous Australians and self-disclosure of racist attitudes by non-Indigenous Australians. Since 2007, government policy considered to be racist include
564-426: A police record and were twice as likely to use illicit drugs . The only notable advantage "removed" Aboriginal people possessed was a higher average income, which the report noted was most likely due to the increased urbanisation of removed individuals, and hence greater access to welfare payments than for Aboriginal people living in remote communities. In his 2008 address to the houses of parliament apologising for
658-616: A policy of "assimilation" which sought to achieve full citizenship rights for Aboriginal people but also wanted them to adopt the mode of life of other Australians (which very often was assumed to require suppression of cultural identity). The White Australia policy was dismantled in the decades following the Second World War and legal reforms undertaken to address indigenous disadvantage and establish land rights and native title . In 1962, Robert Menzies ' Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous people should have
752-496: A position with the newly established High Court of Australia. He was succeeded as prime minister by his friend, colleague and co-campaigner in the cause of Federation, Alfred Deakin , who also became Minister for External Affairs in a Cabinet which remained largely unchanged. One of the most important issues dealt with by the new parliament was the establishment of a High Court. The Judiciary Act 1903, enacted in August, established
846-517: A protest "Day of Mourning" to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of British in Australia and launched its campaign for full citizenship rights for all Aboriginal people. In the 1940s, the conditions of life for Aboriginal people could be very poor. A permit system restricted movement and work opportunities for many Aboriginal people. In the 1950s, the government pursued
940-464: A report on the status of the mixed race stated "... the physical infrastructure of missions, government institutions and children's homes was often very poor and resources were insufficient to improve them or to keep the children adequately clothed, fed, and sheltered". In reality, during this period, removal of the mixed-race children was related to the fact that most were offspring of domestic servants working on pastoral farms, and their removal allowed
1034-486: A rise in nationalism and improvements in transportation, the Australian colonies voted to unite in a Federation, which came into being in 1901. The Australian Constitution and early parliaments established one of the most progressive governmental systems on the earth at that time, with male and female suffrage and series of checks and balances built into the governmental framework. National security fears had been one of
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#17327767554611128-524: A serious crisis when Kingston resigned from his ministry in July 1902 over a dispute with Labor over the jurisdiction of the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill. Many were by this stage concerned as to Barton's fortitude for a political agenda beyond the establishment of a federation. Barton's health declined and in August 1903, he collapsed in his room at Parliament and resigned the following month to take up
1222-537: A site for a federal capital; setting up a revenue system through tariffs; establishing a system to adjudicate interstate labour disputes; and building an east–west railway across the continent. The major issue of the first general election of March 1901 was to be whether or not Australia would be established as a Protectionist or Free Trade nation. Prior to Federation, the Colony of Victoria had settled on Protectionism, while New South Wales had favoured Free Trade. In
1316-495: A study conducted in Melbourne and cited in the official report found that there was no tangible improvement in the social position of "removed" Aboriginal people as compared to "non-removed", particularly in the areas of employment and post-secondary education . Most notably, the study indicated that removed Aboriginal people were actually less likely to have completed a secondary education, three times as likely to have acquired
1410-509: A test in "any European language". Race had already been established as a premise for exclusion among the colonial parliaments, so the main question for debate was who exactly the new Commonwealth ought to exclude, with the Labor Party rejecting Britain's calls to placate the populations of its non-white colonies and allow "aboriginal natives of Asia, Africa, or the islands thereof". There was opposition from Queensland and its sugar industry to
1504-500: A watershed legal reform, a 1958 revision of the Migration Act introduced a simpler system for entry and abolished the "dictation test" which had permitted the exclusion of migrants on the basis of their ability to take down a dictation offered in any European language. Immigration Minister, Sir Alexander Downer, announced that 'distinguished and highly qualified Asians' might immigrate. Restrictions continued to be relaxed through
1598-659: A wide suite of powers over Aboriginal and " half-caste " persons, including the forcible removal of children, especially "at risk" girls. By 1950, similar policies and legislation had been adopted by other states and territories, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld), the Aborigines Ordinance 1918 (NT), the Aborigines Act 1934 (SA) and
1692-581: Is not remembered such. A commemorative monument was unveiled in July 2007 to mark the 150th anniversary of the riot. Racism in Australia#Early Asian and Pacific Islander immigration Racism in Australia comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are held by various people and groups in Australia , and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violence) at various times in
1786-794: Is widespread. In 2009, about 90,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were participating in Australian Rules Football alone and the Australian Football League (AFL) encouraged their participation through the Kickstart Indigenous programs "as the vehicle to improve the quality of life in Indigenous communities, not only in sport, but in the areas of employment, education and health outcomes". Similarly, Australia's second most popular football code encourages participation through events like
1880-588: The 1936 Native Administration Act (WA). The child-removal legislation resulted in widespread removal of children from their parents and exercise of sundry guardianship powers by Protectors of Aborigines up to the age of 16 or 21. Policemen or other agents of the state were given the power to locate and transfer babies and children of mixed descent from their mothers or families or communities into institutions. In these Australian states and territories , half-caste institutions (both government Aboriginal reserves and church-run mission stations ) were established in
1974-585: The White Australia Policy ) to preference British and European migrants. Other key issues included the need for the establishment of a transcontinental railway, a High Court, a system for arbitrating on industrial disputes, and the provision of an old age pension . Following the March election, Barton's Protectionists won 27 seats in the newly formed 75-member Australian House of Representatives . Reid's Free Trade supporters won 32 seats, leaving
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#17327767554612068-583: The Boer War in South Africa. Britain sought further forces from the new Commonwealth, and Barton secured the agreement of the new Parliament, though Australian Federal forces did not reach South Africa until the final stages of that war. Barton was an Imperial loyalist, and represented Australia at the 1902 Coronation of Edward VII . Whilst in Britain, he was honoured with the title Knight Grand Cross of
2162-538: The Crown . Though the so-called Treaty was objectionable on many grounds, it was the first, and until the 1990s, the only time that an attempt was made to deal directly with the Indigenous peoples. English navigator James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the British Empire in 1770, without conducting negotiations with the existing inhabitants. The first Governor of New South Wales , Arthur Phillip ,
2256-633: The European colonisation of Australia (starting in 1788) was about 314,000. It has also been estimated by ecologists that the land could have supported a population of a million people. By 1901, they had been reduced by two-thirds to 93,000. In 2011, First Nations Australians (including both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people) comprised about 3% of the total population, at 661,000. When Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay in 1770, he
2350-499: The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) said that "racial abuse and vilification is commonplace in Australian sport... despite concerted efforts to stamp it out". The report said that Aboriginal and other ethnic groups are under-represented in Australian sport, and suggests they are turned off organised sport because they fear racial vilification . Despite the finding, indigenous participation in Australian sport
2444-754: The Menzies government . The occasion of the first federal Budget saw the Protectionist supporters of the Barton government clash with the Free Trade Opposition led by George Reid . The Customs Tariff Act took some five months to debate, until finally receiving Royal Assent in September 1902. In the end it was less protectionist than the standard set in the new State of Victoria. The new federation had to establish uniform customs duties and end
2538-649: The Northern Territory Intervention which failed to produce a single child abuse conviction, cashless welfare cards trialled almost exclusively in Aboriginal communities, the Community Development Program that has seen Indigenous participants fined at a substantially higher rate than non-Indigenous participants in equivalent work-for-the-dole schemes, and calls to shut down remote Indigenous communities despite
2632-734: The University of Sydney , Charles Perkins , helped organise the Freedom Ride into parts of Australia to expose discrimination and inequality. In 1966, the Gurindji people of Wave Hill Station (owned by the Vestey Group ) commenced strike action, known as the Gurindji strike , led by Vincent Lingiari , in a quest for equal pay and recognition of Indigenous land rights . Barton government Prime Minister of Australia Term of government (1901–1903) Justice of
2726-570: The history of Australia against racial or ethnic groups. Racism against various ethnic or minority groups has existed in Australia since British colonisation . Throughout Australian history, the Indigenous peoples of Australia have faced severe restrictions on their political, social, and economic freedoms, and suffered genocide , forced removals , and massacres , and continue to face discrimination . African , Asian , Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern Australians have also been
2820-491: The 1890s. A number of South Australian Aboriginal women took part in the vote selecting candidates for the constitutional conventions of the 1890s. The 1967 referendum was held and overwhelmingly approved to amend the Constitution, removing discriminatory references and giving the national parliament the power to legislate specifically for Indigenous Australians . In 1965, one of the earliest Aboriginal graduates from
2914-775: The 1960s in the lead up to the Holt government 's watershed Migration Act, 1966 . Holt's government introduced the Migration Act 1966 , which effectively dismantled the White Australia policy and increased access to non-European migrants, including refugees fleeing the Vietnam War . Holt also called the 1967 Referendum which removed the discriminatory clause in the Australian Constitution which excluded Aboriginal Australians from being counted in
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3008-652: The 20th century. That it was policy and kept secret for over 60 years is a mystery that no agency has solved to date. In the 1930s, the Northern Territory Protector of Natives, Cecil Cook , perceived the continuing rise in numbers of "half-caste" children as a problem. His proposed solution was: "Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth generation, all native characteristics of the Australian Aborigine are eradicated. The problem of our half-castes will quickly be eliminated by
3102-536: The Colonial Secretary in Britain made it clear that a race based immigration policy would run "contrary to the general conceptions of equality which have ever been the guiding principle of British rule throughout the Empire", so the Barton government conceived of the "language dictation test", which would allow the government, at the discretion of the minister, to block unwanted migrants by forcing them to sit
3196-470: The Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V) to preside over the opening of the first Parliament of Australia . The ceremony took place with much British pomp and circumstance in Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901 and Parliament was to sit at Victoria's Parliament House, Melbourne for some 26 years, while a suitable site for a federal capital was established. While much of its business
3290-648: The GP, use a private doctor, or apply for residence in an old age facility. Childhood mortality rates , the gap in educational achievement and lack of employment opportunities were made goals that in a generation should halve the gap. A national " Close the Gap " day was announced for March of each year by the Human Rights Commission . The following studies are confined to Aboriginal peoples only, although not necessarily only true of those populations: Throughout
3384-586: The High Court of Australia (1903–1920) [REDACTED] The Barton government was the first federal executive government of the Commonwealth of Australia . It was led by Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton , from 1 January 1901 until 24 September 1903, when Barton resigned to become one of the three founding judges of the High Court of Australia . The background to the Barton government saw
3478-558: The Indigenous populations were progressively forced into neighbouring territories, or subsumed into the new political entities of the Australian colonies. Violent conflict between Indigenous peoples and European settlers, described by some historians as frontier wars , arose out of this expansion: by the late 19th century, many Indigenous populations had been forcibly relocated to land reserves and missions. The nature of many of these land reserves and missions enabled disease to spread quickly and many were closed as resident numbers dropped, with
3572-426: The Labor Party, on 16 seats, with the balance of power. Labor confirmed "support in return for concessions" and backed Barton, who became prime minister in a minority government . The 36 seat Senate meanwhile held just 14 Senators declaring themselves in support of the Barton government. The first Parliament was opened on 9 May 1901. Shortly before her death in January 1901, Queen Victoria had designated her grandson,
3666-527: The Mabo case had the side effect of throwing the media spotlight on all issues related to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia, and most notably the Stolen Generations. The social impacts of forced removal have been measured and found to be quite severe. Although the stated aim of the "resocialisation" program was to improve the integration of Aboriginal people into modern society,
3760-649: The NSW Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout and the Indigenous All Stars Team . The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its report, released in 2005 was complimentary on improvements in race-related issues since its previous report five years prior, namely: The committee expressed concern about the abolishment of ATSIC ; proposed reforms to HREOC that may limit its independence;
3854-643: The Order of Saint Michael and St George (KGCMG). He also secured support for an expanded British naval squadron at Sydney which would assist with training a local force and lobbied for preferential treatment for Australian trade within the British Empire . Barton received congratulations from the Pope on the tolerance shown to Catholics within Australia, and Barton in return offered assurances that this would continue. The exchange prompted "strenuous disapproval" in
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3948-430: The Premier of Tasmania. A reshuffle was necessitated by the death of Dickson on 10 January, with James Drake joining Cabinet as Postmaster-General, and Forrest shifting to Defence. Following the first election, Philip Fysh of Tasmania replaced Elliott Lewis as Minister without Portfolio. Lewis had decided not to be a candidate for federal parliament, and he and Sir James Dickson remain the only people to have served in
4042-675: The United Nation's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples specifying governments must facilitate the rights of Indigenous people to live on traditional land. In 2016, police raids and behaviour on Palm Island following a death in custody were found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 , with a record class action settlement of $ 30 million awarded to victims in May 2018. The raids were found by
4136-585: The United States. The numbers were about the same, and surely what the Americans had done by war, the Australians could bring about in peace, without breaking the ties that held them to the mother country. Known himself as the "Father of Federation", Parkes would die before the project was completed. Shortly before his death in 1896, Parkes called on Edmund Barton to take up the struggle of leading
4230-557: The abandonment of mixed-race (" half-caste ") children in the 1920s is given in a report by Walter Baldwin Spencer that many mixed-descent children born during construction of The Ghan railway were abandoned at early ages with no one to provide for them. This incident and others spurred the need for state action to provide for and protect such children. Both were official policy and were coded into law by various acts. They have both been rescinded and restitution for past wrongs addressed at
4324-575: The absence of strong party affiliations outside the Australian Labor Party (which was divided on the question), candidates tended to be defined in relation to their attitude to trade, and while Barton sought compromise, the Free Trader George Reid pushed for the question to be a central election issue. Meanwhile, the candidates generally agreed on the need to establish a restrictive immigration system (recalled as
4418-592: The basis of the now discredited doctrine of terra nullius . The implication of the doctrine became evident when John Batman purported to make Batman's Treaty in 1835 with the Wurundjeri Elders of the area around the future Melbourne . Governor Bourke of New South Wales proclaimed the Treaty null and void and that indigenous Australians could not sell or assign land, nor could an individual person or group acquire it, other than through distribution by
4512-543: The census;– the referendum was one of the few to be overwhelmingly endorsed by the Australian electorate (over 90% voted 'yes'). The legal end of the White Australia Policy is usually placed in 1973, when the Whitlam Labor government implemented a series of amendments preventing the enforcement of racial aspects of the immigration law. These amendments: The 1975 Racial Discrimination Act made
4606-471: The cheers of bystanders". The verdicts of the juries were later criticized in the press. One of the police involved in the arrests was Robert O'Hara Burke , later of the infamous Burke and Wills expedition . The Chinese miners were invited to return to the Buckland Valley, however only fifty did so. The Buckland Riot has been compared to the Eureka Stockade uprising in size and intensity, but
4700-564: The chief motivators for the union and legislation was quickly enacted to restrict non-European immigration to Australia – the foundation of the White Australia policy – and voting rights for Aboriginal people were denied across most states. Australia's official World War One historian Charles Bean defined the early intentions of the policy as "a vehement effort to maintain a high Western standard of economy, society and culture (necessitating at that stage, however it might be camouflaged,
4794-524: The colonial parliaments, so the main question for debate was who exactly the new Commonwealth ought to exclude, with the Labor Party rejecting Britain's calls to placate the populations of its non-white colonies and allow "aboriginal natives of Asia, Africa, or the islands thereof". There was opposition from Queensland and its sugar industry to the proposals of the Pacific Islanders Bill to exclude "Kanaka" labourers, however Barton argued that
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#17327767554614888-557: The complete disappearance of the black race, and the swift submergence of their progeny in the white". He did suggest at one point that they be all sterilised. Similarly, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia, A. O. Neville , wrote in an article for The West Australian in 1930: "Eliminate in future the full-blood and the white and one common blend will remain. Eliminate the full-blood and permit
4982-509: The continuing status of British subject. Aboriginal people became Australian citizens under the 1948 Act in the same way as other Australians, but they were not counted in the Australian population until after the 1967 referendum . The same applied to Torres Strait Islanders and the indigenous population of the Territory of Papua (then a part of Australia). In 1770 and again in 1788, the British Empire claimed Eastern Australia as its own on
5076-522: The court to be "racist" and "unnecessary, disproportionate" with police having "acted in these ways because they were dealing with an Aboriginal community." Despite Indigenous peoples being recognised under British common law as British subjects , with equal rights under the law, colonial government policy and public opinion treated Aboriginal peoples as inferior. The Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 , which came into force on 26 January 1949, created an Australian citizenship, but which co-existed with
5170-663: The early decades of the 20th century for the reception of these separated children. Examples of such institutions include Moore River Native Settlement in Western Australia, Doomadgee Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, Ebenezer Mission in Victoria and Wellington Valley Mission in New South Wales. In 1911, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in South Australia, William Garnet South , reportedly "lobbied for
5264-504: The electoral rolls. The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 excluded "Aboriginal natives of Australia, Asia, Africa and Pacific Islands except for New Zealand" from voting unless they were on the roll before 1901. In 1981, a land rights conference was held at James Cook University , where Eddie Mabo , a Torres Strait Islander, made a speech to the audience in which he explained the land inheritance system on Murray Island . The significance of this in terms of Australian common law doctrine
5358-441: The entire rental system, from property procurement and investment prior to the search for a rental property, through to eviction, discrimination in the private rental sector (PRS) occurs. Indigenous peoples of Australia , comprising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples, have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The colonisation of Australia and development into
5452-419: The established Australian political system and the age of frontier conflict closed. Frontier encounters in Australia were not universally negative. Positive accounts of Aboriginal customs and encounters are also recorded in the journals of early European explorers, who often relied on Aboriginal guides and assistance: Charles Sturt employed Aboriginal envoys to explore the Murray-Darling ; the lone survivor of
5546-492: The first parliament was from May 1901 to October 1902. It enacted 59 acts, and, in accordance with the provisions of the new Constitution, established the legal, financial and administrative foundations of the Commonwealth. The new Parliament quickly moved to restrict immigration to maintain Australia's "British character", and the Pacific Island Labourers Bill and the Immigration Restriction Bill were passed shortly before parliament rose for its first Christmas recess. Nevertheless,
5640-403: The form of a petition from some thousands of Australian Protestants. Towards the end of his term in office, Britain and Japan concluded the Anglo–Japanese naval agreement , for which Barton managed to secure the approval of the Australian Parliament and the gratitude of Japan in the form of the Order of the Rising Sun First Class . According to political historian Brian Carroll, Barton faced
5734-452: The foundation of a bicameral Australian Parliament , was endorsed by the Imperial Parliament in Britain and signed into law by Queen Victoria . Lord Hopetoun , a Lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria and a former Governor of the Colony of Victoria , was selected as Australia's first Governor-General , and the appointment of the first Cabinet was put in train. Edmund Barton became the newly Federated Australian nation's first prime minister at
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#17327767554615828-410: The general conceptions of equality which have ever been the guiding principle of British rule throughout the Empire", so the Barton government conceived of the "language dictation test", which would allow the government, at the discretion of the minister, to block unwanted migrants by forcing them to sit a test in "any European language". Race had already been established as a premise for exclusion among
5922-415: The highest levels of government. The treatment of the First Nations Australians by the colonisers has been termed cultural genocide . The earliest introduction of child removal to legislation is recorded in the Victorian Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 . The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines had been advocating such powers since 1860, and the passage of the Act gave the colony of Victoria
6016-461: The ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, John King , was helped by local Aboriginal people, and the famous tracker Jackey Jackey accompanied his ill-fated friend Edmund Kennedy to Cape York . Respectful studies were conducted by such as Walter Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen in their renowned anthropological study The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1899); and by Donald Thomson of Arnhem Land (c. 1935 – 1943). In inland Australia,
6110-466: The killing of a policeman. As the crisis unfolded, national opinion swung behind the Aboriginal people involved, and the first appeal on behalf of an Indigenous Australian to the High Court of Australia was launched. Following the crisis, the anthropologist Donald Thomson was dispatched by the government to live among the Yolngu. Elsewhere around this time, activists like Sir Douglas Nicholls were commencing their campaigns for Aboriginal rights within
6204-586: The life expectancy of the Aboriginal people. Committees that followed up on this outlined broad categories to redress the inequities in life expectancy , educational opportunities and employment. The Australian government also allocated funding to redress the past discrimination. First Nations Australians visit their general practitioners (GPs) and are hospitalised for diabetes , circulatory disease, musculoskeletal conditions, respiratory and kidney disease , mental, ear and eye problems and behavioural problems yet are less likely than non-Indigenous Australians to visit
6298-511: The mothers to continue working as help on the farm while at the same time removing the whites from responsibility for fathering them and from social stigma for having mixed-race children visible in the home. Also, when they were left alone on the farm they became targets of the men who contributed to the rise in the population of mixed-race children. The institutional racism was government policy gone awry, one that allowed babies to be taken from their mothers at birth, and this continued for most of
6392-463: The power to remove Aboriginal children without a court hearing because the courts sometimes refused to accept that the children were neglected or destitute". South argued that "all children of mixed descent should be treated as neglected". His lobbying reportedly played a part in the enactment of the Aborigines Act 1911 ; this made him the legal guardian of every Aboriginal child in South Australia, including so-called "half-castes". Bringing Them Home ,
6486-443: The practical barriers Indigenous peoples face in succeeding in claims for native title; a lack of legislation criminalising serious acts or incitement of racial hatred in the Commonwealth, the State of Tasmania and the Northern Territory ; and the inequities between Indigenous peoples and others in the areas of employment, housing, longevity, education and income. It is estimated that the population of Aboriginal peoples prior to
6580-439: The practice was "veiled slavery" that could lead to a "negro problem" similar to that in the United States and the Bill was passed. The restrictive measures established by the first parliament gave way to multi-ethnic immigration policies only after the Second World War , with the "dictation test" itself being finally abolished in 1958 by the Menzies Government . The Menzies Government instigated migrants over all others since
6674-447: The proposals of the Pacific Islanders Bill to exclude "Kanaka" labourers, however Barton argued that the practice was "veiled slavery" that could lead to a "negro problem" similar to that in the United States and the Bill was passed. The restrictive measures established by the first parliament gave way to multi-ethnic immigration policies only after the Second World War , with the "dictation test" itself being finally abolished in 1958 by
6768-453: The push for Federation. Barton in turn announced: There is one great thing which above all activates me in my political life, and will activate me until it is accomplished, and that is the question of the union of the Australian colonies. After a series of constitutional conventions and referendums, the colonies agreed to federate as a new "commonwealth": the Commonwealth of Australia . The Constitution of Australia , with its provision for
6862-415: The remaining residents being moved to other land reserves and missions in the 20th century. According to the historian Geoffrey Blainey , in Australia during the colonial period: "In a thousand isolated places there were occasional shootings and spearings. Even worse, smallpox , measles , influenza and other new diseases swept from one Aboriginal camp to another ... The main conqueror of Aborigines
6956-574: The right to enrol and vote at federal elections (prior to this, indigenous people in Queensland, Western Australia and "wards of the state" in the Northern Territory had been excluded from voting unless they were ex-servicemen). In 1965, Queensland became the last state to confer state voting rights on Aboriginal people, whereas in South Australia Aboriginal men had had the vote since the 1850s and Aboriginal women since
7050-587: The rigid exclusion of Oriental people)." The new Parliament quickly moved to restrict immigration to maintain Australia's "British character", and the Pacific Island Labourers Bill and the Immigration Restriction Bill were passed shortly before parliament rose for its first Christmas recess. Nevertheless, the Colonial Secretary in Britain made it clear that a race-based immigration policy would run "contrary to
7144-566: The sea for sustenance and whose land rights were abrogated, and later the Australian Aboriginal peoples, whose children were removed from their families by Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1909 and 1969, resulting in what later became known as the Stolen Generations . An example of
7238-455: The six British colonies of Australia vote to federate as one Commonwealth. Sir Henry Parkes was among the leading voices calling for Federation and had kick-started the movement with his Tenterfield Oration of 1889: Australia [now has] a population of three and a half millions, and the American people numbered only between three and four millions when they formed the great commonwealth of
7332-500: The skills of Aboriginal stockmen became highly regarded and in the 20th century, Aboriginal stockmen like Vincent Lingiari became national figures in their campaigns for better pay and conditions. 1938 was an important year for Indigenous rights campaigning. With the participation of leading indigenous activists like Douglas Nicholls , the Australian Aborigines Advancement League organised
7426-486: The time of Australian Federation in 1901 and abolished restrictions on voting rights for Aboriginal people, which had persisted in some jurisdictions. In 1950 External Affairs Minister Percy Spender instigated the Colombo Plan , under which students from Asian countries were admitted to study at Australian universities, then in 1957 non-Europeans with 15 years' residence in Australia were allowed to become citizens. In
7520-843: The trade barriers which had existed between the colonies. Barton travelled to Britain for the Coronation of King Edward VII and the Colonial Conference of 1902 where he came up against the push for "free trade within the Empire". In 1902, a historic law granting women's suffrage throughout the Commonwealth was enacted entitled the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 . Prior to Federation, women had already gained these rights in South Australia and Western Australia. Prior to Federation, Britain's Australian colonies had dispatched forces to assist Britain in
7614-519: The treatment of the First Nations population , Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a plea to the health services regarding the disparate treatment in health services. He noted the widening gap between the treatment of First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians, and committed the government to a strategy called " Closing the Gap ", admitting to past institutional racism in health services that shortened
7708-631: The use of racial criteria for any official purpose illegal (with the exception of census forms). A 2003 Paper by health economist Gavin Mooney said that "Government institutions in Australia are racist". The paper evidenced this opinion by stating that the Aboriginal Medical Service was underfunded and under supported by government. In 2007, What's the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport conducted by
7802-454: The victims of discrimination. In addition, Jews , Italians and the Irish were often subjected to xenophobic exclusion and other forms of religious and ethnic discrimination. Racism has manifested itself in a variety of ways, including segregation , racist immigration and naturalisation laws, and internment camps . Following the establishment of autonomous parliaments,
7896-583: The white admixture and eventually, the race will become white". Official policy then concentrated on removing all black people from the population, to the extent that the full-blooded Aboriginal people were hunted to extinguish them from society, and those of mixed race would be assimilated with the white race so that in a few generations they too would become white. By 1900, the recorded First Nations Australian population had declined to approximately 93,000. Western Australia and Queensland specifically excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from
7990-463: Was "led by Americans 'inflamed by liquor'". During the riot Chinese miners were beaten and robbed then driven across the Buckland River . At least three Chinese miners died reportedly of ill-health and entire encampments and a recently constructed Joss house were destroyed. Police arrested thirteen European accused rioters, however the empaneled juries acquitted all of major offences "amid
8084-496: Was Minister for Defence, and Sir William Lyne was Minister for Home Affairs. Other than Barton, Alfred Deakin was the only other member of the original Cabinet who had not served as a premier but, like Barton, he had been a strong advocate for Federation. Barton appointed two other honorary Cabinet positions: Richard O'Connor of New South Wales, to serve as Vice-President of the Executive Council, and Elliott Lewis ,
8178-626: Was centred on establishing the machinery of government, among the most significant legislation passed by the first Parliament were immigration restrictions and tariff protections. The Duke of York toured Australia and opened the first Parliament in 1901. After an expenses dispute, Parliament refused to augment the income received by the Governor-General with an additional annual allowance, and Lord Hopetoun resigned, sailing for Britain in July 1902. South Australia's Governor, Lord Tennyson , became Australia's second Governor-General. The term of
8272-483: Was expressly instructed to establish friendship and good relations with Aboriginal people and interactions between the early settlers and the Indigenous people varied considerably throughout the colonial period – from the mutual curiosity displayed by the early interlocutors Bennelong and Bungaree of Sydney, to outright hostility of Pemulwuy and Windradyne of the Sydney region, and Yagan around Perth. Bennelong and
8366-616: Was raised at a Lutheran mission in Cape York , has written that Christian missions throughout Australia's colonial history "provided a haven from the hell of life on the Australian frontier while at the same time facilitating colonisation". The Coniston massacre , which took place near the Coniston cattle station in the then Territory of Central Australia (now the Northern Territory ) from 14 August to 18 October 1928,
8460-494: Was taken note of by one of the attendees, a lawyer, who suggested there should be a test case to claim land rights through the court system. Ten years later, five months after Eddie Mabo died, on 3 June 1992, the High Court announced its historic decision, namely overturning the legal doctrine of terra nullius , which was the term applied by the British relating to the continent of Australia – "empty land". Public interest in
8554-402: Was temporary, to organise the first general election. Barton was sworn in as prime minister and Minister for External Affairs and his Cabinet consisted of a number of ex-premiers: Sir George Turner of Victoria was Treasurer, Charles Kingston of South Australia was Minister for Trade and Customs, Sir John Forrest of Western Australia was Postmaster-General, Sir James Dickson of Queensland
8648-475: Was the last known officially sanctioned massacre of Indigenous Australians and one of the last events of the Australian Frontier Wars . The Caledon Bay crisis of 1932–34 saw one of the last incidents of violent interaction on the "frontier" of Indigenous and non-indigenous Australia, which began when the spearing of Japanese poachers who had been molesting Yolngu women was followed by
8742-607: Was to be disease and its ally, demoralisation". From the 1830s, colonial governments established the now controversial offices of the Protector of Aborigines in an effort to conduct government policy towards them. Christian churches sought to convert Aboriginal people, and were often used by government to carry out welfare and assimilation policies. Colonial churchmen such as Sydney's first Catholic archbishop, John Bede Polding , strongly advocated for Aboriginal rights and dignity and prominent Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson , who
8836-564: Was under orders not to plant the British flag and to defer to any native population, which was largely ignored. Torres Strait Islander people are indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands , which are in the Torres Strait between the northernmost tip of Queensland and Papua New Guinea . Institutional racism had its early roots here due to interactions between these islanders, who had Melanesian origins and depended on
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