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Australian‐Asian Sociability, Student Activism, and the University Challenge to White Australia in the 1950s
Author(s) -
DarianSmith Kate,
Waghorne James
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/ajph.12245
Subject(s) - indignation , immigration , government (linguistics) , political science , immigration policy , white (mutation) , gender studies , curriculum , economic growth , sociology , public administration , politics , law , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , philosophy , linguistics , economics
During the 1950s, staff, students and graduates of Australian universities were increasingly critical of the racial restrictions on immigration, and their activism contributed to a broader government and community reassessment of the White Australia Policy. Personal experiences of cross‐cultural interactions between Australian students and an increasing number of international students from Asia, including those sponsored by the Australian government's Colombo Plan, underpinned the university challenge to immigration policy. Tertiary curriculum offering new academic interpretations of Asian history and decolonisation also contributed to a growing awareness among university‐educated Australians of Asia, and fostered empathy for its peoples. The publications of the Immigration Reform Group extended this critique of White Australia, and were driven by a moral indignation towards a policy that affected individuals personally known to the critics.