What is the 'Immigration Restriction Act 1901' and what did it involve?

Answer 1

The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which limited immigration to Australia and formed the basis of the White Australia policy. It also provided for illegal immigrants to be deported. It granted immigration officers a wide discretion to prevent individuals from entering Australia. The Act prohibited various classes of people from immigrating, but most importantly it introduced the dictation test, which required a person seeking entry to Australia to write out a passage of fifty words dictated to them in any European language, not necessarily English, at the discretion of an immigration officer. The test allowed immigration officers to discriminate against applicants by selecting a language that they couldn't possibly understand.

Originally the dictation test could be administered any time within the first year of a person's arrival to Australia, but after 1932, this period was extended to the first five years of residence. Officials were also able to give the test to an individual an unlimited number of times. At first the test had to be given in a European language; however, in 1905, the Act was amended to allow the government to specify any individual language that the test could be given in.

The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was eventually replaced by the Migration Act 1958, which removed the dictation test and many of the other qualifications, although many migrants from southern Europe and Asia were already living in Australia, some of them having arrived as refugees during World War II. The White Australia policy itself was not officially abolished until 1966.

Answer 2

Immigration Restriction Act