Australia After Ww2

After WW2, Australia felt that the population was too small to defend itself in case of another event. It also felt that Australia needed an economic boost and an increase in the population was the way to do so. In a speech to parliament in 1944, Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell expresses the need for migrants; “…Only by filling this land can we establish a title to hold it” (House of Representatives, Debates, 1944, vol. HR177, p.935). The Chifley Labor government’s aim in the late 1940s was to attract British migrants to Australia with free passage or “assisted migration”. So the government used advertisements to go after the British in the 1950’s by using positive images such as “sunshine and smiles” to attract more citizens. The idea of owning your own home and living in a laid-back, liberal community appealed to some and so the government assisted the migrants in coming to Australia by providing them with accommodation, work and support. Yet the propaganda of “sunshine, salesmen and subsidies...” did not attract the numbers of British migrants needed to achieve the goals set, and so the Australian government broadened its migration policy to other areas of Europe.
The Australian governments saw this as an advantage as many of these people could pass as British and were a big boost to Australia’s workforce. With a preference for “British-looking people”, all immigrants were tested as to whether they were appropriate to come to Australia. Immigrants were examined to assure they were fair skinned, physically attractive, fit and healthy- otherwise they would be sent back to their original country. Insert evidence