White Australian Policy

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 gave immigration officers a wide list of discretion to prevent certain individuals from entering Australia.

This stopped many races of people from immigrating, but most importantly it introduced the dictation test, which made a person wanting entry to Australia to write out a passage of fifty words dictated to them in any European language, not necessarily English, whilst the immigration officer tried not to offend those not wanted. The test allowed immigration officers to check out applicants on the basis of language skills.

This restriction was made because at the time of the Gold Rush thousands of Asians immigrated to Australia and that had become a problem because the six continents were forming into one country, Australia so the White Australian Policy was invented.