Post war immigration scheme- In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949, established the Federal Department of Immigration and thereby launched a large scale immigration program. Chifley commissioned a report on the subject which found that Australia was in urgent need of a larger population for the purposes of defence and development and it recommended a 1% annual increase in population through increased immigration.
Terra nullius- the land belongs to no one roman law
The Eureka rebellion, which is often referred to as the 'Eureka Stockade', is a key event in the development of Australian democracy and Australian identity, with some people arguing that Australian democracy was born at Eureka' (Clive Evatt). In addition, the principles of mateship, seen to be adapted by the gold diggers, and the term digger' was later adopted by the ANZAC soldiers in World War I.The rebellion came about because the goldfield workers (known as 'diggers') opposed the government miners' licences. The licences were a simple way for the government to tax the diggers. Licence fees had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in any gold. Less successful diggers found it difficult to pay their licence fees.
The idea of assimilation had been around since the 1930s but was not adopted as an official government policy towards the Aboriginal peoples until the 1950s. It became official government policy in Australia not just for Aboriginal peoples, but for all foreign migrants as well. In the late 1940s, Australia was still a very 'British' country, 97 per cent of the population was Australian, or British-born. The National Anthem 'God Save The Queen' was still sung after films in the cinema. Anyone who came to Australia from abroad was expected to fit in with this culture - they were expected to assimilate. Aboriginal peoples and migrants were expected to give up their own heritage and adopt the culture of the...