Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia

Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia


ACARA History Curriculum describes Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia as:
"History, the priority of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia provides rich and engaging content and contexts for developing students’ historical knowledge, understanding and skills. In this learning area, students recognise the dynamic nature of socio-political relationships within the region over time, and the role that individuals, governments and other organisations play in shaping relationships between peoples and countries. They develop an appreciation of the history of Australia-Asia engagement and how this influences contemporary relationships within Australian society and relationships between Australia and the countries of Asia."
Australian immigration has a strong history with China, yet it has been fraught with controversy dating back as early as 1855 when the Chinese Immigration Act was passed. This included making a law that the master of a ship had to pay a poll tax of 10 pounds for every Chinese immigrant on the ship.  This was followed by the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901 which was written after major race riot at Lambing Flat in 1860–61 riots (Museum of Australian Democracy, n.d.)


This cartoon from Nicholson cartoons depicting Pauline Hanson driving a bulldozer towards a house built on a foundation of immigrants with the caption, "I like the house but I don't like the foundations" sums up rather clearly the fact that Australia's economic growth would not be possible without immigration.  The British   have always been the desired appearance.  The Chinese not having a similar appearance to the British has always sparked controversy beginning soon after settlement, as seen in the 'patriotic' anti-Chinese ballads, encouraged by parents to revile  like parody of Rule Britannia: 'Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves! / No more Chinamen will enter New South Wales'. Stoning Chinamen was also encouraged.

The 1970s and 1980s saw the introduction of the policy of multiculturalism which urged four guiding principles: 

"1. All members of Australian society must have equal opportunity to realise their full potential and must have equal access to programs and services;

2. Every person should be able to maintain his or her culture without prejudice or disadvantage and should be encouraged to understand and embrace other cultures;

3. While special services and programs remained necessary to ensure equality of services for migrants, their needs should, in general, be met by programs and services available to the whole community; and

4. Services and programs should be designed and operated in full consultation with migrants and self-help should be encouraged as much as possible to help them to become self-reliant quickly." (Henry, H. and Kurzak, K.,2012)
This was to replace the white Australia policy that had been in place since settlement.  It was to show Australia as an accepting country that is made up of a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds.  The next major shift occurred after the 1980s John Howard raised concerns over the dual loyalties and the persistence and beliefs deemed incompatible with Australian values.  John Howard preferred:
"an Australian society that respects our cultural diversity and acknowledges that we are drawn from many parts of the world, but requires of all of us a loyalty to Australia at all times and to her institutions and her values and her traditions which transcends loyalty to any other set of values anywhere in the world" Quoted in J Jupp, 'Immigration and National Identity'in G Stokes, The Politics of Identity in Australia, p. 135.
This shift occurred in response to the increasing arrivals of Vietnamese refugees after Australia withdrew from the war in the mid 1970s.  However, this shift was not mirrored in the Australian society. The arrivals re-ignited old fears and prejudices that had existed towards Asian immigration in the 19th century.  These were continued by Pauline Hanson in the 1990s as shown in the above cartoon image, and also as shown in the idea that it's our Australia and our home, highlighted in this quote: “…if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country.” – Pauline Hanson (House of Representatives speech, September 1996).  The fear refugees or boat people create in the Australian people remains today fueled by the manipulated data shown by the Australian Government as shown in the image below.   

‘Boat People arriving from Vietnam’, available at
"http://www.naa.gov.au/Images/11403409-650_tcm2-9538.jpg 
retrieved 18 Aug, 2010][retrieved 18 Aug, 2010]

All these images are valuable in outlining issues of soco-Political relationships as outlined in the ACARA History Curriculum.  The images reinforce the negative stereotype of boat people, who come to Australia to take our jobs, get free money from our Government raising our taxes.  The Asian refugees are depicted in the images the media presents, not the European refugees who look similar to the British, which is still today the preferred appearance for Australian's.  Hopefully one day everyone will be treated with respect and love and made to feel welcome as we would wish to be if we were in their positions.  The below film shows some interesting images on the subject:

Video made for a competition run by JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) in Australia
by M Sherlock, D, Stuntz and J Morgan uploaded Sept 10th 2011

A final thought, "I wonder if the fear the 'Asian invasion' instills in the white Australian's is anything like the fear we created in the Aboriginal people when we arrived and took their land from them."  Food for thought.


References
  • ACARA
  • Hanson, P. (1996). House of Representatives speech, Retrieved from: http://paulinehanson.com.au/.
  • Henry, H. and Kurzak, K. (2012).  A Multicultural Australia. TheAustralianCollaboratation. Retrieved from: http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/pdf/FactSheets/Multicultural-Australia-FactSheet.pdf.
  • J Jupp, 'Immigration and National Identity'in G Stokes, The Politics of Identity in Australia.
  • Museum of Australian Democracy, (n.d.). Australia's Story. Retrieved from: http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-82.html. 

Images / Video

Hyperlinks

Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/History/Cross-Curriculum-PrioritiesChinese Immigration Act: http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-82.html 
Immigration Restriction Act: http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-did-16.html
Pauline Hanson: http://paulinehanson.com.au/










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