Dictation
The White Australia policy and the machinery that ran it. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 and its dictation test, which could be administered in any European language and was designed to be failed, along with certificates of exemption, customs paperwork, and the long dismantling. The documents are the subject here as much as the people.
Part of Australia
67 moments in this segment.
- - Alfred Deakin as a young man. A studio portrait of the Victorian politician made by Johnstone, O'Shannessy and Company in 1876, when he was about twenty. As Attorney General he drafted and introduced the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, the founding statute of the White Australia policy, and he served three terms as prime minister. He argued the exclusion in the language of racial unity rather than of labour competition.
- - Deakin photographed by Stewart and Company. A second early studio portrait of Alfred Deakin, taken in 1877. He entered the Victorian parliament at twenty two and was a leading federationist through the conventions of the 1890s. The Act he shepherded through in 1901 avoided naming any race, substituting a dictation test that officers could set in any European language.
- - William Lyne photographed in 1891. A studio portrait by the Freeman Brothers of the New South Wales politician who was premier at Federation. Lyne was first invited to form the inaugural federal government but could not, and Barton took the commission instead. He held the trade and customs portfolio, the department that administered the dictation test at the wharves.
- - The constitution drafting committee of 1898. John Downer, Edmund Barton and Richard O'Connor, the three men appointed at the Adelaide session of the 1897 to 1898 convention to draft the Commonwealth Constitution. Section 51 of their draft gave the new parliament power over immigration and emigration and over the people of any race for whom special laws were deemed necessary. Barton became the first prime minister.
- - The last meeting of the Federal Council of Australasia. Delegates and officers of the Federal Council of Australasia photographed at its final meeting in 1899, with Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland represented. The council was a weak advisory body that New South Wales never joined, and Federation superseded it. Its members carried the exclusionary immigration laws of the separate colonies into the debate over a national statute.
- - Caricature of Alfred Deakin. A caricature drawn for a Melbourne Herald competition to name the ten best citizens of Victoria in 1900, in which Deakin placed ninth. A pencilled joke on the sheet reads that it is a base libel. The drawing was made in the year before he introduced the immigration restriction bill in the first federal parliament.
- - South Sea Islander huts at Palmyra plantation. Workers' huts on a sugar plantation near Mackay in Queensland, photographed around 1900 by an unknown photographer for what is now the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland. Around sixty thousand Pacific Islanders were brought to Queensland to cut cane between 1863 and 1904, many by coercion. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 provided for their deportation, and most were removed after 1906.
- - Swearing in at the Federation Pavilion. The pavilion in Centennial Park, Sydney, during the swearing in of the first Commonwealth government on 1 January 1901. The parliament formed that year passed the Immigration Restriction Act and the Pacific Island Labourers Act within its first six months. Both were among the earliest statutes of the new nation.
- - The Federation Pavilion, second view. A closer view of the temporary domed pavilion built in Centennial Park for the inauguration ceremony of 1 January 1901. Around a hundred thousand people watched the procession through Sydney. The pavilion was later rebuilt in permanent form on the same spot.
- - Crowd at the inauguration ceremony. Spectators around the Centennial Park pavilion on the day the Commonwealth of Australia came into being. The government sworn in that morning made restriction of non European immigration one of its first legislative priorities. Photograph held by the National Library of Australia.
- - The first judges of the High Court. Portraits of Edmund Barton, Chief Justice Samuel Griffith and Richard O'Connor, appointed to the newly created High Court in 1903. The court heard challenges to the operation of the dictation test, including cases on whether an officer could set a test in a language the traveller could not possibly know. It held that the discretion was almost unreviewable.
- - Deakin addresses the Pilgrims Club in London. A magazine illustration of the Australian prime minister speaking at Claridge's Hotel during the 1907 Imperial Conference, with the prime ministers of the other dominions seated around him. Britain repeatedly pressed the dominions to soften racial exclusion because of its treaty obligations to Japan. The dictation test was the device that let Australia exclude by race without saying so on the face of the statute.
- - It Will Sink Them, a Marquet cartoon. Claude Marquet drew Alfred Deakin as the head of a camel carrying John Forrest and Joseph Cook as its humps, weighed down by the Dreadnought affair, to mark the 1909 fusion that created the Commonwealth Liberal Party. Marquet drew for the labour press, which supported exclusion as fiercely as the conservatives did. Party lines shifted repeatedly in the decade after Federation but the immigration policy did not.
- - Detail from It Will Sink Them. A detail of Marquet's 1909 cartoon showing the placards it hangs on the figures, among them the dreadnought disgrace and that risky majority. Cartooning was a principal political medium in Australia before radio. The Worker and the Bulletin both campaigned in favour of a white Australia.
- - The Premiers Conference of 1916. State premiers, attorneys general and parliamentary officers assembled at Adelaide in May 1916, photographed for the record. Immigration remained a Commonwealth power but the states set the conditions of labour that the exclusion policy was framed to protect. The conference met in the middle of the First World War.
- - John Quick in old age. The Bendigo lawyer and federationist photographed around 1930. Quick drafted the enabling bill that produced the elected convention of 1897, and he served as Postmaster General in Deakin's second ministry. His annotated commentary on the Constitution remained a standard reference for decades.
- - Isaac Isaacs in his chambers. The judge reading in his office around 1930, photographed for the Fairfax papers. Isaacs sat on the High Court from 1906 and became Chief Justice in 1930, ruling on cases arising from the immigration restriction legislation he had helped debate as a member of the first parliament. He was the son of a Jewish tailor from Poland.
- - Isaac Isaacs as Chief Justice. A portrait of Isaacs made in 1930, the year he was appointed Chief Justice of Australia. Months later he became the first Australian born Governor General, over the objection of King George V. His career ran alongside the whole first generation of the restriction laws.
- - Sir Isaac and Lady Isaacs. Sam Hood photographed the Governor General and his wife Daisy around 1934, from a glass negative now held by the State Library of New South Wales. Isaacs held the office from 1931 to 1936. The appointment of an Australian rather than a British aristocrat was itself a nationalist assertion of the era that produced the restriction laws.
- - The White Australia Policy and Australia’s Asian troops 1942 – 49- Ernest Koh. 1942. Filed as a migration policy record, from footage of 1942 held by Centre for Creative and Cultural Research.
- - Menzies, Lyons and Holt outside Parliament House. Robert Menzies, Enid Lyons, Eric Harrison, Harold Holt and Thomas White on the steps of the provisional Parliament House in Canberra in 1946. Holt as immigration minister in 1966 announced the changes that ended racial selection in practice, and Menzies had presided over the postwar mass migration programme that began the shift. The dictation test itself was abolished in 1958.
- - Voice of the People: The White Australia Policy (1962). ), published by ABCLibrarySales. The footage depicts events of 1962. Filed as a migration policy record, from footage of 1962 held by ABCLibrarySales.
- - 2013 John Oxley Library Fellows - Kathleen Fallon and Matthew Nagas. Australian South Sea Islanders.. 2013. Filed as a migration policy record, from footage of 2013 held by statelibraryqld.
- - South Sea Islander marchers at Rockhampton. Members of the Australian South Sea Islander community in the parade of nations at the Rockhampton Cultural Festival in 2014. Descendants of the deported cane workers who stayed were recognised as a distinct cultural group by the Commonwealth in 1994. Rockhampton and Mackay hold the largest of those communities.
- - Racial Discrimination Act: Wyatt willing to break party lines. (Australia) and concerning Australian Capital Territory. The Racial Discrimination Act was passed in 1975. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2014.
- - Thomas Cook monument at Scone. A monument in Rotary Park at Scone in the New South Wales Hunter district marking the establishment of the Commonwealth. Small federation memorials were raised in country towns across the eastern colonies in and after 1901. Photograph taken in 2015.
- - Teaching, Travelling, Learning: New Colombo Plan. 1950. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Curtin University in 2016.
- - Australian Natives Association hall, Bacchus Marsh. The association's hall at Bacchus Marsh in Victoria, photographed in 2016. The Australian Natives Association was a friendly society open only to white men born in Australia, and it was among the most effective campaigners for both Federation and a white Australia. Deakin was one of its leading figures.
- - The Deakin Oration. 2016.
- - Sugar Slaves; Australian South Sea Islanders are descendants of the Pacific Islands Blackbird trade.. 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Emelda Mary Davis in 2017.
- - Nyngan Court House. The court house in the western New South Wales town of Nyngan, photographed in 2017. Country magistrates heard prosecutions of prohibited immigrants found inland without an exemption certificate. Courts of this design were built across the interior in the decades either side of Federation.
- - Plaque for the Tenterfield Oration. A commemorative plaque at the School of Arts in Tenterfield, New South Wales, where Henry Parkes made his federation speech on 24 October 1889. Parkes argued that the colonies should unite, and among the practical arguments he pressed was uniform control of immigration. He died in 1896 without seeing Federation.
- - Henry Parkes Resource Centre, Tenterfield. The centre named for Parkes at the Tenterfield School of Arts, photographed in 2017. The hall itself is preserved as the site of the 1889 oration. New South Wales had passed its own Chinese Restriction Act the year before that speech.
- - Federation mosaic at Merriwa. A mosaic in Pioneer Memorial Park at Merriwa in New South Wales commemorating Federation, photographed in 2017. Centenary funding in 2001 produced a wave of such works in country towns. The nation whose founding they mark legislated racial exclusion within its first year.
- - Fact check: Did former prime minister Harold Holt abolish the White Australia policy?. (Australia). Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2018.
- - Blackbirding in Australia | Wikipedia audio article. Blackbirding in Australia, published by Subhajit Sahu and concerning Queensland. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Subhajit Sahu in 2018.
- - South Sea Islanders fight to save historic dry stone walls. 2019.
- - Alfred Deakin: Founding Father of the Australian Federation. 2021.
- - New Colombo Plan High Achievers Scholarship Program. 1950. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by University of Tasmania in 2021.
- - Blackbirding descendants fight for Australian South Sea Islander recognition | ABC Australia. Blackbirding descendants fight for Australian South Sea Islander recognition, published by ABC Australia and concerning Queensland. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ABC Australia in 2021.
- - 100 Years The Australian Story Episode Two Rise and Fall of White Australia Policy. 2022.
- - Australian South Sea Islander and Melanesian Life-Stories: Melinda Mann, Kim Kruger & Imelda Miller. & Language ANU. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by School of Culture, History & Language ANU in 2022.
- - The history and evolution of the work choices of Chinese Australians | Belongings | ABC Australia. The history and evolution of the work choices of Chinese Australians, published by ABC Australia. The Victorian gold rushes began in the early 1850s. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ABC Australia in 2022.
- - 2022 Chinese Australian History Seminar - Australia's Dictation Test: A Gross Piece of Chicanery. 1901 could be set in any language chosen by the officer, so that the applicant would fail. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by IAC WSU in 2022.
- - Transform your future career with the New Colombo Plan Scholarship. 1950. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by UniSC: University of the Sunshine Coast in 2023.
- - Blackbirding: South Sea Islanders celebrate and reflect | ABC News. Blackbirding: South Sea Islanders celebrate and reflect, published by ABC News (Australia) and concerning Queensland. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2023.
- - SCHOOLAR VIDEO: The White Australia Policy. 2023.
- - SLAVERY in AUSTRALIA - A dark history, Sugar Industry #slavery #australia #blackbirding. 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Indigenous History in 2024.
- - BLACKBIRDING - SLAVERY 150th Anniversary in AUSTRALIA #slavery #blackbirding #australia. 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Indigenous History in 2024.
- - Finding Gold display, Melbourne. An interpretive panel on Chinese miners on the nineteenth century goldfields at the Museum of Chinese Australian History in Melbourne, photographed in December 2024. Colonial poll taxes on Chinese arrivals from the 1850s were the direct ancestors of the federal restriction law. The museum sits in Little Bourke Street, the historic centre of Chinese Melbourne.
- - Johnny Chi Lane in Broome Chinatown. A laneway in the Chinatown quarter of Broome in the far north of Western Australia, photographed in 2024. The pearling industry ran on Japanese, Malay, Chinese and Filipino divers and crews, who worked under indentures that exempted them from the immigration restrictions applied elsewhere. The quarter was known as Japtown before the Second World War and its Japanese residents were interned in 1941.
- - Remembering Plantation Creek from Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders. 2024.
- - The White Australia Policy!. 2024.
- - Australia Fair: The Long Tail of the White Australia Policy. 1980, and NITV began free-to-air broadcasts under SBS in 2012. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by SBS Audio in 2024.
- - The Truth About The White Australia Policy | Tony Robinson. The Truth About The White Australia Policy, published by Time Travels. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Time Travels in 2024.
- - Blackbirding: Australia's Slave Trade. 1901 led to the deportation of about 7,500 Pacific Islander workers from Queensland. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Black British Hub in 2024.
- - Australian Citizenship Class, Episode 5: The Nation of Australia at Federation (EASY ENGLISH). ), published by Australian Citizenship Class and concerning Australian Capital Territory. The dictation test of 1901 could be set in any language chosen by the officer, so that the applicant would fail. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Australian Citizenship Class in 2025.
- - Australia's Dictation Test: A Gross Piece of Chicanery. 1901 could be set in any language chosen by the officer, so that the applicant would fail. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ChideStudyPress in 2025.
- - Judith Brett on Alfred Deakin: "Organic Australian Policy". ", published by Robert Menzies Institute. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Robert Menzies Institute in 2025.
- - 9. Amoy Shepherds. 1901 could be set in any language chosen by the officer, so that the applicant would fail. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by ChideStudyPress in 2025.
- - “The Forgotten Genius Behind Australia’s Federation | The Tragic Story of Alfred Deakin”. “The Forgotten Genius Behind Australia’s Federation, published by Nation Maker. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Nation Maker in 2025.
- - Australia's Dark Secret: The White Australia Policy. 2026.
- - Peter Drew's Aussie poster in Sydney. A pasted street poster from Peter Drew's Aussie series on the corner of Wynyard and York Streets in Sydney. The series reproduces portraits taken from certificates of exemption from the dictation test, the document a non European resident needed in order to leave Australia and return. Drew began pasting them across Australian cities in 2016.
- - Ep. 46: The Paper Son - Chinese Roots and AI | Cracking a Chinese Exclusion Act Case. Ep, 46: The Paper Son - Chinese Roots and AI, published by Ancestors And Algorithms and concerning Australian Capital Territory. The dictation test of 1901 could be set in any language chosen by the officer, so that the applicant would fail. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Ancestors And Algorithms in 2026.
- - Pauline Hanson laments end of White Australia policy. 2026.
- - Pauline Hanson denies White Australia policy support | Sunrise. Pauline Hanson denies White Australia policy support, published by Sunrise. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by Sunrise in 2026.
- - New Colombo Plan (NCP) Learning Abroad Opportunities at JCU. 1950. Filed as a migration policy record, posted by JCU: James Cook University, Australia in 2026.