Australian Migrants example essay topic

Australia entered World War two as a result of Britain entering the conflict between Germany and Europe when Poland asked for support. Britain threatened Adolph Hitler that by attacking Poland Britain would declare war on Germany. Consequently, Germany invaded Poland and Britain declared War with Germany. The Allied Powers which consisted of Australia, Britain, USA and the Soviet Union eventually won World War two against the Axis Powers which consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan which were all either Fascist or Military Dictatorship governments. In the post World war two Australia, Joseph Benedict Chifley believed that Australia should increase its population and economy; consequently more migrants came from other countries other than the British Isles which prompted the government to make laws against these new migrants not from the British Isles to adopt Australian lifestyles. Migrants from Britain were given incentives to live in Australia, the assisted immigration scheme and the cheap fares to Australia helped this, however migrant targets were not met and non-British migrants were accepted in larger numbers than before.

During 1947-1951, 170000 people arrived from Europe to start a new life. These people had no places to live, nowhere to go and so an International Refugee Organisation (IRO) was formed to help these people. IN 1947 Arthur Cal well agreed to bring in 12000 migrants per year from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Poland and other European Countries. The IRO provided the ships and the Australia government accepted these migrants on humanitarian grounds. However, conditions of acceptance into Australia was that these migrants had to live in Australia for 2 years and work in a job selected by the government, after that, these migrants were able to go back to their previous country.

Over the next 20 years, immigration patterns continued to change as the government took more people from European countries and more countries had agreed on the assisted passages that were once only able for British migrants. However, this immigration might " ve sounded good but the consequences for coming was an assimilation to the Australian lifestyle and the disappearance of their past. They were referred to as new Australians and were sent to migrant hostels as soon as they arrived. They lived in sheds until they found their own housing or employment, meals were provided but living conditions were very bad.

These temporary accommodation sheds were hot in summer, cold in winter and had to accommodate a large amount of migrants. European Migrants were chosen because they were fair skinned and fairly educated; the assimilation policy was supported by all Australian governments from the 1940's to the 1960's. The reason for this policy was so then these 'new Australians' would lose all their traditional customs, culture and languages and blend in and not be seen as different from other Australians. This policy was applied to both British and non-British immigrants, most post-war refugees assimilated quickly but many others simply rebelled and continued their past culture or even left Australia to embark on an adventure back home. In order for the assimilation policy to succeed, language classes, welfare programs and public relations programs made assimilation easier. However, not all of this was always successful and there was more prejudice against these migrants because there was always competition for jobs.

However, the assimilation policy was changed in 1953 because the policy often failed in communities where migrants lived together. The assimilation policy was totally changed and an integration policy was made where migrants were able to maintain their traditional lifestyle, eventually new foods were made available, ethnic languages were spoken more frequently and the Australian lifestyle began to change. These new Australians had helped to change Australia into a more exciting place to live. However, before the integration policy had taken place, migrants from European countries tried to find others for companionship from their dreadful daily rounds. These migrants revolutionise d assimilation and were able to keep their culture and still assimilate into an Australian. They set up choirs, folk-dancing groups, theatres, Saturday schools, scout groups and practiced their traditional anniversaries, holy days and other special celebrations.

In 1960, the biennial Adelaide festival of Arts was made to let these groups to present their arts whether it is choir singing or folk-dancing, it was a way to let them to express themselves and be recognised for their efforts. The migrants were paid for their services whether it was working for BHP or for a local farmer, they were all paid wages. Wages were usually varied because of the type of work they were doing, for example a farmer might " ve paid one that worked on he's farm 7 pounds a week but if he was working for BHP wages could " ve been lot higher because of the type of labour. Most of the work was provided by the Australian government, most the migrants had to accept work in the Snow Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme and manufacturing industries.

It was because of their two year agreement that they were classed as labourers and had to work in jobs they weren't used to. These wages were used for various activities which included their own personal spending or business expansion. These migrants may have gotten their food from migrant hostels which consisted of virtually meat but sometimes they might " ve wanted something traditional, something they haven't tried in a long time so thus they use their wages to purchase basic foods like carrots and make what they want to make. The Migrants may have boosted the economy a lot faster but one side of the story is the demand, the 1930's depression was caused by over demand. However, in the 1950's the population had increased and the demand was going pretty well and hadn't caused another depression.

It was because of these demands that new businesses were developed by migrant's new businesses and new productive diversity through knowledge of international business markets was made possible. The Australian Migrants that immigrated into Australia in the post war world two period were treated in a very mediocre manner. They were assimilated into the Australians but most of them never wanted to assimilate, they wanted to keep their lifestyle and not change. They were the ones that prompted for integration and not assimilation. However, Australia tolerated this all and supported the migrants so the wider community would accept them and in a way no have any prejudice against them in any way.