White Australia PolicyArticle Free Pass White Australia Policy,
the anti-Asian immigration policy initiated by the new
Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. It reflected a long-standing
and unifying sentiment of the various Australian colonies and
remained a fundamental government policy into the mid-20th
century. The Australian colonies had passed restrictive
legislation as early as the 1860s. This was directed
specifically at Chinese immigrants, but later a popular cry was
raised against the increasingly numerous Japanese—especially
after Japan’s victory over China in the 1894–95 Sino-Japanese
War—and against South Asians and Kanakas (South Pacific
islanders) as well. Fear of military invasion by Japan, the
threat to the standard of living presented by the cheap but
efficient Asian labourers, and white racism were the principal
factors behind the White Australia movement. In 1901 the
Immigration Restriction Act of Australia effectively ended all
non-European immigration by providing for entrance examinations
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