Australian Political Elites and Citizenship Education for `New Australians' 1945-1960

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Australian Political Elites and Citizenship Education for `New Australians' 1945-1960 View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sydney eScholarship Australian Political Elites and Citizenship Education for `New Australians' 1945-1960 Patricia Anne Bernadette Jenkings Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney MAY 2001 In memory of Bill Jenkings, my father, who gave me the courage and inspiration to persevere TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................... i ABSTRACT................................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. vi ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................. ix INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical Orientation ................................................................................... 9 Methodological Framework.......................................................................... 19 CHAPTER ONE-POLITICAL ELITES, POST-WAR IMMIGRATION AND THE QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP .... 28 Introduction......................................................................................................... 28 Political Elites' Commitment to Large-Scale Post-War Immigration................................................................................................... 40 The Nationality and Citizenship Act (1948)........................................................ 54 The Continuing Consensus.................................................................................. 59 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 62 CHAPTER TWO-FORMAL MIGRANT EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP ................................................................................................... 66 Introduction......................................................................................................... 66 Adult Migrant Education .............................................................................. 68 Camp Schools ...................................................................................................... 68 Continuation Classes ........................................................................................... 72 Campaign Problems Emerge ............................................................................... 76 Bathurst Camp School ......................................................................................... 76 Campaign Review................................................................................................ 87 Migrant Children in Camp Schools .......................................................... 93 Camp School Initiatives....................................................................................... 94 Review of Camp Schools..................................................................................... 97 Greta (New South Wales) Camp School ............................................................. 99 Migrant Children in the State School System......................................101 i Migrant Students' Impact on School Populations...............................................104 Haines Report (South Australia).........................................................................112 `Crisis' in Education - Implications for Campaign .............................................115 Queensland Survey.............................................................................................121 Conclusion...........................................................................................................127 CHAPTER THREE-THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION: AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION .......................129 Introduction........................................................................................................129 Formation of the ABC....................................................................................131 Richard Boyer....................................................................................................135 ABC Radio as Cultural Educator .............................................................138 ABC's Campaign for Citizenship..............................................................143 Migrant Campaign Initiatives.............................................................................143 Campaign Expansion..........................................................................................145 Millionth Migrant and Campaign Review..........................................................152 Television, the Fledgling Medium......................................................................157 Conclusion...........................................................................................................158 CHAPTER FOUR-AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP CONVENTIONS 1950-1960........................................................................160 Introduction........................................................................................................160 Purpose of Conventions.................................................................................161 Convention Organisation..............................................................................165 National Elite Determine Structural Framework................................................165 ACCs Proceed as a National Event ....................................................................169 Official Change in Convention Format ..............................................................178 Migrant `Token' Representation .........................................................................180 ABC's Important Role.........................................................................................182 Convention Themes.........................................................................................187 Assimilation........................................................................................................187 Assimilating the New Arrivals......................................................................187 Report on the Progress and Assimilation of Migrant Children in Australia: The Dovey Report .................................................................192 Citizenship..........................................................................................................196 Conversion into Citizenship .........................................................................196 Citizenship Ceremonies................................................................................208 Conclusion...........................................................................................................210 ii CHAPTER FIVE-GOOD NEIGHBOUR MOVEMENT (NSW) 1950-1960 CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL.................................................................................213 Introduction........................................................................................................213 The New Settlers League (NSW) ...............................................................216 League Formation...............................................................................................216 Citizenship Education `in Action'.......................................................................217 Migrant `Token' Representation .........................................................................220 First Regional Conference ..................................................................................223 Citizenship Ceremony Initiatives .......................................................................225 First Migrant Conference....................................................................................229 Organisational Review and Change of Name.....................................................230 Financial Constraints ..........................................................................................234 Watts Review of Campaign `Success' ................................................................235 Conclusion...........................................................................................................240 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................243 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................255 APPENDICES 1 Location of Migrant Centres Nation-wide 2 NSW Department of Education: Application for English Instruction for Non-English Speaking Migrants (Undated) 3 First ABC Broadcast Booklet, `For New Australians', 1, 1 June 1949 4 ABC New Elementary English Instructions Broadcasts, `For New Australians' Script, 1955 5 ABC Broadcast for Women, `Making Friends' Script, 1957 6 ACC Official Programmes, 1950 and 1960 7 Commonwealth Department of Immigration Brochure, `This is how you can help someone to become an Australian citizen', 1952 iii
Recommended publications
  • Member for Wakefield South Australia
    Conference delegates 2016 *Asterisks identify the recipients of the 2016 Crawford Fund Conference Scholarships ACHITEI, Simona Scope Global ALDERS, Robyn The University of Sydney ANDERSON AO, John The Crawford Fund NSW ANDREW AO, Neil Murray-Darling Basin Authority ANGUS, John CSIRO Agriculture *ARIF, Shumaila Charles Sturt University ARMSTRONG, Tristan Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade ASH, Gavin University of Southern Queensland ASTORGA, Miriam Western Sydney University AUGUSTIN, Mary Ann CSIRO *BAHAR, Nur The Australian National University BAILLIE, Craig The National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA), University of Southern Queensland *BAJWA, Ali School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, The University of Queensland BARLASS, Martin Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre BASFORD, Kaye The Crawford Fund *BEER, Sally University of New England, NSW *BENYAM, Addisalem Central Queensland University BERRY, Sarah James Cook University / CSIRO *BEST, Talitha Central Queensland University BIE, Elizabeth Australian Government Department of Agriculture & Water Resources BISHOP, Joshua WWF-Australia BLACKALl, Patrick The University of Queensland *BLAKE, Sara South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI), Primary Industries & Regions South Australia BLIGHT AO, Denis The Crawford Fund *BONIS-PROFUMO, Gianna Charles Darwin University BOREVITZ, Justin The Australian National University BOYD, David The University of Sydney BRASSIL, Semih Western Sydney University BROGAN, Abigail Australian Centre
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2006-2007: Part 2 – Overview
    24 international broadcasting then... The opening transmission of Radio Australia in December 1939, known then as “Australia Calling”. “Australia Calling… Australia Calling”, diminishing series of transmission “hops” announced the clipped voice of John Royal around the globe. For decades to come, through the crackle of shortwave radio. It was listeners would tune their receivers in the a few days before Christmas 1939. Overseas early morning and dusk and again at night broadcasting station VLQ 2—V-for-victory, to receive the clearest signals. Even then, L-for-liberty, Q-for-quality—had come alive signal strength lifted and fell repeatedly, to the impending terror of World War II. amid the atmospheric hash. The forerunner of Radio Australia broadcast Australia Calling/Radio Australia based itself in those European languages that were still in Melbourne well south of the wartime widely used throughout South-East Asia at “Brisbane Line” and safe from possible the end of in the colonial age—German, Dutch, Japanese invasion. Even today, one of Radio French, Spanish and English. Australia’s principal transmitter stations is located in the Victorian city of Shepparton. Transmission signals leapt to the ionosphere —a layer of electro-magnetic particles By 1955, ABC Chairman Sir Richard Boyer surrounding the planet—before reflecting summed up the Radio Australia achievement: down to earth and bouncing up again in a “We have sought to tell the story of this section 2 25 country with due pride in our achievements international broadcasting with Australia and way of life, but without ignoring the Television. Neither the ABC nor, later, differences and divisions which are inevitable commercial owners of the service could in and indeed the proof of a free country”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rifle Club Movement and Australian Defence 1860-1941
    The Rifle Club Movement and Australian Defence 1860-1941 Andrew Kilsby A thesis in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of New South Wales School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences February 2014 Abstract This thesis examines the rifle club movement and its relationship with Australian defence to 1941. It looks at the origins and evolution of the rifle clubs and associations within the context of defence developments. It analyses their leadership, structure, levels of Government and Defence support, motivations and activities, focusing on the peak bodies. The primary question addressed is: why the rifle club movement, despite its strong association with military rifle shooting, failed to realise its potential as an active military reserve, leading it to be by-passed by the military as an effective force in two world wars? In the 19th century, what became known as the rifle club movement evolved alongside defence developments in the Australian colonies. Rifle associations were formed to support the Volunteers and later Militia forces, with the first ‘national’ rifle association formed in 1888. Defence authorities came to see rifle clubs, especially the popular civilian rifle clubs, as a cheap defence asset, and demanded more control in return for ammunition grants, free rail travel and use of rifle ranges. At the same time, civilian rifle clubs grew in influence within their associations and their members resisted military control. An essential contradiction developed. The military wanted rifle clubs to conduct shooting ‘under service conditions’, which included drill; the rifle clubs preferred their traditional target shooting for money prizes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret History of Australia's Nuclear Ambitions
    Jim Walsh SURPRISE DOWN UNDER: THE SECRET HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS by Jim Walsh Jim Walsh is a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science program at MIT, where he is completing a dissertation analyzing comparative nuclear decisionmaking in Australia, the Middle East, and Europe. ustralia is widely considered tactical nuclear weapons. In 1961, of state behavior and the kinds of Ato be a world leader in ef- Australia proposed a secret agree- policies that are most likely to retard forts to halt and reverse the ment for the transfer of British the spread of nuclear weapons? 1 spread of nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons, and, throughout This article attempts to answer Australian government created the the 1960s, Australia took actions in- some of these questions by examin- Canberra Commission, which called tended to keep its nuclear options ing two phases in Australian nuclear for the progressive abolition of open. It was not until 1973, when history: 1) the attempted procure- nuclear weapons. It led the fight at Australia ratified the NPT, that the ment phase (1956-1963); and 2) the the U.N. General Assembly to save country finally renounced the acqui- indigenous capability phase (1964- the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty sition of nuclear weapons. 1972). The historical reconstruction (CTBT), and the year before, played Over the course of four decades, of these events is made possible, in a major role in efforts to extend the Australia has gone from a country part, by newly released materials Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of that once sought nuclear weapons to from the Australian National Archive Nuclear Weapons (NPT) indefi- one that now supports their abolition.
    [Show full text]
  • WACOBU Newsletters
    WACOBU P.O. Box 1092 WAGGA WAGGA NSW 2650 WACOBU News Newsletter from the Wagga Agricultural College Old Boys Union JUNE 2010 John Harper - wins Pride of Australia medal See page 3 HAVING A LAUGH: pictured are Scott Cam, John Harper and country music singer James Blundell Photo courtesy of Cootamundra Herald WACOBU newsletters: http://news.csu.edu.au/alumni/director/publications/wacobu_newsletter.cfm WAC Rugby - www.agrugby.rugbynet.com. WACOBU COMMITTEE MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR PRESIDENT Stuart Kanaley (‘ 79–‘82) In this newsletter there are articles and news that reflect the Tel: 069242400 strong traditions of Wagga Agricultural College, the tremendous [email protected] achievements of many Old Boys, the bonds of friendship that exist between former students and and the importance of rugby and VICE PRESIDENT sport in general to the College. Warwick Nightingale (‘ 92–‘ 94) Tel: 0458 273 188 For many Old Boys, their achievements in life are great but [email protected] John Harper (better known as China) from the class of 1974, has received some well deserved recognition for his outstanding work SECRETARY in his “Mate helping Mate” program. James Brady (‘94–‘ 97) The program which helps people recognise and deal with Tel. 69245287 depression in the farming community came from China’s personal [email protected] experiences in dealing with the prolonged drought on his farm. TREASURER John took the view that he could help others in his own Ros Prangnell (‘ 75–’ 77) community deal with depression as farmers struggled to cope Tel. 69331260 with the drought and the impact and toll it took on individual [email protected] farmers, their families and whole rural communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Title
    Creating a Scene: The Role of Artists’ Groups in the Development of Brisbane’s Art World 1940-1970 Judith Rhylle Hamilton Bachelor of Arts (Hons) University of Queensland Bachelor of Education (Arts and Crafts) Melbourne State College A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2014 School of English, Media Studies and Art History ii Abstract This study offers an analysis of Brisbane‘s art world through the lens of artists‘ groups operating in the city between 1940 and 1970. It argues that in the absence of more extensive or well-developed art institutions, artists‘ groups played a crucial role in the growth of Brisbane‘s art world. Rather than focusing on an examination of ideas about art or assuming the inherently ‗philistine‘ and ‗provincial‘ nature of Brisbane‘s art world, the thesis examines the nature of the city‘s main art institutions, including facilities for art education, the art market, conservation and collection of art, and writing about art. Compared to the larger Australian cities, these dimensions of the art world remained relatively underdeveloped in Brisbane, and it is in this context that groups such as the Royal Queensland Art Society, the Half Dozen Group of Artists, the Younger Artists‘ Group, Miya Studios, St Mary‘s Studio, and the Contemporary Art Society Queensland Branch provided critical forms of institutional support for artists. Brisbane‘s art world began to take shape in 1887 when the Queensland Art Society was founded, and in 1940, as the Royal Queensland Art Society, it was still providing guidance for a small art world struggling to define itself within the wider network of Australian art.
    [Show full text]
  • Listing and Sitting Arrangements, Nsw Local Court
    LISTING AND SITTING ARRANGEMENTS, NSW LOCAL COURT Listing and sitting arrangements of the NSW Local Court Click on the links below to find the listing and sitting arrangements for each court. CHAMBER DAYS – Please note that Chamber Days have been cancelled from August 2020 to March 2021 to allow for the listing of defended work Albion Park Broken Hill Deniliquin Albury Burwood Downing Centre Armidale Byron Bay Dubbo Assessors - Small Claims Camden Dunedoo Ballina Campbelltown Dungog Bankstown Campbelltown Children's Eden Batemans Bay Casino Fairfield Bathurst Central Finley Bega Cessnock Forbes Bellingen Cobar Forster Belmont Coffs Harbour Gilgandra Bidura Children's Court Commonwealth Matters - Glen Innes (Glebe) (see Surry Hills see Downing Centre Gloucester Children’s Court) Condobolin Gosford Blayney Cooma Goulburn Blacktown Coonabarabran Grafton Boggabilla Coonamble Grenfell Bombala Cootamundra Griffith Bourke Corowa Gulgong Brewarrina Cowra Broadmeadow Children's Gundagai Crookwell Court Circuits Gunnedah 1 LISTING AND SITTING ARRANGEMENTS, NSW LOCAL COURT Hay Manly Nyngan Hillston Mid North Coast Children’s Oberon Court Circuit Holbrook Orange Milton Hornsby Parkes Moama Hunter Children’s Court Parramatta Circuit Moree Parramatta Children’s Court Illawarra Children's Court Moruya Peak Hill (Nowra, Pt. Kembla, Moss Moss Vale Vale and Goulburn) Penrith Mt Druitt Inverell Picton Moulamein Junee Port Kembla Mudgee Katoomba Port Macquarie Mullumbimby Kempsey Queanbeyan Mungindi Kiama Quirindi Murrurundi Kurri Kurri Raymond Terrace Murwillumbah
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Howard Beale, 1958–641 Matthew Jordan
    5 ‘Mr Necessity’: Sir Howard Beale, 1958–641 Matthew Jordan Howard Beale was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 1957 at a critical time in American and indeed world history. The Cold War was well underway and tensions between the US-led West and Soviet Russia made the prospect of a ‘hot war’ with all its awful consequences a real possibility. Moved mainly by the inherent strategic limitations of ‘massive retaliation’, the US increasingly focused on winning ‘hearts and minds’ in former colonial territories in the Middle East, Asia and Africa during the 1950s and thereby stopping the spread of global communism.2 This broadening of the policy of containment, based on a continuing belief that communism was monolithic, found its most pertinent manifestation for Australia in the signing of the Manila Pact in September 1954. The pact, which established the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), committed the US to the defence of signatory countries in the event of communist aggression or subversion. Taken together with the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS), signed three years earlier, SEATO reinforced Australia’s identification of the US as its primary great power protector. 1 For their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this chapter, I would like to thank David Lowe, David McLean, Neville Meaney, Colin Milner and especially James Curran, who was kind enough to give me a large number of key documents from the John F Kennedy Library in Boston. 2 See John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1982, chs 6–8.
    [Show full text]
  • Ii: Mary Alice Evatt, Modern Art and the National Art Gallery of New South Wales
    Cultivating the Arts Page 394 CHAPTER 9 - WAGING WAR ON THE ESTABLISHMENT? II: MARY ALICE EVATT, MODERN ART AND THE NATIONAL ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES The basic details concerning Mary Alice Evatt's patronage of modern art have been documented. While she was the first woman appointed as a member of the board of trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, the rest of her story does not immediately suggest continuity between her cultural interests and those of women who displayed neither modernist nor radical inclinations; who, for example, manned charity- style committees in the name of music or the theatre. The wife of the prominent judge and Labor politician, Bert Evatt, Mary Alice studied at the modernist Sydney Crowley-Fizelle and Melbourne Bell-Shore schools during the 1930s. Later, she studied in Paris under Andre Lhote. Her husband shared her interest in art, particularly modern art, and opened the first exhibition of the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne 1939, and an exhibition in Sydney in the same year. His brother, Clive Evatt, as the New South Wales Minister for Education, appointed Mary Alice to the Board of Trustees in 1943. As a trustee she played a role in the selection of Dobell's portrait of Joshua Smith for the 1943 Archibald Prize. Two stories thus merge to obscure further analysis of Mary Alice Evatt's contribution to the artistic life of the two cities: the artistic confrontation between modernist and anti- modernist forces; and the political career of her husband, particularly knowledge of his later role as leader of the Labor opposition to Robert Menzies' Liberal Party.
    [Show full text]
  • David Rivett
    DAVID RIVETT: FIGHTER FOR AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE OTHER WORKS OF ROHAN RIVETT Behind Bamboo. 1946 Three Cricket Booklets. 1948-52 The Community and the Migrant. 1957 Australian Citizen: Herbert Brookes 1867-1963. 1966 Australia (The Oxford Modern World Series). 1968 Writing About Australia. 1970 This page intentionally left blank David Rivett as painted by Max Meldrum. This portrait hangs at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's headquarters in Canberra. ROHAN RIVETT David Rivett: FIGHTER FOR AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE RIVETT First published 1972 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission © Rohan Rivett, 1972 Printed in Australia at The Dominion Press, North Blackburn, Victoria Registered in Australia for transmission by post as a book Contents Foreword Vll Acknowledgments Xl The Attack 1 Carving the Path 15 Australian at Edwardian Oxford 28 1912 to 1925 54 Launching C.S.I.R. for Australia 81 Interludes Without Playtime 120 The Thirties 126 Through the War-And Afterwards 172 Index 219 v This page intentionally left blank Foreword By Baron Casey of Berwick and of the City of Westminster K.G., P.C., G.C.M.G., C.H., D.S.a., M.C., M.A., F.A.A. The framework and content of David Rivett's life, unusual though it was, can be briefly stated as it was dominated by some simple and most unusual principles. He and I met frequently in the early 1930's and discussed what we were both aiming to do in our respective fields. He was a man of the most rigid integrity and way of life.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics, Power and Protest in the Vietnam War Era
    Chapter 6 POLITICS, POWER AND PROTEST IN THE VIETNAM WAR ERA In 1962 the Australian government, led by Sir Robert Menzies, sent a group of 30 military advisers to Vietnam. The decision to become Photograph showing an anti-war rally during the 1960s. involved in a con¯ict in Vietnam began one of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War led to the largest the most controversial eras in Australia's protest movement we had ever experienced. history. It came at a time when the world was divided between nations that were INQUIRY communist and those that were not; when · How did the Australian government respond to the communism was believed to be a real threat to threat of communism after World War II? capitalist societies such as the United States · Why did Australia become involved in the Vietnam War? and Australia. · How did various groups respond to Australia's The Menzies government put great effort into involvement in the Vietnam War? linking Australia to United States foreign · What was the impact of the war on Australia and/ policy in the Asia-Paci®c region. With the or neighbouring countries? communist revolution in China in 1949, the invasion of South Korea by communist North A student: Korea in 1950, and the con¯ict in Vietnam, 5.1 explains social, political and cultural Australia looked increasingly to the United developments and events and evaluates their States to contain communism in this part of the impact on Australian life world. The war in Vietnam engulfed the 5.2 assesses the impact of international events and relationships on Australia's history Indochinese region and mobilised hundreds of 5.3 explains the changing rights and freedoms of thousands of people in a global protest against Aboriginal peoples and other groups in Australia the horror of war.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legacy of Robert Menzies in the Liberal Party of Australia
    PASSING BY: THE LEGACY OF ROBERT MENZIES IN THE LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA A study of John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and John Howard Sophie Ellen Rose 2012 'A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of BA (Hons) in History, University of Sydney'. 1 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the guidance of my supervisor, Dr. James Curran. Your wisdom and insight into the issues I was considering in my thesis was invaluable. Thank you for your advice and support, not only in my honours’ year but also throughout the course of my degree. Your teaching and clear passion for Australian political history has inspired me to pursue a career in politics. Thank you to Nicholas Eckstein, the 2012 history honours coordinator. Your remarkable empathy, understanding and good advice throughout the year was very much appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge the library staff at the National Library of Australia in Canberra, who enthusiastically and tirelessly assisted me in my collection of sources. Thank you for finding so many boxes for me on such short notice. Thank you to the Aspinall Family for welcoming me into your home and supporting me in the final stages of my thesis and to my housemates, Meg MacCallum and Emma Thompson. Thank you to my family and my friends at church. Thank you also to Daniel Ward for your unwavering support and for bearing with me through the challenging times. Finally, thanks be to God for sustaining me through a year in which I faced many difficulties and for providing me with the support that I needed.
    [Show full text]