Creating a nation (1945-2008)

Students investigate the ways in which the push to ‘populate or perish’ and attitudes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples after World War Two changed Australian society.

They examine perspectives about who could migrate and belong in the Australia nation, including an expanding concept of citizenship and migration and how that would challenge the White Australia Policy and contribute to a multicultural society. (VCE History Study Design 2022–2026 p.60)

Topics

New patterns of immigration

Moran, Anthony The public life of Australian multiculturalism : building a diverse nation
Geoffrey Brahm Levey Political theory and Australian multiculturalism

A global economy

Capling, A Economic nationalism in the 1990s Australian Quarterly, 1997, Vol.69(2), pp.1-14
Collins, Jock Globalisation, immigration and the second long post-war boom in Australia Journal of Australian Political Economy, June, 2008, Issue 61, p.244(23)
- choose PDF/EPUB option above Abstract to download
Lloyd, Christopher Australian capitalism since 1992: a new regime of accumulation? Journal of Australian Political Economy, No. 61, 2008: [30]-55
- choose PDF/EPUB option above Abstract to download
McLean, Ian W. Why Australia prospered : the shifting sources of economic growth
- see particularly chapter 9.

Post-War Reconstruction

Department of Post-War Reconstruction pamphlets, also includes some contemporary pamphlets from other organisations

White Australia

Contemporary pamphlets on White Australia
Fitzgerald, John Big white lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia

Legislation

Migration Act 1966
Racial Discrimination Act 1975

Search the Austlii database for further legislation.

AustLII
Research full text legislation, court reports, case law and archives of government publications for all Australian states and territories. Also includes international legislation, court decisions and treaties.