The ethnic diversity of the Australian people at the beginning of
the 21st century is in sharp contrast to the history of the continent.
Australia's earliest inhabitants were Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who arrived around 50,000 years ago, probably from southeast Asia.
The British colonisation of Australia, which began in 1788 with the founding of penal settlements, dispossessed the original inhabitants of their land, leaving them a dispersed and depressed minority group.
It was not until the 1960s that government policies acknowledged the uniqueness of Aboriginal cultures and began to plan strategies to bring the original Australians into the mainstream of national life.
In recent years land rights' legislation and other initiatives have been implemented, but the Aboriginal population of about 430,000 is still relatively deprived, with shorter life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality and unemployment than other groups.
For 150 years after colonisation, Australia's population grew with the arrival of predominantly British settlers. Agriculture and trade developed along European lines. Political reforms leading to universal suffrage and the establishment of trade unions were implemented early on, founding a strong political tradition of equal rights and opportunities.
Barry York, whose parents migrated from Britain and Malta, on multiculturalism.
That tradition, however, did not extend to immigration programs. After Britain's six colonies were federated as the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, successive federal governments pursued the policy of a 'white Australia', a restrictive immigration strategy aimed at prohibiting entry to people of non-European descent. This essentially race-based policy was gradually dismantled, and finally abandoned in 1973.
However the post-World War II assisted mass-immigration program had a significant impact on Australia's Anglo-Celtic tradition. The infusion of non-English speaking people from Europe and, later, the Middle East resulted in a more diverse population.
During the 1950s and 1960s, two million immigrants came to Australia,
with a peak intake of 185,000 people in 1969. New settlers from Italy,
Greece, Malta, the former Yugoslavia and Turkey established themselves
in cities and towns.
The 1970s saw the overall intake lowered, but the proportion of non-European and humanitarian immigrants increased with refugees arrived from Chile, Cyprus, Lebanon and Vietnam and, following the end of the Vietnam War, Indochina and Thailand.
In today's Australia 24 per cent, or one in four people, were born overseas. Of those, about a third were born in Asia.
Second-generation success
Adele Murdolo's Italian family were part of that program of mass immigration.
"My parents' generation always said, 'We came here to work'. And certainly the jobs of that generation, even though they had factory jobs, they still did enjoy some good conditions in terms of health care, good breaks and permanency."
Australian-born children of immigrant parents, like Adele Murdolo, typify the success of the second generation, who tend to outdo their parents both in the education levels they achieve and the incomes they earn.
Adele manages the Migrant Working Women's Health Centre in Victoria, the state with the largest share of manufacturing. She works with women from a wide cross-section of non-English speaking backgrounds.
A member of a street parade audience celebrating the Centenary of Federation In 2001.
"The women we work with are so varied. We'll visit a factory and find women who are, say, from the former Yugoslavia, who have been here for 30 years or more. Then we'll also find women from China, for example, who've got overseas qualifications - they might be trained doctors but they're in the process of having their qualifications recognised, which can actually take quite a long time in Australia. Sometimes it doesn't end up happening."
All major political groupings today remain committed to a multicultural Australia and a strong immigration program. Current policy divides applicants into two streams, one for skilled and family migration, the other with humanitarian needs such as refuge.
The government's priority is to target skilled migrants who will be able to contribute to the economy, particuarly in regional areas.
