Discussion of Current Affairs – White Australia 时论

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Authored by the journalist from the Tung Wah Times

The white people confidently claim full authority over Australia and have always believed that their status and power are firm and unshakable. However, the advancement of a race would often largely depend on the climate, as even a country with an ideal climate such as America cannot fully exclude its indigenous people at the moment. Therefore, it is no wonder the lands remain uncultivated and desolate in this massive Australia, where the white people living here are nothing more than cuckoos in the nest. However, with such unfavourable conditions, they still keep demanding a pure White Australia pettily. Wouldn’t this, therefore, indicate that the storm clouds are gathering over the future of this country?

The continent of Australia spans from ten to forty degrees south latitude. Although two-thirds of its lands lie outside the tropics, hot climates in this country still cannot be avoided. The Anglo-Saxon race has long been characterized by their perseverance and fortitude, yet much of their endeavour and courage has also been long lost ever since they migrated to this place. While white people are still able to undertake agricultural labour under the mild climate in the south, the development of the labour industries can be problematic in those hot regions in the north. This is because the white people in the north tend to indulge in comfort and can no longer understand the hardships of farming. Consequently, the most densely populated areas are actually four of the cities that house about one-third of Australia’s entire population, with the white people living in Melbourne alone accounting for half of Victoria’s population. Those residing in these cities could receive a daily wage of seven shillings, yet they remain reluctant to engage in local labour. Thus, with fewer days of generating profits but more days of sharing profits, how could the prospect of Australia’s economy not be significantly disrupted? Issues with European labour often arise from a scarcity of industries which will leave workers without a foothold. By contrast, the problem with Australian labour lies in the people’s reluctance to work, even though different industries in such a vast and fertile land actively advertise for labourers. Moreover, the workers are fussy about their wages and working hours and bargain with their employers in relation to these two aspects in every possible way. This is not to mention the most unfavourable climate here that further leads to their tendency for ease and aversion to labour, as well as their preference for cities over the countryside. Naturally, the resulting negative impacts would probably stretch beyond the anticipated scope, leading to unforeseen consequences.

The opposition to the immigration of non-white people exists in all areas of Australian colonization, with that being the strongest in Queensland, followed by New South Wales, and then Victoria and South Australia. This is because New South Wales and Queensland are closest to the equator, while Victoria lies outside the tropics. In comparison, although the majority of the land in South Australia is located within the tropics, the hot region in its north makes this province hardly more than a nominal territory with few residents. Thus, it is evident that such opposition is particularly stronger in areas closer to the equator that suffer the harshest climates. This is because the whites probably cannot bear the extreme heat in these regions, but at the same time, they fear that others will take advantage of the situation to compete against them to seize control over all the assets they have developed on the land so far. No wonder the politicians in this country have been arguing that it would be better to leave the land uncultivated to avoid troubles, rather than to welcome non-white people in order to cultivate the land, as they can lead to civil strife in the future. Alas! The division between races indeed can never cease, because why else would they reject other races so vehemently and to such an extreme degree?

In 1885, Queensland suddenly imposed a prohibition on the entry of Polynesians because they were capable of planting sugarcane in tropical regions, willing to accept low wages and had no resistance to hard labour. Thus, the government of Queensland enacted this prohibition to protect the interests of the white people. However, the white people considered themselves a superior race which was unable to tolerate the extreme heat. Accordingly, the sugarcane industry gradually declined within a few years, and the plantation owners who eventually suffered substantial losses found themselves almost unable to sustain their businesses. As a result, the prohibition was finally, still lifted in 1892. From then on, as the past matters no longer existed, the policy shifted its target. The previous prohibition on Polynesians was then extended to Chinese and other Asians. The reason behind this was nothing but the white people’s belief in their distinction from the yellow races, as they insisted that this would be manifested by the differences in the mindsets as well as the physical appearance of the two races. According to them, the policy should therefore, surely remain as such to uphold a White Australia.

I have once investigated the population of Chinese expatriates in Australia’s six provinces. The number is gradually decreasing now to barely reach thirty thousand, even though it exceeded forty thousand ten years ago. If one is to calculate the figures by referring to the population records, it will turn out that under this White Australia policy, Chinese people certainly would simply move towards destruction or extinction on their own without being explicitly threatened by the external environment, and a wise man will surely be able to predict such a misery. However, despite the population plummet of Chinese people in this vast land of Australia, the white population has not increased either. Likewise, despite the elimination of Chinese migrants, the situation has not become more advantageous for the whites. With such a vast and fertile land but a population of only four million, scarcely half of them are capable of contending with challenges posed by nature and humans. In contrast, there is an abundance of people who gather in the cities in pursuit of an easy life. In view of this, the spirit of the white and the vigour of the nation have actually long been declining irreversibly even without the intrusion from other races, and this is exactly the current state of this “White Australia”. It is recently heard that those in power are considering eugenics as a means to “make progress”. Woe! Perhaps a race will always have to be superior in order not to be wiped out in this competition for survival.