Controlling Immigrants

Customs officers controlled immigration into Victoria. Any person regarded as undesirable could be refused entry.

Immigration restrictions in Victoria began during the gold rush, when a landing tax was imposed on all Chinese arrivals. By the 1880s, Chinese immigration was barred. Restrictions soon applied to all non-Europeans.

The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced the Dictation Test, which enabled anyone to be excluded on racial grounds. Those non-Europeans who did arrive could not become naturalised or bring their families to Australia. By the 1920s and 1930s, quotas and landing taxes also restricted immigration from many European countries.

From the 1940s, restrictive policies were gradually dismantled. Not until the 1970s was all reference to race finally removed from the immigration laws.