Hi again Foxy,

Continuing from where I left off. Pre war the White Australia policy had worked to "invite in the clean and keep out the dirty" as some politician whose names escapes me once said. Immediate post war, Labor under Chifley had great expectations of building a better Australia with broader post war immigration, but still restrictive, the White Australia Policy lingered till 1958. Added to that immigration push was a drive for "Australia for Australian Citizens". The launching of nation building projects like the Snowy, and new investment in manufacturing industries had needs. This new economy would need labour, and European refugees would be an ideal source of the skilled and unskilled workers required. The arrival of post war Europeans in large numbers was the first real shift away from ties with Britain and the beginning of multiculturalism in Australia. That shift has continued to this day.

The silliest notion is that immigrants want to change Australia. They come knowing the set up, and they come here because it's a better place than the one they left. It's only a few malcontented Marxists already here who who constantly carp about our history and traditions.

Dear Banjo,

Thanks for the link.
Loved it.

Stirs back so many wonderful memories.

I came across the following link that you might
enjoy:

http://www.theconversation.com/no-longer-tied-to-britain-australia-is-still-searching-its-place-in-the-world-70407

Paul,

Check out the make up of the First Fleet, that’s when multiculturalism really began in Australia and we got our first people of immediate African descent.

Dear Paul,

The link I've cited to Banjo tells us that:

"British Australia was the creation of an imperial
decision. (a dumping ground of British outcasts).
This meant that strong links to Britain and the
British monarchy continued well into the 20th century.
There were occasional republicans who advocated a
so-called independent Australia particularly in the
19th century but if anything enthusiasm for the
British Empire increased in the first half of the
20th century."

"Australians were Australians, but they were also
"British." There was the proud boast that Australians
were more "British" than the inhabitants of London."

"This of course, was probably true given that London
attracted people from all over the empire and was
cosmopolitan in a way that Australia was not."

"The early settlers were British in a very Australian way."

"Australians know their future is linked with Britain, not
only by ties of race and kinship, but because of hard, practical reasons."

No, the speaker was not Robert Menzies but Ben Chifley in
1948.

The link reminds us to :

"Witness the massively popular reception of the new monarch
Queen Elizabeth when she visited Australia in 1954."

And we are also reminded that in the 1950s a strong connection
between Australia and Britain made a lot of sense.

Whether that link is as strong today - remains to be seen.
Or will it with time inevitably weaken because Australia
is changing in so many ways.

Foxy,
You seem to be forgetting the Irish who have had an impact on Australia’s development far exceeding their minority status.