Text 20. The history of immigration in Australia

Since the First Fleet of English convicts, sailors and officers arrived in Australia in 1788, and imposed their way of life on the Aboriginal inhabitants, the structure of Australia's population has undergone many changes. For the first 150 years, migration to the country was mainly of British and other European origin. Some Chinese migrated during the goldrushes and other small groups arrived—such as the Afghans in the Northern Territory. However, the majority of these peo­ple returned to their countries of birth when the gold or the work was finished. Only the white-skinned British and European migrants were encouraged to stay and settle in Australia.

After the Second World War, the need to significantly increase the nation's population became obvious. “Populate or Perish” became a common expression—meaning that Australia needed a greater number of people to develop its resources, or risk losing the country in a war with a foreign power. This led to greater numbers of migrants arriving from a wider variety of countries.

Although the greatest number still came from Britain and Ireland, the first migrants from Malta and Holland arrived. Soon hun­dreds of thousands of people were arriving from many eastern European countries-including the Ukraine and the Baltic states. During the 1960s, many Greek, Italian and Yugoslav people settled in Australia. During the 1970s many people arrived from New Zealand, and Lebanese migrants were wel­comed for the first time. In the 1980s people from Vietnam, the Philippines, South Africa and Poland came to Australia to make their homes and their futures. The 1990s saw migration of people from China, Hong Kong and the Pacific islands.

During the 1960s, half of the people migrating to Australia came from Britain and Ireland. In the 1990s, one-eighth of all migrants settling in Australia were from Britain and Ireland.

As Asian migrants are the most noticeable of the recent arrivals, some people find Asian migration hard to accept. Although the num­ber of people from various Asian countries now residing in has increased over the past few years, they still make up only a small percentage of Australia's total popula­tion. Many have come to study at Australian schools and universities. Many others arrived from Vietnam after 1975. These people—like the Europeans of earlier generations - left the war-torn country of their birth to create a new life for their families. Also like the Europeans before them, many Asian immi­grants work very hard in jobs which are not interesting or well paid - in an effort to devel­op a financial base and to 'get ahead' in this land of opportunities.

Answer the following questions:

1. Where did the majority of the firth migrants come from?

2. What did the expression “Populate or Perish” mean?

3. What countries did migrants come from?

4. How has the proportion of migrants from Britain and Ireland altered from the 1960s to the 1990s?