Australia at the Turn of the Century

Working in Australia seemed rigorous until The Conciliation and Arbitration court was formed in 1904. They acted as a referee to decide an agreement between employers and trade unions. The Workers Compensation Act in 1912 was a plan to provide payments to employees who suffered work-related accident or diseases. In 1909 the introduction of aged pensions, provided British citizens over the age of 65 and resident for 20 years with $52 per year. In 1904 the introduction of the Maternity Allowance Act provided mothers with $10 per child birth. Australia was thought to be “worker’s paradise” because of the aged pensions, worker’s compensation and maternity allowances. This was because Australia had better wages and working conditions compared to people in other countries those days.

The issue of stopping non-European people coming to Australia was one of the main reasons that the six British colonies agreed on Federation. The three main reasons that the restriction of immigration was introduced were:

• Economic factors – Europeans were losing their jobs because employers were replacing European workers with imported workers who would work for lower wages.
• Racial attitudes – Europeans commonly believed that white people were superior to other races and prevent intermarriage between races to keep the white race ‘pure’.
• Preservation of democratic freedoms – Australians thought that their new democratic structures were fragile and the Chinese would threaten their new system.

The first election as a whole nation in 1901, involved almost all candidates supporting the “White Australia policy”. There were 3 parties; the Labour Party, the Free Traders and the Protectionists. Australia’s first Prime Minister Edmund Barton believed in stopping cheap labour and cheap imports. The Immigration Restriction Act was then made milder by having migrants take a dictation test. The dictation test made migrants write down a 50 word passage read out by a guard in “any prescribed language”. The language was to be any European language, which meant a person trying to enter Australia would be tested in a language they probably did not know.

Before 1894, only European men and Aborigines had the right to vote. Queensland removed this right in 1885, followed by Western Australia in 1893. Aborigines had their land taken away from them and their votes did not play a large part in arguments leading up to Federation. Colonies did not want the Commonwealth Government to interfere with their Aboriginal policy making. Aboriginal population was not added to states’ population count. The reason being larger states did not want smaller states to have larger population by including aborigines and smaller states did not want to pay for Aborigines’ taxes.

In 1894 women in South Australia were granted permission to vote in its colony’s elections. Individuals began to take action, women’s groups were formed and some women groups campaigned through demonstrations, petitions and literature. Then in 1899 women in Western Australia were granted permission to vote. A Bill was then passed in 1902 to allow all women to vote in federal elections. Gradually the right was extended to state elections and Victoria was the last to do so in 1908.

In conclusion you can see that many important events occurred from 1901-1914. Demonstrations against Chinese workers were made, working conditions and wages were improved, the dictation test was created for migrants and women were granted suffrage in all colonies’ elections. Looking back on the history of Australia near the turn of the century shows you that lives in those days were very harsh and lives in modern days are very luxurious.