The White Australia Policy

by Keith Windschuttle

Genres: History

370 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Keith Windschuttle was an Australian historian. He was appointed to the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 2006 to 2011. He was editor of Quadrant from 2007 to 2015 when he became chair of the board and editor-in-chief. He was the publisher of Macleay Press, which operated from 1994 to 2010.

Reviews

[Daryl Mather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an outstanding book on The White Australia policy, its origins, intentions, and ultimate dissolution.

Far from the racist law that we have always been told, it was intended as a cultural protection for the tiny Australian population in a region of gigantic nations and populations.

Had it not happened at the time the nature of Australia would today be vastly different. I don’t know better or worse, but I’ve quite liked the way we ended up until very recently.

I’d recommend it for anyone with an interest in Australian history. A book worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Geoffrey Blainey’s work.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

42 WORD REVIEW:

Not so much a reassessment of the White Australia Policy as a denouncement of academics who study history without actually sifting through the evidence. Windschuttle writes with the barely restrained cold-burning authority of a serious scholar at the end of his tether.