Home > Student Archival Essays > How did the White Australia Policy affect the constructed identities of immigrants coming from Greater Syria to Australia between the 1890s to the 1940s?

How did the White Australia Policy affect the constructed identities of immigrants coming from Greater Syria to Australia between the 1890s to the 1940s?

by Aliya Ahmed

Syrian Women, Table Talk 1903

Foreign Hawkers in Australia (Syrian Problem)

Permission to come to Australia

The White Australian Policy played a major role in affecting the type of immigration into Australia, especially after the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act. The Australian political agenda, to keep Australia ‘white’, significantly impacted the social factors that shaped the Syrian and Lebanese immigrant communities, resulted in a constantly fluid and ever changing constructed identities of these communities throughout the time that the policy was in place. Although this exclusion policy was never directly explicit regarding racial distinctions, its intention to keep non-Europeans out of Australia was clear. This investigation seeks to explore the effects of the policy in regards to Syrian and Lebanese immigrants from the end of the 19^th century through to the start of the Second World War. Additionally, the White Australia Policy played a remarkable role in the perception of these communities and, by extension, the attitudes towards them by white Australians.

This investigation will be broken down into two main thematic components through an examination of various archival documents. It will illustrate how the policy significantly impacted the identity of the Syrian and Lebanese immigrant community within Australia during this time period. It will also highlight how the policy played a major role in defining the perceptions of and attitudes towards these communities by white Australians at the time, primarily through archived newspaper articles. For the purpose of this essay, the term “Syrian” and “Lebanese” will be interchangeable, following the definition of this sect of immigrants utilised by Anne Monsour, as Lebanese immigrants were considered a part of “Greater Syria” for much of the duration in which the White Australia Policy was in place.[1] Ultimately, an analysis into the existing archival documents will reveal that the White Australia Policy directly impacted the Syrian and Lebanese immigrant community, as well as the white Australian population in relation to these immigrants.

The Immigration Act of 1901 was the first tangible action of the newly formed Australian Federation in their attempts to create a White Australia. This Act sought to restore Australia to its former racial composition that existed during British settlement. By this Act, certain races and classes of people were declared “Prohibited Immigrants” if they did not pass the fifty-word dictation test of any European language chosen at the “officer’s discretion”.[2] The White Australia Policy arose from the fear that the “influx of aliens, Asiatics, criminals, paupers and other undesirable classes” were surpassing the population of the white colonists who had established the Federation in 1901.[3] By imposing dictation tests for any future non-European raced individuals entering the country, Australia would be able to minimise the number of immigrants entering the country, thereby keeping Australia ‘white’. Although the policy never explicitly referred to race or by name, archival documents have revealed that, in practice, the dictation test of any language chosen at the officer’s “discretion” was always a European language.[4] This policy played a significant role in affecting Syrian and Lebanese immigration into Australia until the advent of the Second World War.

The restrictions that were placed on the type of immigrants that entered Australia at the introduction of the White Australia Policy distinctly categorised and labelled all the Syrian and Lebanese communities within Australia. After the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901, the influx of Syrians into Australia was almost halved, as it was no longer a simply matter of being able to afford the airfare to Australia.[5] Certain inspections had to be passed, such as dictation tests, exemption certificates from the minister or proof “non-prohibited immigrant” family members within Australia.[6] At the start of the White Australia Policy, Syrians were grouped as part of the “Asiatic” race;[7] it was only until several years after the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, overwhelmingly in the 1909, that Syrians and Lebanese campaigned for the argument that their race was part of the white European race.[8] This is evident through an analysis of the existing archival documents on customs records, as well as newspaper articles from the 1880s to the 1940s, addressing issues specific to these communities.

The identities of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in Australia were constantly changing and redefined as various international events affected the level of immigration into Australia. At the start of the Federation in 1901, there was a small population of Syrians within Australia, however once the Immigration Restriction Act was introduced in the same year, the process of naturalisation for these immigrants became increasingly difficult. Existing literature on the topic of Syrian immigration reveals that, although many Lebanese that entered Australia were educated, well-respected individuals within their community, they were granted limited citizenship and were not eligible for many of the state benefits, such as old-age pension.[9] This highlights the implicit attitudes towards these immigrants by white Australians who considered themselves superior persons. While many Syrians argued that they were not “Asian”, but that they shared a common religion and race with the white Australian population, and were thus “white”, Muslim Syrians often changed their names to assimilate into the Christian, western culture.[10] An example of this is seen in the case study of Kabel Zahen Malouf who, upon the process of naturalisation, changed his name to “Frank Malouf”, in order to be more accepted among the Australian population.[11] Simple changes such as this illustrate that the identities of Syrian individuals within Australia during this time period was constantly changing to adapt to the political nature of the new Federation. At the start of the White Australia Policy, most Syrians immigrating to western countries, such as Australia, followed some sect of Christianity. The explanation for this was straightforward; Muslims faced cultural and religious barriers in western countries, and Syrian and Lebanese Christians argued that they were part of the “white race” due to shared religious practices.[12] Archival documents reveal that the Syrian argument of a shared religion with white Australians played a major role in eventually distinguishing them from Asian races, and eventually being classified as white in Australia.

The Lebanese immigrants’ argument that they were a ‘white’ race was crucial in order to gain equal status as citizens however, the angle at which they argued this constantly changed throughout the White Australia Policy, based on outside political factors. Lebanese individuals seeking naturalisation at the turn of the 20^th century stressed their Turkish background to appear “white” in Australia.[13] This tact changed however, during the First World War, as Turkey was considered as an enemy to the allies. As Australia became increasingly involved in the Great War, many Lebanese who had previously stressed Turkish descent to gain naturalisation reconsidered their identity, claiming Syrian backgrounds, and disassociating themselves from the Turkish rule. Archival documents reveal that in 1916, the Premier of New South Wales pardoned any subject of the Sultan of Turkey that were “Greek, Armenian or Syrian”, as well as any member that was “well-known to be opposed to the Turkish regime”, from many of the requirements within the Alien Restriction Order 1915.[14] The purely definitional identity of the Syrian immigrants entering Australia throughout the White Australia Policy was constantly changing in order to adapt to various political climates affecting the Federation.

The White Australia Policy led to internal biases regarding the perception of the standard of living that the Syrian and Lebanese communities in Australia lived in. Archived newspapers illustrate the creative redirection of this low standard of living perceived by white Australians to the advantage of the Syrian immigrants. A Wellington newspaper writes that Syrian hawkers were given certain liberties because of their low standard of living and day-to-day lifestyle.[15] The article states that white Australian housewives allow Syrian hawkers to act more casual than the manner expected of a white salesperson due to their otherness. It states that the Syrian immigrant “knows he is an alien and far below the lady in her opinion – not in his”.[16] This demonstrates precisely the leverage that identifying as a foreigner could result in hawkers charging more for goods and engaging in bargaining with the housewife customer and still make a comfortable profit. Although Syrians argued that they were equal to white Australians when protesting for equal status, when conducting business, they were able to exploit this perceived inequality to their advantage. Moreover, white Australian housewives could justify bargaining, an action they would never dare to do with a white salesperson, through the argument of “look how they live”.[17] Even though the housewife appeared to be exploiting the Syrian hawker, it was the hawker themselves who managed to exploit the white Australian housewife. Thus, the White Australia Policy, which quite obviously distinguished white Australians from immigrants, played a major role in the Syrian hawkers identifying themselves in a certain way. By remaining distant enough from the white Australian housewives whilst hawking, they were able to manipulate certain identities projected on them to their advantage.

A unique characteristic of Syrian immigrants entering Australia during the White Australian Policy was the gender balance. Unlike other non-European immigrants, the ratio between Syrian and Lebanese men and women entering Australia was almost equal.[18] In fact, archived newspaper articles reveal that in 1924, over half of the incoming Syrian population were women.[19] Moreover, unlike many of the other immigrants in Australia, many of the Syrian and Lebanese women had jobs. During the First World War, alien immigrants had to lodge an application for registration, and these documents reveal that many of the Syrian women had occupations other than being a housewife; in the case of Ethel Abdullah, a Syrian who was lodging an application for registration, was listed as a “clerk” for her occupation.[20] Moreover, Syrian immigrants were unique to other non-European immigrants in the sense that they often arrived in groups, usually with their family members.[21] Many of these immigrants sought naturalisation, and this required proof of a valid marriage license.[22] Therefore, as many of these groups arrived in Australia with the intention to permanently settle, the equal male to female ratio was inevitable. The equal gender balance in the population of the community distinguished the Syrians from other Asiatic nations, as other immigrant communities such as the Chinese had only fifteen per cent of the population made up of women.[23] Syrian immigrants used this unique characteristic of gender equality as a leverage to convince Australia that they were not ‘Asian’, but similar to the white Europeans in Australia, and interested in settling in Australia.

The perception of these immigrants by white Australians throughout the White Australia Policy was constantly changing, much like the way the Syrians themselves identified. The major contributing factor that ultimately shifted the perception of and attitudes towards the Syrians was shift in official classification of the Syrians themselves. The Syrians did not dispute that Australia should be a white country, in fact, they argued that they were part of the white race themselves. In 1908, the Sydney Morning Herald announced that the Syrian Progressive Association had decided to petition against their classification as “Asian”.[24] The perception of Syrians by the white Australian population was dependent on the way they interacted with them. As aforementioned, the white Australian housewives did not have strong negative feelings towards the Syrian hawkers; in fact, they enjoyed their interaction with them as they felt that the act of bargaining with them was liberating and powerful for them.[25] However, the high unemployment at the start of the White Australia Policy created bitter sentiment towards these immigrants.[26] With jobs already being scarce, these immigrants, who were campaigning to be considered part of the ‘white’ race at the time, were taking away the few jobs that were available for white Australians.

The recognition of immigrants from Greater Syria as a white race greatly impacted the attitudes and direct actions of white Australians towards them. Firstly, the problematic classification of Lebanese as “Asians” who were “Christian” made them an exceptional case of immigrants during the Policy and classifying them as ‘white’ meant that the exclusion policy did not restrict Syrians as much as the Asiatic races.[27] There is an abundance of archived government documents permitting Syrians to enter Australia, under the condition that there is proof of family residing in the country. An interesting characteristic of these documents is the inclusion of religion however, whereby most of the approved applications were of Christian religion. An example of this is Gabriel Coupee’s Application for Admission of Relatives or Friends to Australia, which allowed family members to visit him, as he had resided in Australia for over thirty years, was a Syrian Christian, and was confirmed to be of sound character.[28] Syrians, and solicitors arguing for Syrian naturalisation, argued that Syrians were only geographically Asian, and that their race descended from European Crusaders.[29] Although this worked to the immigrants’ advantage in the long run, there was still an underlying sentiment that the white Australians were superior. This is evident in the 1903 newspaper article discussing Syrian Hawkers. The article notes that although as a “rule [Syrians] are well behaved an orderly citizens”, it will only be a matter of time before the Immigration Restriction Act “works its desired effect” or minimising the number of immigrants in Australia.[30] Moreover, the Australian government attempted to deal with the “hawker nuisance” by refusing hawking licences to the Syrian immigrants, in order to minimise the chance that they may spill out of the boundaries of their ethnic “quarter”, such as the Redfern Quarter, which was largely occupied by Syrian immigrants.[31] The rationale behind refusing hawking licences to Syrians was that they would find another country where the rules were not as restrictive, and thus, drive the Syrians out of the Federation. Although there was an overall preference for Syrians over other immigrants such as Indians, Chinese, and Afghans during the White Australia Policy, the nation was determined to see the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 work its intended purpose in the long run.

The exclusionary policy of the Immigration Restriction Act during the White Australia era affected Syrian and Lebanese immigrants to a large extent. From the Act’s inception in 1901 until the late 1920s, immigrants from Greater Syria were constantly re-identifying themselves in order to be accepted as legitimate citizens of Australia. Archival customs documents have revealed that there were an overwhelming number of Christian Syrians, emphasizing that religion was an important factor when determining the ‘whiteness’ of an immigrant. Moreover, the Immigration Restriction Act also affected the white Australian population in regards to their perceptions and attitudes towards the Syrian immigrants. Although more receptive and lenient in permitting Syrians into Australia, the White Australia Policy still reinforced an ideology that white Australians were superior to the Syrian immigrants, even after they became classified as a white race. The White Australia Policy also made a major impact on the general socio-economic background of incoming Syrian immigrants, as this investigation revealed an overwhelming number of Syrians listed with the occupation of ‘hawker’. With the implementation of Immigration Restriction Act, the identities of immigrants from Greater Syria were specifically constructed, both by the Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, and the white Australian population.