The Long, Slow Death of White Australia.

• Author: Smith, Philippa Mein
• Position: Book review

THE LONG, SLOW DEATH OF WHITE AUSTRALIA Author: Gwenda Tavan Published by: Scribe Publications, Carlton North, Victoria, 2005, 298pp, A$32.95.

This notable work focuses on the role of public servants and politicians in the dismantling of the White Australia policy. Based on Gwenda Tavan's PhD thesis, it is the product of extensive archival research and at the same time is accessibly written with admirable clarity.

From her careful synthesis of evidence, particularly from national archives and personal papers, Tavan is able to argue strongly that the central motivation for the White Australia policy was racist; that is, the desire to keep Australia white and British predominated over related concerns such as strategic anxieties and worker protection. This belief was bolstered by social liberalism, which held that governments bore a responsibility for race- and nation-building.

Ideologically, Australians changed the way that they imagined themselves after the Second World War in response to internal as well as external pressures. The piecemeal way in which White Australia was dismantled also exemplified the incrementalist nature of public policy within a pluralist, federal political system, where policies resulted from bargaining and messy compromise.

Tavan suggests that Australians accepted the end of the White Australia...