Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901
| Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parliament of Australia | |
Long title
| |
| Citation | No. 16 of 1901 |
| Royal assent | 17 November 1901[1] |
| Repealed | 1 June 1959 |
| Amended by | |
| Pacific Island Labourers Act 1906 | |
| Repealed by | |
| Migration Act 1958 | |
| Related legislation | |
| Immigration Restriction Act 1901 | |
| Status: Repealed | |
The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (Cth) was an
Background
Beginning in the 1860s, tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were brought to Australia as low-paid labourers. By the early 1890s, 46,000 labourers had arrived in Queensland, and up to 62,000 such labourers arrived in all. Many of these people had been forcibly removed from their homes, in a process called "
The Act
The Act prohibited any Pacific Islanders from entering Australia after 31 March 1904, and required all those entering before then to have a licence. During 1902, the maximum number of licences that could be issued was limited to three-quarters of the number of Pacific Islanders who left Australia in 1901. During 1903, this licence quota was lowered even further, to half of the total departures in 1902. Any person who brought a Pacific Islander into the country contrary to the Act could be fined £100. It was an offence to employ a Pacific Islander in any other way than an indentured labour agreement, punishable by a fine of £100.
The most forcible component of the legislation was section 8. It provided that any Pacific Islander found in Australia after 31 December 1906 could be deported immediately by order of the Minister for External Affairs, and any Islander found in Australia before that date, who had not been employed under an indentured labour agreement at any time in the preceding month, could be deported immediately by order of a Magistrate in summary proceedings.
Section 7 provided all labour agreements made with Pacific Islander labourers no longer remained in force from 31 December 1906. The practical effect of the legislation was that by this date, Pacific Islanders were legally barred from undertaking labour contracts in Australia and ultimately compelled to return to their country of origin.
There were various grounds for exemption from deportation, including marriage to an Australian. The case of Robtelmes v Brenan (1906) 4 CLR 395, the first deportation case to come before the High Court of Australia, provides an illustration of the Act's operation.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Pacific Island Labourers Act (No. 16 of 1901) (Cth).
- ^ "A history of South Sea Islanders in Australia". Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. January 2003. Retrieved 2 March 2006.
- ^ Robtelmes v Brenan [1906] HCA 58, (1906) 4 CLR 395, High Court.