From the SMH:
Over the aeons there have been any number of ingenious tricks played by Australian officialdom to stem the tide of human traffic. In the gold rush of the 1850s and '60s, Victoria invented a hefty poll tax levied on the masters of ships bringing Chinese to the colony: £10 for every Chinaman on board.
This was met with more ingenuity. The ships pulled in at Port Adelaide or Robe and the Chinese would walk to the Victorian goldfields. South Australia soon cottoned on to the poll tax idea and Manning Clark described the consequences: ''Within a few months of the passing of the act the streets of Robe which had teemed with Chinese were almost deserted; the cats of Robe began to return.''
The arrival of the ''other'' has always unsettled Australia.
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Yes, this will be a mess soon afterward if all troubled spots around the world keep on eyeing Australia as a destination esp those coming from islamic countries ... financially, law and order, governance and services, etc.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's good enough since Australia has low population and majority of its land mostly are less habitable esp at the central part ...I don't know if it's possible for refugees to settle down long term at the middle of the red dirt ...
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