History of the White Australia Policy

Myra Willard

Jan. 1923 · Melbourne : Melbourne University Press

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This remarkable work was the first to examine the White Australia policy, and was the first book published by Melbourne University Press, in 1923. It has long been the authoritative reference on the subject, and is essential for every library. Though more than ninety years have passed since publication, the book remains invaluable. It surveys restrictions on immigration by the States before Federation, the system of indentured labour, and gives a picture of a young community protecting itself from immigration which would have altered its whole character.

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Born in 1887 Myra Willard became a pupil teacher at Greta public school in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney in 1904 and in 1908 was awarded a scholarship to Sydney Teachers' College. Allowed by the Education Department to enrol at the University of Sydney, she studied under George Arnold Wood, the first Challis Professor of History. Willard graduated with First-Class Honours in 1917 and won several prizes, including the Venour V. Nathan Prize for Australian or Imperial History in 1920. In May 1920 the Senate of the University of Sydney awarded Willard the Frazer postgraduate scholarship in history. Wood supervised Willard's postgraduate study of migration to Australia and described her as 'an excellent research scholar'. At his instigation she wrote a prize-winning essay, The History of the White-Australia Policy to 1920, which in 1923 became the first book to be published by Melbourne University Press. Willard was awarded the Harbison-Higinbotham Research Scholarship by the University of Melbourne. She died in 1971.