Overlapping identities in pre-WWII South Australia: Lessons for 21st century Australia

Abstract

Many people believe that prior to the post-WWll mass immigration Australia’s population was almost entirely of British origin. They also believe that post-war immigration lead to a significant change in the ethnic composition of the non-indigenous population of Australia, necessitating the policy of multiculturalism to manage such increased diversity. However evidence from South Australia suggests that non-British immigration was surprisingly common before 1945, particularly before 1901, and that the assumed homogenous British origin population at 1901 and 1945 hid a greater proportion of non-British ancestry than has commonly been assumed. Evidence of inter-ethnic families and marriages suggests that much of this integration was peaceable in the absence of formal policies to manage interethnic relationships.