Badge reading ‘Australia for the Australians, White Australia’

The badge dates from the period following the Federation of Australian Colonies in 1901, during which time definitions of Australian national identity were at the forefront of public and political discourse. The badge illustrates how the rhetoric surrounding Australian nationhood and national identity often drew upon notions of race, with many Australians believing that true national unity and a successful society demanded a homogeneous white population-a White Australia. Notions of White Australia can be traced back to the 1850s and directly informed the development of the White Australia policy which governed Australian approaches to immigration from 1901 until the early 1970s.