The call of Australia: From early Cingalese to recent migration
Exemption Certificate issued to William Perera
Ceylonese/Sri Lankans have entered Australia for a variety of reasons during the past one and a half centuries, early arrivals going as far back as the last two decades of the 19th century.
Before Australian Federation on January 1, 1901, there is evidence of arrivals from Ceylon, mainly to Queensland and a small number to Victoria and Western Australia. In 1882, a sizable number of Ceylonese arrived in Queensland as indentured labour. With the expansion of sugar cane planting in Queensland at that time, there was an ever-present need for labour to work the plantations.
In November 1882, nearly 500 Ceylonese arrived by sea in Mackay, Queensland. Some 300 disembarked in Mackay and the rest were taken to Bundaberg. They had been brought to Queensland under a private arrangement between business agents in Ceylon and Queensland plantation owners. The deal included paid passage to Queensland with the worker contracted for five years. At the end of the contract, the worker was to be repatriated to Ceylon with the return passage paid.
Workers were entitled to rations and an annual wage and some given a plot of land for a home garden. There are no detailed figures as to how many returned to Ceylon. Some stayed on to build a life in Australia, as cooks, waiters, artisans and domestics.
The 500 who arrived in Queensland in 1882 were not the first to get to Queensland from Ceylon. In the 1870s there was a rush to the Torres Strait Islands where rich pearl fishing resources were discovered. These seas had also comparatively large deposits of good quality pearl shells used to make ‘Mother of Pearl’ products.
In Ceylon pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar had gone on from time immemorial. It was only logical that the North Queensland pearl fishery operators would look to Ceylon to source cheap labour for the growing industry.
Thursday Island became the base from which the more prominent pearling operations were conducted. According to records, as early as 1879, four Ceylonese, (called Cingalese at the time) were employed as boatmen. It was not long before Australian businessmen arranged for a larger group of workers from Ceylon. In 1882 some 25 Cingalese were recruited to work on Thursday Island.
Entry of Ceylonese workers to Thursday Island after 1882, continued on a less formal basis. Although numbers were small, as the population on Thursday Island was comparatively sparse, the additions were significant. There came shell cleaners, cooks, domestics and small traders.
Right up to the 1940s, the Ceylonese on Thursday Island left a lasting impression on the township. At the height of their influence there was a Cingalese quarter, a place for Buddhist worship, and even an area where their preferred groceries were sold. Another account refers to a Ceylonese, who having studied dentistry by correspondence, set himself up as a dental surgeon on Thursday Island.
Thursday Island (early days)
An extract from Stanley Sparkes and Anna Shnukal’s work Sri Lankan Settlers of Thursday Island, states:
‘While their exact numbers are unknown, the Sri Lankans remained a salient group until the outbreak of World War II, distinctive enough to be singled out by contemporary observers. Some of the early immigrants became commercial fisherman and owners of boats for hire; others took out hawkers’ licences to sell jewellery and other curios made from tortoise shell, pearl shell and pearls to tourists and visitors. For more than six decades, the Sri Lankan Community made significant contributions to the economic, religious, social and cultural life of Thursday Island. All of them have left, the Mendis and Saranealis families being the last to end their association. Little physical trace of their presence remains, but the prominent business families are still remembered. Not only did they provide goods and services not available elsewhere, but, through their acts of generosity and willingness to share their heritage with the entire community, they formed enduring relationships with their fellow residents, regardless of ethnic origin or religious affiliation.’
Arrivals from Ceylon to the other Australian Colonies at this time appear to be much less than to Queensland. Before pearl industry resources were discovered in the Torres Strait, they were found in the northwest of Western Australia, around the township of Broome as early as the 1860s. The demand for workers in the industry attracted labour from several Asian countries. Because of their expertise, persons from Ceylon appear to have been recruited to work here but their numbers and identity are somewhat obscure because they were often grouped with others and referred to as, ‘Malays’.
The White Australia years
On January 1, 1901, the six Australian Colonies came together to form the independent Nation of Australia. The Commonwealth Parliament was to pass legislation strictly limiting entry to Australia.
The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 established the base for future migrant entry to Australia and set up a harsh and effective tool – the Dictation Test for turning away any non-European from Australia. The Act stated that the following persons could be prohibited from entering Australia:
‘Any person who when asked to do so by an officer fails to write out at dictation and sign in the presence of the officer a passage of fifty words in length in an European language directed by the officer’.
Persons who had formerly been domiciled in the Australian Colonies were not subject to the Dictation Test. However, if a person who was not a citizen left Australia, he would be subject to the Dictation Test on re-entry, unless he had an Exemption Certificate. Non-citizens who had built up enough wealth to be able to travel outside Australia and return, could apply for an Exemption Certificate. Pictured at left, is an Exemption Certificate issued to Mr. William Perera, permitting him to travel outside Australia and re-enter without having to sit a Dictation Test on re-entry.
Restrictive legislation coupled with a view among many in society at the time that the white race was superior led to arrivals from Asia (including Ceylon) coming to a stop or at best a trickle. In 1901, the Australian Immigration Department put the number of persons in Australia, born in Ceylon, at 609. Thirty-two years later the number was stated to be 638.
A fair go for all
The years following the end of the 2nd World War saw the world change significantly. India, Pakistan and Ceylon gained independence after centuries of British rule; Indonesians threw out their Dutch rulers, and in China the Communist Party seized power. In the context of all these momentous changes, one would have expected Australia to change, however, the White Australia Policy was alive and well. In 1947 Immigration Minister Arthur Callwell stated: ‘We have 25 years at most to populate the country before the yellow races are upon us.’
Meanwhile, the Burghers of Ceylon disadvantaged due to political, economic and social changes in their homeland were looking to other countries as a permanent home. In the late 1940s the Burghers began their push to enter Australia, citing the fact that they were of European ancestry and ‘British subjects’, as well. For the first decade after Ceylon gained independence, arrivals to Australia were, in the main, Burghers. The years up to about 1960, saw a small increase in the number of arrivals. In 1954 the number of Ceylonese born, in the Australian population, was 1,961. Seven years later it was 3,433.
In the next two decades arrival numbers start to pick up sharply.
This was a consequence of a slow but progressive dismantling of the White Australia Policy. The first concession was made in 1957 when, ‘non-Europeans with 15 years residence, were permitted to apply for Australian citizenship. The next year, legislation pertaining to immigration was revised after more than a 50-year lapse. The Migration Act 1958, abolished the archaic Dictation Test and set up a more liberal visa system for entry to Australia. Not long after, Immigration Minister Alexander Downer, declared that ‘distinguished and highly qualified Asians’ would be considered as suitable migrants to Australia.
In 1966 entry was opened further to: ‘well qualified people on the basis of their suitability as settlers, their ability to integrate readily and their possession of qualifications positively useful to Australia’.
Finally in 1973, the Whitlam Government decided to ‘totally disregard race as a factor in the selection of migrants’. Immigration Minister at the time, Al Grassby, added, ‘The White Australia Policy is dead; give me a shovel and I will bury it’!
Australia’s more liberal immigration policy had a very positive effect on the number of arrivals from Sri Lanka. Australian Department of Immigration figures for Sri Lankan born persons in the population show the dramatic increase:1961 – 3400, 1971 – 9100 and 1981 – 16,900.
By 1981 arrivals from Sri Lanka were also from the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 1976 Census (unpublished) data puts the ethnic composition of Sri Lankan born in the population at: Burghers 8,546; Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims at 5,759 and others at 561, making a total of 14,866.
In 1977 Immigration Minister Michael Mackellar laid the foundation for recognition of the third future stream of migrants to Australia, viz. humanitarian intake. Sri Lanka was able to supply skilled technicians, process workers, clerical and administrative staff and allied health workers.
Yet although restrictions had been lifted, prejudice prevailed and many had to return to study in their field of expertise before being able to work at professional level in Australia. Those qualified in Sri Lanka who chose not to re-qualify under Australian educational standards, often worked at sub-professional level or ventured into allied new careers, (in most instances very successfully).
In the final two decades of the 20th century the ‘family’ stream was most popular for the flow of migrants to Australia. For approximately 11 years, from 1985 to 1996, the number of migrant arrivals to Australia from all countries under the family stream exceeded the number of arrivals under the skilled migration programme.
The cumulative result of arrivals from Sri Lanka under the various visa categories pushed up the number of Sri Lankan born in the population to 61,400 in 2002.
In the last year of the 20th century and the first two years of the 21st century a new class of arrival, (for the first time in significant numbers), from Sri Lanka, was added to the arrivals list. These were asylum seekers who arrived by boat. In 2012 Sri Lanka was the largest source country for boat arrivals (direct) to Australia. But only a small percentage (11%) were accepted to enter Australia and subsequently to be included in ABS population numbers.
The somewhat open migration policy of the Gillard/Rudd governments was shut down partly in the final months before the 2013 election and more comprehensively under the new Abbott government. In the eight years 2009 to 2016, (financial years), net migration numbers from Sri Lanka to Australia year to year are as follows: 2009 – 6,500, 2010 – 4,600, 2011 – 3,500, 2012 – 4,500, 2013 – 5,100, 2014 – 3,700, 2015 – 4,100 and 2016 – 4,200.
Overview
Although small in number when compared to arrivals from the top two countries – England and New Zealand, Sri Lanka has been for many years an important resource for Australia’s migrant intake. In 2011, the number of Sri Lankan born in the Australian population was put at 100,000 (0.4%). By 2016 the number had gone up to 124,000. In 2021 there were 146,000 Sri Lankan born and the percentage had gone up to 0.6 of total population. Sri Lanka also currently holds the 10th position in the Table of overseas born, in the Australian population, (2020 figures).
Data from the 2016 Census, gives an interesting overview of where Sri Lankans choose to live in Australia and their lifestyles. Of the 2016 total of 124,000, nearly 75% chose to live in Victoria and New South Wales, (Victoria 63,000 and NSW 33,500). In the other four States and two Territories the distribution was; Queensland 11,000; Western Australia 9,000; South Australia 4,000; Australian Capital Territory 3,000; Northern Territory 1000 and Tasmania 500.
They rank high on the tertiary educated table. 41.6% of Sri Lankan born held a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification, comparing extremely favourably with the Australian born score of 19.6%.
Finally, house-proud Sri Lankans once again led the way when it came to the size of dwellings. 40.5% of those born in Sri Lanka lived in residential dwellings with four or more bedrooms. The percentage of Australian born occupying dwellings of the same size was 34.7%.
‘At last he rose, and twitch’d his mantle blue:
Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new’.
( The writer is a member of the Ceylon Society Sydney Chapter. The unabridged version of the article is in the August 2022 issue of the Ceylon Society Journal — The Ceylankan).
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