The ending of White Australia: Watch John Menadue in Immigration Nation – Part 3
Jan 19, 2025
Despite causing widespread criticism overseas, in the 1950s under the Menzies government, Australia’s whites-only immigration policy seemed as popular as ever. Indeed the rise of Communism in the region added extra justification to the need to prevent Asians entering the country. But that was to change.
Deborah Kennedy (DK): John Menadue leaves his home in rural South Australia and enrolls at Adelaide University in 1953. On his first day he is told he’ll be sharing a room with three Malaysian students.
John Menadue (JM): “I was just stunned. I grew up knowing nothing else but basically white and Caucasian people. We didn’t even have Chinese restaurants in the country towns of South Australia. I guess the main view that I had at that time was that Asians were poor people. They were badly educated and they’d be something of a threat to this country.”
DK: But even a man with prejudice gets hungry. So when John’s new roommates share their dinner with him, the tension begins to break down.
JM: “It was my introduction to Asian food – curry, rice and things which I’ve never really had. I’ve only eaten rice as part of a dessert. Never as a part of a main course. I found that these Asian students were well-educated, spoke extremely good English, and were very pleasant people to know.”
DK: Rather than Asians discovering the virtues of white Australia, Australians are realizing the charm of their new Asian neighbors.
“Indeed in some suburbs around universities landlines would put up signs saying: room available – Asian students only, because they come to see Asian students as a better tenant than many Australian students.”
JM: “At the time I could see that white Australia was abhorrent. It was not in Australia’s interest and that we needed to change and that experience with those Asian students was very much part of that.”
DK: A changed man, John Menadue joins the University ALP Club, where he meets kindred spirits. One of the brightest stars is Don Dunstan, a young lawyer newly elected to the South Australian Parliament.
JM: “He was smarter than anyone else on the conservative side. He was also smarter than many people in the Labour Party and that caused some resentment as well. But we admired him for his ability and his general stance on public issues, and he was a great reformer.”
DK: Don Dunstan was important because he is representative of this new generation of Labor politicians who come to the ALP with a Social Democratic agenda. The fact that the ALP national platform still has a commitment to the white Australian policy is seen by the likes of Dunstan as incredible. Dunstan and Menadue’s views are shared by the up-and-coming Gough Whitlam.
But it seems these young fire brands won’t stand a chance against bipartisan support for white Australia ….
Watch the full episode here: