‘Poor Little Nancy’: The Nancy Prasad Case and the Commonwealth Immigration Department

Abstract

The deportation of young Indian-Fijian Nancy Prasad from Australia in 1965 created a domestic and international controversy. In this article, personal interviews and archival documents illuminate the complex dynamics of the case, which pitted Nancy's family against the Immigration Department for a decade. I argue that public embarrassment over the controversy contributed to the eventual abolition of the White Australia policy and other important changes in immigration policy. However, the Prasads' agency in pursuing their dream to live in Australia was not without cost. The saga had profound consequences for the family, despite its supposed victory over the Department.

Acknowledgments

A very special thanks to Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) for her generosity and courage in speaking with me; likewise to Sushil and Sam Napier. My thanks to Richard Broome and Diane Kirkby for their feedback on the manuscript. Many thanks to Russell Marks for editing assistance.

Notes

¹Herbert I. London, Non-White Immigration and the ‘White Australia’ Policy (New York: New York University Press, 1970), 37, 229.

²There is an enormous literature related to issues of race, immigration and refugees in Australia, centred in both the Humanities and the Social Sciences, which is too comprehensive to discuss in detail and not directly relevant to the case. My interest here, in any case, is to outline the way immigration historians have dealt with the Prasad case since the demise of the White Australia policy.

³Janis Wilton and Richard Bosworth, Old Worlds and New Australia: The Post-War Migrant Experience (Melbourne: Penguin Books, 1984), 31.

⁴Sean Brawley, The White Peril: Foreign Relations and Asian Immigration to Australasia and North America 1918–1978 (Sydney: UNSW Press, 1995), 308.

⁵Eric Richards, Destination Australia: Migration to Australia since 1901 (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2008), 238.

⁶Glenn Nicholls, Deported: A History of Forced Departures from Australia (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2007), 112–13.

⁷Gwenda Tavan, The Long, Slow Death of White Australia (Melbourne: Scribe, 2005), 147–52, 204.

⁸One exception is Sean Brawley, ‘“Mrs O'Keefe and the Battle for White Australia”: The O'Keefe Case and the White Australia Policy in World War II and the Early Post-War Period’ (BA Honours thesis, School of History, University of New South Wales, 1987); another is Gwenda Tavan, ‘“Fractured Families”: The Jan Allen Controversy and Australia–Britain Relations, 1970–72’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, no. 40 (November 2012): 669–90.

⁹Rohitendra (Roy) Prasad arrived as a student in 1957. He acquired permanent residence status and citizenship after marrying June Sommers in September 1960. Monohan (Sam) Prasad arrived on a tourist visa in 1960 and married Dawn Sommers (June's sister) in 1961. Sandra arrived on a tourist visa in 1961 and married Reg Powditch in 1963. See ‘Background notes on Prasads', undated, National Archives of Australia (hereafter NAA): A446 1970/85172.

¹⁰Judgement re: Prasad and the Child Welfare Act, 1939–1956, Part XIX, No. 280A of 1964, in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 17 June 1965, NAA: A1209, 1966/7269; London, 229–58.

¹¹‘Why Don't Some People Like Me?’, ‘This Child Must Stay’ and ‘The Girl We Dare Not Throw Out!’, Mirror (Sydney), 1, 2, 3 April 1964. All newspaper references cited in this article are contained as news clippings in the NAA Department of Immigration files cited herein, or in the Ken Rivett Collection, Records and Archives Office, UNSW and the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU. No page numbers have been provided.

¹²‘The Crime of Nancy’, News (Adelaide), 3 April 1964.

¹³Charles Perkins, A Bastard Like Me (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1975).

¹⁴London, 237; ‘Action Threat on Deportation’, The Age, 3 April 1964.

¹⁵See Memo: ‘Baltinos—New Settlers’ Federation—Activities in East Africa’, 14 February 1973, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172. See also: ‘Solinos Baltinos and the New Settlers’ Federation of Australia—Inquiry into Activities’, NAA: A432 1971/2167; Mr Solinos Baltinos—New Settlers’ Federation—Exploitation of Migrants, NAA: A1209, 1974/7122. Writing in his diary on 3 April 1964, Heydon noted that ‘Baltinos, the crook who runs the New Settlers Federation, has taken the case over’: Heydon Diaries, 3 April 1964, in Papers of Sir Peter Heydon, 1901–1977, MS 3155, box no. 22, folder 186, National Library of Australia (hereafter NLA).

¹⁶Heydon was disturbed by the Mirror's handling of the case. According to him, ‘no newspaper has reported any case as untruthfully as the Mirror … has done’. Heydon Diaries, 3 April 1964.

¹⁷Tavan, Long, Slow Death, 129–45.

¹⁸Tavan, Long, Slow Death, 51–70, 74–6; Brawley, White Peril, 242–51.

¹⁹These international shifts were manifested in various UN Declarations including the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965).

²⁰‘Why Don't Some People Like Me’, Mirror, 1 April 1964. In his press statement on 3 April 1964 Opperman strongly denied claims that the Immigration Department had instigated a dramatic search for Nancy.

²¹‘Copy of Judgement in Case of an Infant, P. and C.W Act’, Supreme Court of NSW, 4 August 1964, NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

²⁴Statement by H. F. Opperman on ‘The Prasad Case’, 25 August 1965, in Opperman Papers, series no. 14.

²²Heydon Diaries, 3 April 1964.

²³See Press Statements by Minister, 3 and 6 April 1964, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269. In an interview some years later, Opperman described the Prasads as ‘people who were prepared to flout the Australian law and remain here illegally and the same would have applied to any nationality’. Oral history interview with Mal Pratt, 2 September 1969, in Papers of H. F. Opperman (hereafter Opperman Papers), MS 6429, series no. 4, NLA.

²⁵‘Abducted … and Nancy Stayed’, Sun (Melbourne), 7 August 1965; ‘Nancy Kidnapped’, The Australian, 7 August 1965.

²⁶Commonwealth Police Reports, 9 August 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

²⁷Commonwealth Police Reports, 9 August 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

²⁸John Powles, email message to author, 7 March 2011.

²⁹‘Nancy Kidnapped’, The Australian, 7 August 1965; London, 238.

³⁰Commonwealth Police Reports, 9 August 1965, NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

³¹‘This Was a Lawless Act’, The Australian, 7 August 1965.

³²Heydon Diaries, 6 August 1965, box 22, folder 189; Correspondence, Opperman to Menzies, 24 August 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

³³Copy of Visa Warning List marked ‘secret’ in NAA: A446, 1970/85177.

³⁴See, for example, ‘Flouting the Laws of the Land’, The Age, 14 August 1965; Professor H. Burton, ‘Nancy Prasad’ in ‘Letters to the Editor’, Nation, 18 September 1965; personal correspondence to Prime Minister Robert Menzies, dated 9 August 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

³⁵‘Tiny Indian Girl on Way to Fiji’, Sun-Herald, 8 August 1965; ‘Nancy's Home Raided’, Daily Telegraph, 8 August 1965.

³⁶‘Drawing the Line’, Daily News (editorial), 9 August 1965.

³⁷Statement by Opperman on ‘The Prasad Case’, 25 August 1965. See also personal interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) on 13 February 2012 in author's possession.

³⁸Letter from Ann Marie Putt to Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 12 August 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269; ‘White Australia Does Greater Injustice to Us Than to Others!’, The Australian, 6 September 1965.

³⁹‘Defeat Oppy at the Poll’, Sun, 9 August 1965; Senator Frank McManus, ‘Nancy Case Leaves a Bad Taste’, Herald (Melbourne), 10 August 1965.

⁴⁰R. N. Hamilton, the Australian Commissioner in Suva, reported criticisms of Australian immigration policy in the Fijian Legislative Council on 9 April 1965: Report to External Affairs, 9 April 1965, in NAA: A1838, 316/2/1/1 part 2. See also Report to Departments External Affairs and Immigration, 13 August 1965, NAA: A1209, 1966/7269; Report to Department External Affairs, 11 November 1965, NAA: A1838, 316/2/1/1 part 2.

⁴¹Personal interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) and Sushil Napier on 13 February 2012 in author's possession.

⁴²Personal interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) and Sushil Napier on 13 February 2012 in author's possession.

⁴³Cablegram, Australian Commission, Suva, to Departments External Affairs and Immigration, 27 September 1965; Report from Australian High Commission, London, to Depts External Affairs and Immigration, 28 September 1965, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

⁴⁴‘Open Letter to the Delegates of the Australian Citizenship Convention 1966 from the sister of Nancy Prasad, deportee’, in NAA: A6980, S203073.

⁴⁵Memorandum to the Minister: ‘R.A. Powditch, wife and two children’, by R. E. Armstrong, 10 April 1972, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁴⁶Australian High Commission, London, to Departments of External Affairs and Immigration, 21 April 1966, in NAA: A1209, 1966/7269.

⁴⁷See memorandum from W. G. Kiddle, Chief Migration Officer, London, to Peter Heydon, 22 November 1968, marked ‘confidential’, in Opperman Papers, series no. 14. Heydon forwarded Opperman a copy of Kiddle's memorandum on 21 January 1969, commenting that, ‘I felt I had to send it to you to show that our judgement of the genuineness of the Powditches has been confirmed’. Heydon to Opperman, 21 January 1969, Opperman Papers, series no. 14.

⁴⁸Cabinet submission, no. 31, ‘Entry and Stay of non-Europeans’, Decision 52, 2 March 1966, NAA: A5841, 31.

⁴⁹Memorandum marked ‘secret’ sent to Australian High Commission, Suva from W. K. Brown, Immigration, 19 February 1969, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵⁰Report marked ‘secret’ by R. N. Birch, Australian High Commission, Suva to Immigration, 19 March 1969, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵¹See correspondence between Snedden, Cameron and Bosman in March 1969, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵²Cablegram marked ‘secret’ from Australian High Commission, Suva to Secretary of Immigration, 19 May 1972, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵³R. E. Armstrong, Report to the Minister. ‘R.A. Powditch, wife and two children’, 11 April 1972, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵⁷Telegram from Baltinos to Grassby, 13 February 1973, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵⁴Cablegram, Department of Foreign Affairs to Australian High Commission, Suva, 13 February 1971, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵⁵‘A Little Girl Lost May Be Regained’, Daily Telegraph, 13 February 1973.

⁵⁶Memo to Minister from R. E. Armstrong, 14 February 1973, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁵⁸‘Nancy Prasad “Home” Again’, Daily Telegraph, 5 March 1973; ‘For Nancy, it's Home Sweet Home’, The Age, 5 March 1973.

⁵⁹‘Eight-Year Wait Is Over for Nancy Prasad’, The Age, 14 February 1973.

⁶⁰Telephone interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) on 3 February 2012.

⁶¹Freda Hawkins, Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared (Sydney: UNSW Press, 1989), 105–6.

⁶²Review report: ‘Shiri Prasad [sic], wife and four children’, 29 August 1973, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶³‘Report on Mrs Taramati Prasad—Fijian, question of visit to Australia’, 3 December 1973, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁴Report to Minister by I. G. Sharp marked ‘secret’, 28 October 1974, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁵Clyde Cameron to Senator D. R. Willesee, Minister for Foreign Affairs, stamped 28 October 1974, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁶Letter from R. Prasad to Minister for Immigration, 6 November 1974, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁷Letter from Rohitendra Prasad to Cameron, 24 July 1975, NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁷¹Report by R. F. Harris, Assistant Secretary, 30 July 1976, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁸Report by R. F. Harris, Assistant Secretary, 30 July 1976, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁶⁹Hawkins, 199.

⁷⁰The system had been introduced by Grassby as a means of facilitating ease of entry for short-term visitors to Australia. It proved extremely problematic from the outset, with a rapid increase in the number of over-stayers and non-compliance with entry conditions, such as the prohibition on employment: Hawkins, 199.

⁷²The Whitlam government effectively dismantled the Immigration Department in 1974 when it merged part of its operations with the Department of Labour and relegated other responsibilities to various public service departments. The Fraser Liberal government re-established the department when it won office in 1975.

⁷³See, for example, Paul Pierson, ‘Increasing Returns, Path Dependence and the Study of Politics’, American Political Science Review 94, no. 2 (June 2000): 251–67.

⁷⁴Sean Brawley, ‘Slaves of Bishop Moyes and His Quota: The Department of Immigration and the Abolition of the White Australia Policy as Seen through the Personal Diaries of Sir Peter Heydon’ (paper delivered to the Australian Historical Association Conference, Canberra, October 1992), 4–5.

⁷⁷Cited in Hawkins, 201.

⁷⁵Handwritten note by Harris, 30 July 1976, in NAA: A446, 1970/85172.

⁷⁶Hawkins, 200–1. Change of status referred to people who entered Australia on temporary visas and then attempted to claim permanent residence.

⁷⁸By 1964 the Prasads had nine children: Roy, Sam, Sandra, Sushil, Peter, Nancy, Carol, Doreen and Irene.

⁷⁹Personal interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) on 13 February 2012, in author's possession.

⁸⁰‘Prasad Sister May Have Known Killer’, The Age, 19 September 1977.

⁸¹Personal interview conducted with Natalie Cokinas (formerly Nancy Prasad) and Sushil Napier on 13 February 2012, in author's possession.

⁸²See, for example, Tavan, ‘Fractured Families’, 669–90.