“A Kangaroo and Bradman”

Abstract

Academic research on White Australia Policy and the Colombo Plan has spanned across the history of Asian migration, policy-making initiatives and Australia–India relations. But the role of popular transnational media images and stories that informs the sociocultural understanding of these relations has been under evaluated. In this article, using newspaper reports and notes of the tours, I highlight the building of popular perceptions under the Colombo Plan (1950–1957). By focusing on Indian journalists and editors, E. P. W. da Costa, J. N. Sahni, Frank Moraes, and Durga Das, this article contributes to the historiography of Australian–Indian relations. As these culture exchanges created a dialogue between the two countries that still influences the public opinion. The article concludes that journalists from both India and Australia sought to play a key role in image-making process and wanted a fresh start in relationship––politically, economically, sociologically and technologically.

keywords:

• Colombo Plan
• cross-cultural relations
• India–Australia relations
• media-broker diplomacy
• public diplomacy
• White Australia policy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Professor Fethi Mansouri, Professor David Walker, Professor David Lowe, Professor Sudesh Mishra and Ms Reema Sarwal. Thanks also to Bob Franklin, Annie Rhys Jones and the anonymous reviewers of Journalism Studies for their insightful comments that greatly helped in shaping this piece.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The White Australia Policy, officially released as the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, was based on a similar legislation that was passed in South Africa and was strengthened by minor additions till the Second World War. Between 1949 and 1973, it was dismantled in stages by several successive Australian governments. The Act prohibited people based on colour from entering Australia and also included a dictation test to assess skill in English (and a second language) for non-white persons. Then Attorney General Alfred Deakin, who drafted the legislation, justified it on the grounds that Australians should fear the Asians not for their bad qualities but for their good ones––“It is their inexhaustible energy, their power of applying themselves to new tasks, their endurance and low standard of living that make them such competitors” (cited in Clancy 2004, 12).

2 L. P. Singh, in his book The Colombo Plan: Some Political Aspects (1964), has highlighted how it was Sardar K. M. Pannikar, India’s Ambassador to China (1948–1952), who actually formulated an idea of a similar plan. Sardar Pannikar circulated a memorandum related to it amongst the diplomats from Commonwealth countries, such as Sir Frank Keith Officer, Australian Ambassador to China (1948–1949) who discussed this idea with Percy Spender.

3 For his pioneering work, he was invited to become a formal member of Gallup International in 1957 and in 1967, he was elected as the first Asian president of the World Association of Public Opinion Research.

4 A Commemorative Stamp, valued at Rs 5, was released in honour of Durga Das by India Post in 1967. He was considered a legendary journalist of India and played an active role in the Indian national movement.

Additional information

Funding

I would like to acknowledge the support of Deakin University.