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ABSTRACT
Academic research on the White Australia Policy has spanned the history of Asian migration and policy-making initiatives in Australia. However, the role of popular transnational media images and stories of the past that inform the socio-cultural understanding of Australia–India cross-cultural relations has been under evaluated. In this paper, using unexplored archival material from popular newspaper reports and columns, I will examine the ‘goodwill visits’ of two Indian journalists, K. K. Lalkaka and Sir R. Srinivasa Sarma, to Australia in 1927 and 1947. By assessing the role of these two journalists, this paper will highlight transnational issues such as migration, ethnicity, race, class and trade between the two countries. Borrowing from Vineet Thakur’s research highlighting the role of first diplomats in the pre-independence era India, this article will contribute to the field of history in Indian diplomatic studies and historiography of Australian–Indian cross-cultural relations.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the editor and the two anonymous reviewers of Asian Ethnicity for their valuable feedback and insightful comments that greatly helped in shaping the final piece.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For a detailed discussion on WAP, see Willard, History of the White Australia Policy to 1920, 1923; Yarwood, “The ‘White Australia’ Policy,” 1962; Rivett, Australia and the Non-white Migrant, 1975; Brawley, The White Peril, 1995; Walker, Anxious Nation, 1999; and Tavan, The Long, Slow Death of White Australia, 2005.
2. For a detailed discussion on Australia–India relations, see De Lepervanche, Indians in a White Australia, 1984; Walker, Anxious Nation, 1999; Walker, “National Narratives,” 2002; Ward, Australia and the British Embrace, 2001; Goldsworthy, Losing the Blanket, 2002; Allen, “‘Innocents Abroad’ and ‘Prohibited Immigrants,’” 2005; Allen, “‘A Fine Type of Hindoo’ meets ‘the Australian Type,’” 2008; Allen, “Observing Australia as the ‘Member of an Alien and Conquered Race,’” 2009a; Allen, “Otim Singh in White Australia,” 2009b; Allen, “Shadow Letters and the Karnana Letter,” 2011; Allen, “Identifying Sher Mohamad,” 2013; Allen, “No More Loyal Subjects,” 2017; Allen, “I am a British Subject,” 2018; Lowe, “The Historical Roots of Public Diplomacy and Their Significance for Australia and India,” 2013b; Meadows, “He No Doubt Felt Insulted,” 2013; Maclean, “Examinations, Access, and Inequity within the Empire,” 2015; and Sarwal, “A Kangaroo and Bradman,” 2018.
3. Megarrity, “Regional Goodwill, Sensibly Priced,” 105.
4. Alfred Deakin cited in Clancy, Culture and Customs of Australia, 12.
5. Sarwal, “A Kangaroo and Bradman,” 2018.
6. Allen, “I am a British Subject,” 2018.
7. For a discussion on immigration restrictions, see Allen, “‘Innocents Abroad’ and ‘Prohibited Immigrants,’” 2005; Maclean, “Examinations, Access, and Inequity within the Empire,” 2015; and Frost, “Imperial Citizenship or Else,” 2018.
8. For a discussion on the idea of white man’s club, see Ahmed, “India’s Membership of the Commonwealth – Nehru’s Role,” 1991; Walker, Anxious Nation, 1999; and Broinowski, About Face, 2003.
9. For a discussion on development of Indian foreign policy, see Chacko, Indian Foreign Policy, 2013; Davis, “A Shared History?” 2015; and Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 2017.
10. Chaudhuri, “The Story of the Indian Press,” 291.
11. Refer to Lowe, David. “Journalists and the Stirring of Australian Public Diplomacy”, 2013a; and Sarwal, “A Kangaroo and Bradman,” 2018.
12. Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 232–3.
13. Davis, “A Shared History?” 849–69.
14. Refer to Hosking and Sarwal, Wanderings in India, 2012; Walker and Sobocinska, Australia’s Asia, 2012; Walker, “National Narratives,” 2002; Walker, Experiencing Turbulence, 2013; and Sobocinska, Visiting the Neighbours, 2014.
15. See De Lepervanche, Indians in a White Australia, 1984; and Maclean, “India in Australia,” 2012.
16. For detailed discussion on Singh, Doss and Mahomed, see Allen, “Observing Australia as the ‘Member of an Alien and Conquered Race,’” 2009a; Allen, “Otim Singh in White Australia,” 2009b; and Allen, “Identifying Sher Mohamad,” 2013.
17. For detailed discussion, see Walker, Anxious Nation, 1999; Broinowski, About Face, 2003; and Allen, “Shadow Letters and the Karnana Letter,” 2011.
18. Bayly, “India and Australia,” 21.
19. Ibid.
20. For a discussion on British subjects and citizenship, see Allen, “I am a British Subject,” 4–6; and Frost, “Imperial Citizenship or Else,” 2018.
21. “Exclusion of Indians: Reprisals against Australia,” The Argus, 17 February 1921, 7.
22. Desai, Social Background of Indian Nationalism, 211; Also see Raman, “The Indian Press Act of 1910,” 1999.
23. Kaur, “The Komagata Maru in History and Literary Narrative,” 151–65.
24. Desai, Social Background of Indian Nationalism, 1948.
25. Allen shows that Indians in Australia also wrote their grievances related to equal rights to the Australian press and to the nationalist press in India, such as Young India and The Indian Review. See Allen, “I am a British Subject,” 2, 18.
26. “Claim for Racial Equality,” The Argus, 17 February 1921, 7.
27. Sastri was a moderate nationalist and a member of the Indian National Congress from 1908 to 1922. He was opposed to the idea of non-cooperation and resigned from the INC to join as a founding member of the Indian Liberal Party. See Ramanan, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, 2007.
28. Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 242–7.
29. “Indians in Australia should have a Vote,” The Argus, 2 June 1922, 8.
30. “India’s Case,” The Register, 9 June 1922, 7.
31. “India’s Claims,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 1922, 9.
32. Barns, The Indian Press, 1940.
33. The All India Home Rule League and the All India Muslim League had been advocating a dominion status for India within the British Empire as granted to Australia. On the other hand, senior Congress leader such as Hasrat Mohani, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal have been advocating the idea of complete independence from the Empire since 1921. See Möller and Schierenbeck. Political Leadership, Nascent Statehood and Democracy, 62–4.
34. “Indians and White Australia,” Worker, 25 October 1923, 14.
35. “Compliant Unfounded,” The Argus, 17 February 1921, 7.
36. Ibid.
37. “Indian Immigrants,” Recorder, 18 February 1921, 3.
38. “Compliant Unfounded,” The Argus, 17 February 1921, 7.
39. Ganeshram, Pathways to Nationalism, 17.
40. See note 6 above.
41. “White but Not Empty,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 February 1947, 2.
42. Ibid.
43. “Immigration of Indians,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 1947, 1
44. Dixon, Immigration and the ‘White Australia’ Policy, 1945.
45. Ibid.
46. See note 41 above.
47. Ibid.
48. R. G. Casey cited in Broinowski, About Face, 93.
49. “Think Imperially,” Examiner, 8 October 1928, 3.
50. “Parsees as Colonists,” The Advertiser, 1 November 1930, 14; Refer also to Lalkaka’s articles “Future of Parsees,” Times of India, October 1930a; and “Indians and British,” Barrier Miner, 4 November 1930b, 3.
51. See Hinnells, The Zoroastrian Diaspora, 2005.
52. Varshney, “Contested Meanings,” 1993.
53. “Indian Visitors,” Recorder, 6 May 1927, 1.
54. “Parsees as Colonists,” The Advertiser, 1 November 1930, 14.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. See note 53 above.
60. “Indians Unsuitable,” Northern Star, 6 May 1927, 5.
61. This argument is very similar to the critique of Apartheid in South Africa where in 1949 an Indian diplomat named B. N. Rau advocated a casteist solution. See Thakur, “When India Proposed a Casteist Solution to South Africa‘s Racist Problem,” 2016.
62. “White Australia,” Advocate, 6 May 1927, 5.
63. “White Australia Praised as Great Tradition,” The Argus, 8 June 1927, 20.
64. Ibid.
65. “Parsee Visitor in Adelaide,” The Register, 10 June 1927, 9.
66. Ibid.
67. Harris, “Selling Tasmania,” 1993.
68. “50,000 League Weekly Luncheon,” Examiner, 9 October 1928, 12.
69. “50,000 League,” Mercury, 9 October 1928, 10.
70. “Problem of India,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 March 1930, 10.
71. “Australians Dislike Work,” Recorder, 22 June 1934, 1.
72. “Plumbers and Politicians,” Recorder, 23 June 1934, 2.
73. “Government of India,” The Daily News, 26 June 1934, 4.
74. See note 71 above.
75. Ibid.
76. “Indian Journalist,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 May 1934, 10.
77. Burley, British Shipping and Australia 1920-1939, 133.
78. Ibid., 134.
79. Ibid.
80. Sundaram, “From Agraharam to Buckingham Palace,” 5.
81. Kaul, Reporting the Raj, 258.
82. Ibid.
83. Sahni, “Opinion,” 4.
84. J. N. Sahni cited in Muthiah, “Mystery Man still Mysterious,” 2005.
85. See note 83 above.
86. For a brief discussion on Sir Sarma’s life, see Muthiah, “Mystery Man still Mysterious,” The Hindu, 14 November 2005; and Perumal, “The Creator of Mavur Legend,” 2005.
87. Perumal, “The Creator of Mavur Legend,” 2005.
88. Muthiah, Madras Miscellany, 2011.
89. See note 83 above.
90. Muthiah, “Mystery Man still Mysterious,” 2005.
91. “Markets Waiting in India for Australian Goods,” Cairns Post, 14 January 1947, 1.
92. “Indian Journalist on Goodwill Tour,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 December 1946, 4.
93. “Canberra Commentary,” Townsville Daily Bulletin, 24 January 1947, 4.
94. Ibid.
95. See note 91 above.
96. See note 93 above.
97. Sarwal, “A Kangaroo and Bradman,” 2018.
98. Thakur, “When India Proposed a Casteist Solution to South Africa’s Racist Problem,” 2016.
99. Ibid.
100. See note 41 above.
101. Ibid.
102. Cited in Davis, “A Shared History?” 860.
103. Ibid., 858.
104. Ibid.
105. Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 2017.
106. On the process of dismantling of WAP, see Fitzgerald, “Who Cares What They Think?” 15–40; Sobocinska, Visiting the Neighbours, 95–96; and Tavan, The Long, Slow Death of White Australia, 2005.
107. Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 234–5.
108. Sarwal, “A Kangaroo and Bradman,” 2018.
109. The idea of a ‘Commonwealth club’ of some sort which might transcend the more transactional features of members of the Empire dealing with each other. See Mansergh, The Commonwealth Experience, 1969; and Moore, Making the New Commonwealth, 1987.
110. For a detailed discussion on ongoing nationalist and anti-racist foreign policy discourse, see Chacko, Indian Foreign Policy, 2013; Bhagavan, The Peacemakers, 2015; Thakur, “When India Proposed a Casteist Solution to South Africa’s Racist Problem,” 2016; and Thakur, “Liberal, Liminal and Lost,” 2017.
111. Refer to Walker, Anxious Nation, 1999; and Broinowski, About Face, 2003.
112. See De Lepervanche, Indians in a White Australia, 1984; Broinowski, About Face, 2003.
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Amit Sarwal
Dr Amit Sarwal is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Language, Arts and Media at The University of the South Pacific (Fiji). His research focuses on South Asian Diaspora, Australia–India cross-cultural relations, Bollywood and Indian dance. His research papers have appeared in journals such as Dance Chronicle, Dance Research, Antipodes, South Asian Popular Culture, South Asian Diaspora, Journalism Studies, Politics & Policy, and Culture, Society and Masculinities. He is the author of Labels and Locations (2015) and South Asian Diaspora Narratives (2017).