‘Returned to their native heath’: Repatriating and deporting British assisted migrants from Australia, 1901-1939

Assisted migration schemes in the 1920s allowed many white British migrants to come to Australia to settle. Their ranks included migrants who became a public charge on State government institutions due to disease, disability, mental illness and criminality. The federal government developed policies and legislation to restrict, repatriate and deport British migrants - those deemed ‘likely to become a permanent public charge’ - on the grounds that they did not possess social or economic benefit to Australia. The return of such migrants highlights not only an overlooked dimension to the assisted migration schemes of the 1920s, but also shows that Commonwealth migration restriction policy, law and administration during this time was created and developed in response to issues in addition to race; public dependence and inter-governmental political and economic relationships defined whether a migrant would be restricted or returned.