Immigration Restriction Act 1901

The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was one of the first laws passed by the newly federated Parliament of Australia, receiving royal assent on December 23, 1901, and it became the legal foundation of the White Australia policy. Rather than naming race directly, a restriction the British government had resisted, the act empowered immigration officers to administer a dictation test requiring an arriving person to write out a passage of fifty words in any European language chosen by the officer. The test was applied selectively so that officers could choose a language an applicant did not know, and between 1902 and 1909 only 52 of 1,359 people tested were allowed to pass. The act remained the basis of Australian immigration policy until it was replaced by the Migration Act 1958.