ABSTRACT
From its earliest days Australian capital has depended heavily
on immigrant labour to replenish labour supplies and to boost
population growth. During the nineteenth century, demand for
immigrant labour came as manufacturing industries began to
develop in urban centres. Most of the migrants coming to
Australia at this time were British and Irish. They outnumbered
size of Australia's population and a declining birth-rate led to
an immigration policy that aimed to increase the population by 2
per cent per annum by assisted and unassisted migration
schemes. 1 Skilled British and northern European workers were the
most sought after, but as the demand for unskilled labour
increased so did the number of migrants from Medi terranean
countries until by 1969 they exceeded those from Great Britain. 2
Rising standards of living in Europe, the establishment of the
EEC, severe labour shortages there combined with unfavourable
until the Australian government was forced to abandon
preoccupations with European homogeneity and began to recruit
labour from the previously unacceptable Middle Eastern and Asian
official redefinition, Turkey lost her status as an Asian
country and became 'an entirely European country' (Price, 1971). In 1967 a formal agreement under which suitable persons
could enter Australia as migrants was signed by the governments
of Turkey and Australia. The agreement ensured that workers and
Table 1: Permanent and long-term arrivals of Turkish nationality
1945-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78
Assisted
205 2,094 3,606 3,460 1,892 1,260 1,800
Other
1,016 1,389 1,386
855 1,066 1,173
Total
2,219 3,831 3,844 2,456 2,270 3,189 1,722 1,058 1,244 1,191
Australia and that their employment and welfare needs would be
safeguarded (Australia's Immigration Programme 1968-73, 1968). The dramatic increase in the numbers of Turks coming to Aus-
tralia as migrants can be seen in Table 1. The figures in this
table are based on the migrant's last country of residence;
therefore some of these people may be ethnically non-Turkish.
