ABSTRACT
It was largely in response to the planned mass migration from Europe after World War Two and from Asia after the Vietnam War that multiculturalism as an ideology emerged in Australia in the 1970s. Subsequent government policy ended the barriers to non-white immigration (encapsulated in the former ‘White Australia’ policy), and recognized ethnic minorities, including Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, as communities with valid concerns and rights. These rights included the retention of the expressive, social and religious aspects of their culture within a framework of shared Anglo-Australian values and institutions, and provided limited state support for multiculturalist strategies in government schools and in some media and welfare institutions.
