Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Extended Essay – fyw899

go – and remain away!” 10 Hughes’s speech demonstrates the extent to which racism was a

national malady.

Contemporary academic studies show that the white-Australia ideology was firmly rooted in

consciousness of most Australians from the 1890s onwards. Notably, the xenophobia was

instilled through academically credible works, such as Charles Pearson’s, National Life and

Character: a Forecast . Pearson noted that the continual poor treatment of darker races would

result in eventual independence (of the coloured races), who would in retaliation then mistreat

white people. Pearson’s theory widely acknowledged, can be seen to be one of the factors

enforcing a sense of fear among the general population of Australia and also those in positions

of importance, shown by the quick approval of the policy in parliament. Therefore, this widely

popular ideal was advantageous for Hughes to adopt and support through his career in

parliament. To show how popular this ideal was at the time, the ‘White Australia Game’ 11 can

be seen which was produced in 1914 and the aim of this game was “getting all the coloured

men out and all the white men into Australia which very much was, I suppose, the attitude of

the time.” This game was advertised to a large demographic, specifically “A Game for New

and Old Australian People”. 12 The conclusion, Hughes’s overtly racist objectives at Paris were

entirely consistent with his long-held political view and were attuned to deeply ingrained

popular sentiment. Therefore, the blame for Hughes’s negativity at Paris for the racial equality

objective must be borne by Australia as a whole. This explains why Hughes was seen as a

national hero when returning from Paris in 1919.

During Hughes’s career in parliament, he received a mixture of love and hate from the

Australian public. Initially, Hughes’s career witnessed a measure of failure and misery,

10 Louise Maher, “When racism was a game in White Australia,” ABC News , July 16, 2014 11 Refer to Appendix 2 12 Louise Maher, “When racism was a game in White Australia,” ABC News , July 16, 2014

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