Key events

• Children of the Blitz. Children from London and Birmingham relocated during ‘Battle of Britain’
• 12,000 Italian Prisoners of War (POWs), mainly from India, placed in Australian rural communities with general success and acceptance with so many rural Australians in the armed services. Some of these prisoners of war would stay in Australia after the war.

• ‘Populate or perish’ speech by Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell - aim of 2% population increase per year with half from immigration with 90% from Britain
• ‘10 Pound Pom Scheme’ — Subsidised British migration as part of the ‘Populate or Perish’ policy. In 1947, more than 400,000 British were registered at Australia House in London for the scheme.

• The ‘end of our isolation’ speech by Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell
• Assisted passage schemes begin: first version resettles ex-servicemen and their families from World War II Allies — Britain, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, France, Belgium and Denmark.

• Assisted passage scheme for ‘Displaced Persons’ (DPs): About 12,000 from Eastern Europe countries controlled by Soviet Union, such as Latvia, Estonia, Poland in the early period. This ended in 1954 with around 170,000 arriving.

• Australia signs United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Following the Peace treaties, migration program opened to Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Romania
  Commonwealth Nationality and Citizenship Act which defined who was and who could become an Australian citizen

• Snowy Mountains Scheme; Major public works scheme for hydroelectricity and irrigation using mainly migrant workers. Completed in 1974.

• Colombo Plan originally established by Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the United Kingdom to sponsor co-operative economic development in South and South-east Asia to combat communism. For Australia it included, foreign aid and a program for Asian students to study or train in tertiary institutions. The plan has been extended to 25 members and still runs in different forms today.

• Immigration program expanded as Displaced Person Scheme ends and assisted passage scheme agreements made with Austria, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the United States

• One millionth post-war migrant arrives

• Hungarian revolution: Soviet Union invades Hungary. 14000 refugees come to Australia
• Melbourne Summer Olympics — some Olympians defect from Hungarian team

• The ‘Bring out a Briton’ scheme focuses on community sponsorship and resettlement support of British families

• Revised Migration Act — The ‘Dictation Test’ abolished as a part of the migrant selection process. All references to race and nationality removed from policy documents. But discrimination was still the ‘true foundation’ of the immigration policy.

• The ‘Nest egg’ Scheme focuses on British migrants with independent financial support (over £500) and organised accommodation

• Australia signs the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
• New migration agreements signed with West Germany, the Netherlands and Malta.
• About 12000 Asian students in Australia. Many from the Colombo Plan program. Other students did not want to return to Communist countries like China.
• Vernon Report on the Australian economy — states that ‘the post war immigration policy ... has since become generally accepted part of economic policy’

• Holt government (1966–67) introduced immigration policy changes to allow non-Europeans to become Australian citizens. A number of ‘temporary resident’ non-Europeans, who were not required to leave Australia, could become permanent residents and citizens after five years (the same as for Europeans). A step towards dismantling the White Australia policy.
• United Nations proclaimed the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March). To honour the memory of the South African peaceful anti-apartheid protestors killed at Sharpeville on that day in 1966

• Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia - about 6000 refugees accepted into Australia
• Sicily earthquake
  

• ‘10 Pound Pom Scheme’ peaks with more than 80,000 people coming to Australia that year. In 1973, the cost of assisted passages was increased to ₤75 per family.
• Citizenship Act 1969 reduced the residency requirements to two years for Non-British migrants if they could ‘read, write and speak English proficiently’
• The Committee on Overseas Professional Qualifications established to look into the acceptance of foreign professional qualifications. It was aimed to attract and assist highly qualified migrants and address an issue which had upset immigrants to Australia for decades.

• Between 1949 to 1972 Australia's population almost doubled from 8 million to 13 million. About 3 million migrants and refugees arrived with the majority from the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 1971, 70 percent of the foreign born were of European origin.