Internment of Japanese Australians
During World War II, Australia forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 4,301 people of Japanese ancestry in the name of national security.[1] [2] Approximately a quarter of the inmates had been living in Australia when hostilities began, with many employed in the pearl diving industry.[3] One hundred Australian-born Japanese were also interned.[3][4][5]
Background
Japanese Australians before World War II
In Australia from the late 19th and early 20th Century many worked as pearlers in Northern Australia or in the sugar cane industry in Queensland. They were particularly prominent in the Western Australian Kimberley town of Broome, where until the Second World War they were the largest ethnic group.[6]
White Australia Policy
Following the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901, one of the first pieces of legislation passed was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, infamously known as the "White Australia policy". The law placed restrictions on non-European immigration and made it difficult for Asians in particular to migrate to Australia.[7]
World War II
Almost all the Japanese in Australia and its territories were rounded up within 24 hours of Pearl Harbor.[1]
During the Second World War, around 4,000 men, women and children were rounded up and sent to civilian internment camps in Australia, which were already detaining thousands of Italians and German civilians. [8]
While the Australian government adopted a policy of selective internment of Italians and Germans, excluding those over the age of 70 and those who had lived in Australia for more than 20 years, the same exclusions did not apply to the Japanese. Authorities took a “collar the lot” approach, interning 98 per cent of all male Japanese aliens registered in Australia, compared to 32 per cent of Italian and German males.[3]
The Australian government had previously decided not to intern enemy aliens over 70 years old or those who had resided in Australia for more than 20 years. The Japanese did not receive this consideration. The decision was to "collar the lot" as the authorities thought that "Japanese males of any age, even 65 to 70 and over, may endeavor to engage in sabotage."[1]
Several Japanese people who were born in the internment camp were named "Tatura" in honour of their families' wartime internment at Tatura. During wartime internment, many working age adults in the internment camp operated small businesses (including a sewing factory) and local schools within the internment camp.[9] Regarding languages, schools mainly taught English, Japanese, Mandarin and Taiwanese languages (Hokkien, Hakka, Formosan). Filipinos are purported to have also been held at the camp, alongside Koreans, Manchus (possibly from Manchukuo), New Caledonians, New Hebrideans, people from the South Seas Mandate, people from Western New Guinea (and presumably also Papua New Guinea) and Aboriginal Australians (who were mixed-Japanese).[10][11]
Development
The authorities applied Regulation 13 of the National Security (Aliens Control) Act 1939 to take Australian-born Japanese into military custody. Regulation 13 was a "catch-all" providing for arrest without warrant of any person suspected of committing an offence against the Act, or of being about to commit such offence. It allowed any person, not only an approved officer, to perform such an arrest. The Act protected any person arresting someone under it from prosecution for false arrest. The 1940 Act to amend the National Security Act 1939 removed the provision that any person might perform arrests under the Act, but provided for the placing of service and property of anyone at the disposal of the Government.[1]
Under the "collar the lot" policy, some who were half Japanese through only their mothers were interned.[1]
Except for some who were Australian born, most Japanese were arrested in Australia on 8 December 1941 in an attempt to implement total internment as policy intended. The arrests were facilitated by the fact that the Japanese community was small, identifiable and largely concentrated in the north-east. Army headquarters sent a telegram to Northern Command on 31 December 1941 which clearly indicated the Army's brief. It read: "All men and women who are Japanese by race should be interned". Northern Command was given the power to intern suspected aliens without higher authority and the police were allowed to recommend internment based upon simple suspicion of disloyalty.[1]
The greatest number of Japanese detained was 359 at Thursday Island.
The Japanese in Darwin were also taken into custody on 8 December. Guards were stationed outside Japanese homes and the children were removed from their school under armed guard,
Unlike the USA and Canada, where internees were distinguished from evacuees, everyone of Japanese ancestry interned in Australia was put in internment camps. In Australia internees were treated as prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention and men were required to wear the same uniform as POWs.
The internment of people of German origin was selective and even though indiscriminate internment of Italians occurred in some area, the military authorities never intended to intern all of them. The internment of Japanese, however did not follow this pattern. They were all to be interned because of their membership of a particular ethnic group placed them all under suspicion of being a security risk.[1]
During hostilities, 97% of the registered aliens of Japanese descent were imprisoned, while 31% of Italian and 32% of German descent were interned.[1]
Exclusion, removal, and detention
The purpose of internment was to identify and detain those who threatened the safety or defense of Australia and allay growing public concerns about a Japanese invasion. Most internees were civilian men, but some women and children were also interned in camps around Australia, often in remote locations.[2]
Loyalty questions and segregation
The rate of release of Japanese internees was also much lower: 6 per cent were released before the cessation of hostilities with Japan, compared to 74 per cent of Italians and 25 per cent of Germans. The Japanese were seen as less assimilated and more loyal to their native country. Their continued internment was also for their safety, due to vehement anti-Japanese sentiment in the community.[3]
Facilities
During World War II, internees were kept in repurposed facilities, including:[12]
- Long Bay jail, New South Wales
- Northam racecourse, Western Australia
- Keswick army barracks, South Australia
- military bases at Enoggera, Queensland, and Liverpool, New South Wales
- Dhurringile mansion, Victoria.
- Tatura, Victoria
- Hay and Cowra, New South Wales
- Loveday, South Australia
- Harvey, Western Australia.
Postwar deportation
After Japan surrendered, all Japanese internees were forcibly repatriated to Japan unless they were Australia-born or had an Australia-born spouse. Some internees had been living in Australia for more than 50 years.[3]
Dispossession of Japanese Australians
Civilian internees of all nationalities suffered from loss of assets: businesses were looted, properties were destroyed, belongings were stolen and vehicles were misappropriated. Upon their release, the internees had to start from scratch.[3]
Aftermath
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/21427/2/02whole.pdf
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Japanese internment in Australia during WWII | State Library Of Queensland". www.slq.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Piper, Christine (2014-08-14). "Japanese internment a dark chapter of Australian history". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
- ↑ "Nikkei Australia's Dr Yuriko Nagata to give a talk about Japanese internment, Brisbane, 7 August, 2022 | Nikkei Australia". https://www.nikkeiaustralia.com/. Retrieved 2022-08-07. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ Pilgrimages, JA Memorial (2020-07-16), Japanese Internment in Australia During WWII, retrieved 2022-08-07
- ↑ Identity and Internment: The Japanese-Australian experience, retrieved 2022-08-07
- ↑ National Museum Australia (2020). "White Australia policy". www.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ↑ "Japanese survivors recall Australia's WWII civilian internment camps". SBS News. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
- ↑ "Tatura – Rushworth, Victoria (1940–47)". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
- ↑ Nagata, Yuriko (September 13, 1993). Japanese internment in Australia during World War II. The University of Adelaide (This is a website link to a PDF version of an Australian thesis paper on Japanese internment in Australia during WWII.).
- ↑ Blakkarly, Jarni (April 24, 2017). "The Japanese and the dark legacy of Australia's camps". SBS News. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
- ↑ https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/immigration-and-citizenship/wartime-internment-camps-australia
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