Cirrus@Austlit

'After more than a century of British colonialism, Australia as it is now known to the world came into being with the 1 January 1901 Act of Federation. This Act united the six, separate self-governing British colonies on the Australian landmass under one central government, and within a year, the new parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, more commonly known as the White Australia Policy. This policy ensured that only white Europeans would be allowed to immigrate to the new country, while empowering the state to deport existing non-white immigrants.'  (Introduction)