Pauline Hanson argues Australia cannot be multicultural and must exist as a 'monocultural society.' However, historian Alan Atkinson contends that Australia has never been monocultural, except as an unrealised dream.
Defining Multiculturalism and Pluralism
Multiculturalism means having several cultures or ethnicities within a single nation-state. Atkinson notes that multiculturalism is only a halfway house, with pluralism encompassing various language and legal traditions under one government. Examples include the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, and Spain. He suggests that pluralism, or at least multiculturalism, is deeply embedded within Judeo-Christian ways of life, even citing the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The British Empire was a pluralist arrangement from the 1760s until its demise, incorporating different languages and legal systems in Quebec (French) and southern Africa (Dutch). Pluralist arrangements were also tried with some Indigenous peoples, such as the Mohawk and Inuit in Canada, and Māori in New Zealand.
Australia's Reluctance Towards Pluralism
Australians today are deeply suspicious of pluralism, with a prevailing idea that the nation is too fragile to manage such diversity. The no vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum of 2023 is evidence of this. However, multiculturalism has always been part of Australia's fabric.
Mixed ethnicity would have been the order of the day in early New South Wales if the British government had had its way. Women convicts were greatly outnumbered by men on the First Fleet in 1788, and Governor Arthur Phillip was instructed to find Pacific Islander women willing to partner with the men as founders of a new population. Phillip rejected this idea, fearing the women would 'pine away in misery.'
The Diversity of the First Fleet
The First Fleet itself was enormously diverse. The English and Irish were separate nationalities, much more at odds than today, with many Irish still speaking Gaelic, as did Highland Scots. The fleet also included 11 Africans and about 40 men and women from continental Europe, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden.
All colonial capitals started as seaports. Men working on British merchant ships were picked up in ports worldwide, and the same was true of the British navy. Bustling seaports were necessarily multicultural, and diversity of population was understood to prove acuteness and prosperity. Multiculturalism was a core part of new ideas about free enterprise, meaning diversity of skill and outlook, deeper experimentation, and a more useful contest of ideas. Leading colonists understood this well; for instance, the Macarthurs at Elizabeth Farm employed a Chinese carpenter and Greek vinedressers for their distinctive skills.
Erosion and Revival of Multiculturalism
In the later 1800s, enthusiasm for diversity diluted somewhat. In Queensland, working men objected to pub food prepared by Chinese cooks with vegetables from Chinese market gardens. In northern NSW, white storekeepers were angry about competition from Chinese storekeepers, though their anger only proved that townspeople liked buying from Chinese-run shops. In the 1900s, the White Australia policy was introduced until the nation again woke up to the virtues of diversity.
Alan Atkinson is an award-winning historian of early Australia and a member of the Australian Historical Association.
