Exception or Exemption? The Broome Pearling Industry and the ›White Australia Policy‹
Final Report Abstract
Should Broome and its pearling industry be considered an exception or exemption to ›white Australia‹? Demonstrably, the north-western Australian city did not remain unaffected by the racisms of the time: in principle, its social order reflected ›racial boundaries‹; this includes the exploitation of Indigenous people and their exclusion outside the city (perpetuated to this day in the absence of the Indigenous contribution to the pearling industry). Furthermore, no fundamental critique of the ›white Australia‹ ideology was expressed by the European pearlers. On the other hand, the ›race‹based hierarchy was transcended more easily than in other parts of the continent due to local conditions. Racism as a social relation has to be implemented but also constantly negotiated; this is shown by the fragility of the ›colour line‹. Social advancement was possible not only for Japanese divers but also for Japanese businesspeople and individuals such as an acknowledged Indonesia-born pearl expert. Rather, the majority of the pessimistic observations (especially in the context of the Japanese) came from the accounts of Broome-visiting outsiders or were judgements from afar. A particular finding from the project, then, is the social position of the Japanese in the pearling industry. The comparative study of Japanese workers, recruited to work in the Western Australian pearling industry, and South Sea Islanders, introduced to work in the Queensland sugar industry, reveals the different ways in which racism and ›non-whiteness‹ were negotiated at the turn of the 20th century. Japanese divers and tenders also were indentured for three years in the pearling industry. Like the South Sea Islanders, they were subject to restrictions regarding their freedom of travel and choice of residence. Unlike them, however, the Japanese came from a nation that had already distinguished itself as a colonial and military power by this time. Australia’s isolationist policy towards Japan was strongly criticised not only from a diplomatic point of view. Racist ideologies formed in the home country were matched with those encountered in Broome in ideas of their own superiority over other Southeast Asians; thus they were not defenceless or powerless in the face of Australian racism. In Broome, Japanese social and national prestige also allowed the establishment of organisations representing the interests of the Japanese (which not least successfully enforced the appointment of a Japanese doctor). Broome’s ever-emphasised geographical remoteness helped to theoretically isolate at one specific location from the rest of ›white‹ Australia the ›Japanese threat‹ as part of the ›yellow peril‹. As also noted by contemporaries, ultimately the pursuit of pearling as a ›white man’s industry‹ had to take a back seat to economic reality: despite political and trade union efforts, the pearling industry remained indenture-based until its ultimate demise by the two world wars – locally, overwriting ›race‹ with ›class‹, nationally, viewed with suspicion, and retrospectively, valued as the origin of the city’s particular multiculturalism.
Publications
- ›Conflicts in Racism. Broome and White Australia‹. In: Race & Class, 61, 2019, 2, pp. 43–61
Stefanie Affeldt, Wulf D. Hund
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396819871412) - ›The White Experiment. Racism and the Broome Pearling Industry‹. In: Anglica, 28, 2019, 3, pp. 43–58
Stefanie Affeldt
(See online at https://doi.org/10.7311/0860-5734.28.3.05) - ›Racism Down Under. A Prehistory of the Concept in Australia‹. In: Australian Studies Journal | Zeitschrift für Australienstudien, 33/34, 2019/20, pp. 9–30
Stefanie Affeldt, Wulf D. Hund
(See online at https://doi.org/10.35515/zfa/asj.3334/201920.02) - ›A Japanese Galen Down Under. Dr Suzuki, Broome, and the Intricacies of White Australia‹. In: From Botany Bay to Manus Island, ed. by Katrin Althans, David Kern, KOALAS, Bd. 15, 2021
Stefanie Affeldt
- ›»…polished and cultured, speaking English fluently«. The Japanese Doctor of Broome‹. In: Documenting Mobility in the Japanese Empire and beyond, ed. by Takahiro Yamamoto, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022
Stefanie Affeldt
