Beyond White Australia: Australian education and the engagement of Asia after the Second World War

The paper traces the engagement of Asia after 1945 with reference to the role of education. Initially it was an elite process with the Department of External Affairs leading the way. The rapid expansion of embassies in the region gave considerable scope for cultural attaches to disseminate material and information about Australia. Percy Spender, the Foreign Affairs Minister in 1950, added considerably to this process with the successful launch of the Colombo Plan - a hugely successful initiative that invited many Asian students to Australia where they were to do much to break down the walls of White Australia. His successor, R.G. Casey, launched the journal 'Hemisphere', a major attempt to engage favourable academic debate on Australia and Asia. The survey will then include an assessment of the Asian Social studies movement after the 1970s and the associated attempts to expand facilities in the universities, the media (ABC, SBS) and in bilateral and multilateral diplomatic initiatives. The paper will draw on recently released archival material in Australia, official DFAT records and scholarly material.