Egyptian-Jewish Emigrés in Australia By Racheline Barda

the Diaspora (1988) that Calwell imposed a quota system limiting the number of Jews permitted to immigrate.⁶⁹ It was clear, therefore, according to Jupp, that the DP program—while allowing into Australia for the first time “large numbers of non-British aliens” —remained essentially true to the principles of the White Australia Policy.⁷⁰

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to minimise the important part played by Australia in the DP resettlement scheme by welcoming over 170,000 refugees between 1947 and 1954, followed by British, Dutch, German, Italian, and Greek migrants. Catherine Panich’s publication, Sanctuary? Remembering Post-War Immigration, analysed the problems of transportation and reception of such a large intake of newcomers. While most of the expenses for transporting these refugees were covered by the IRO (International Refugee Organization), supplemented by an ex gratis payment of £10 per head by Australia—and British migrants enjoyed the privilege of the 1946 “U.K. Free and Assisted Passage Agreement” for which they paid £10—this was not the case for the fifteen thousand Jewish refugees who came to Australia by 1949, as noted by Panich:

Using oral history, photographs, original documents, and general memorabilia, Panich recorded the early experiences of over one hundred refugees/migrants who were seeking to restart their lives in Australia. The very personal accounts of their voyages in “refugee class” and the living conditions in the reception and holding centres where they were first settled provided a fascinating insight into a unique era in the history of Australian immigration.

The issues raised by Panich were applicable to all non-British migrants of the postwar period and, therefore, her study of European refugees in the immediate postwar period was just as relevant for the Egyptian Jews