As immigrant settlement and much welfare and educational policy is now based on language needs, this information has become much more important for official purposes than it was in 1933. So few spoke any other language that the question was dropped until 1976. In 1933, after a small influx of southern Europeans, a census question was inserted on knowledge of English. During the operation of the White Australia Policy between 19, the census recorded in great detail all those of non-European or partly non-European race.
In Australia, as elsewhere, what is measured by the census is determined by political and sometimes administrative imperatives, rather than by the intrinsic or long-term interest of the data in isolation. In Canada and the United States at various times measures of race, language use or ethnic origin have all been incorporated into census data. Birthplace data has also been used in the United Kingdom over many years. A substitute measure of 'households headed by those born in the New Commonwealth with Pakistan' has been substituted. British attempts to measure ethnicity based on recent immigration have been frustrated by political objections. The United Kingdom Census, in contrast, measures language use only for Welsh and Scottish Gaelic and religion only for Northern Ireland. All are the basis for official policies aimed at equitable distribution of power and resources. The Indian Census, based on the most multicultural major society in the world, measures language, religion and caste. This article presents some of these measures as well as discussing their difficulties and limitations.Īt various times different countries seek, through population censuses, to measure ethnic and cultural diversity in terms of birthplace, language, religion and the like.
However, they are far from straightforward or uncontroversial. Various measures can be used to indicate the extent and characteristics of Australia's ethnic and cultural diversity. This article has been contributed by Dr James Jupp, Director, Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, Australian National University.Īs 1995 has been designated as the UN International Year of Tolerance it is appropriate to reflect on the multiculturalism of Australia and the fact that its ethnic and cultural diversity has evolved largely without the major problems encountered in some other countries. ETHNIC AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA
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