Letter re Kang Youwei
Date Published
: White Australia policy (WAP), politics, White Australia policy (Dictation Test), Qing Empire
: Canberra
: Canberra
: 1908
Kang Youwei was thought to wish to visit Australia and this letter discusses how to use the Dictation Test to prevent that. As it was thought he could speak a number of European languages this is the first known contemplation of using the Dictation Test in a language it was known the one “tested” must fail.
Letter re Kang Youwei
NAA: A1, 1910/3933, Atlee Hunt to Collector of Customs, Fremantle, 27 October 1908.
"Perhaps the first example of a political use of the Dictation Test, but by no means the last, concerned the prominent Chinese reformer Kang You-Wei, who was then in exile from the Qing Imperial government. A letter discussing his application to come to Australia to speak on China’s need of reform not only expresses the government’s desire to deny his entry for ‘various reasons’ but also clearly demonstrates how the Dictation Test was now operating in practice:
It is probable that Kang Yu Wei understands English. Inquiries should be made on that point, and your officers should be in readiness to apply the test say in Spanish or Italian."
Australia’s Dictation Test - The test it was a crime to fail (Brill, 2021), pp.102-103.
