Naturalisation notice, Charley Ah Yan
Date Published
: naturalisation / citizenship, White Australia policy (WAP), legal restictions
: Central West (NSW)
: Cootamundra
: 1928
Notice of application for naturalisation of Charley Ah Yan, 1928.
Naturalisation notice
Despite having lived in Australia for over 40 years since he was 14, and with strong local support describing Charley as "quite an Australian", the response to the application was "it is contrary to the policy of the government to naturalize natives of Asia". That is, the White Australian Policy was in full force.
Naturalisation rejection
"The 1903 Naturalization Act is also usually cited as instrumental in denying citizenship to those not welcome within a White Australia with its specific denial of naturalisation for ‘an aboriginal native of Asia, Africa, or the Islands of the Pacific’. However, this legal limitation did not last long and was removed by a 1920 reform designed to bring Australia’s naturalisation laws into line with that of the British Empire as a whole. While this change meant that it was legally possible for anyone regardless of race or nationality to apply for and be granted naturalization, it was sufficient for it to be declared ‘simply not policy’ for no one to achieve this."
Michael Williams, Australia’s Dictation Test - The test it was a crime to fail (Brill, 2021), p.117.
