Article ID: CBB364703336

Standardising Defence Lines: William Perrin Norris, Eugenics and Australian Border Control (2020)

unapi

This article investigates the policy and practice of Australia's so-called ‘eugenic phase’ of border control embedded within the 1912 Immigration Act. It highlights the efforts of the first London-based Commonwealth Medical Officer - Dr William Perrin Norris - who designed a medical bureaucratic system intended to keep ‘defectives’ out of Australia. Norris' vision is revealed to be befitting of his character, experience, and a passion for uniformity which went beyond his legal jurisdiction. In examining the associated political debates, procedural instructions and the practicalities of the legislation, this article advances a more nuanced historical understanding of this period of Australian border control, and traces the evolution of the idiot and insane prohibited immigrant clause in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB364703336/

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Authors & Contributors
Harris, Ben
Hultgren, John
loannis Limnios-Sekeris
Nicholas De Genova
Colm Lavery
Vogt, Sara
Concepts
Eugenics
Emigration; immigration
Mental disorders and diseases
Public health
Psychology
Psychiatry
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
21st century
Places
United States
Australia
Germany
Europe
Canada
Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Institutions
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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