Once upon a time, the immigration intake into Australia was a mostly benign issue, with the intake as a proportion of the population largely ebbing and flowing in a relatively limited range, consistent with the underlying conditions present in the economy.

There were exceptions to this, most notably the return of servicemen and women following the conclusion of the First World War and the high levels of migration driven by refugees and economic migrants seen following the conclusion of the Second World War.

While the level of migration seen in the late 1940s was extremely high, it was also heavily focused on skilled workers, most notably tradesmen who at one point made up roughly 1 in 4 new arrivals.

The Mood All Changed