Changes To The Act
Originally the dictation test could be administered any time within the first year of a person's arrival to Australia, but after 1932, this period was extended to the first five years of residence. Officials were also able to give the test to an individual an unlimited number of times. At first the test had to be given in a European language; however, in 1905, the Act was amended to allow the government to specify any individual language that the test could be given in.
The Immigration Restriction Act was eventually replaced by the Migration Act 1958, which removed the dictation test and many of the other qualifications, although many migrants from southern Europe and Asia were already living in Australia, some of them having arrived as refugees during World War II. The White Australia policy itself was not officially abolished until 1973.
Read more about this topic: Immigration Restriction Act 1901
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