Purpose

Academic scholarship on the White Australia Policy (WAP) has highlighted the history of Asian migration, early perceptions and policy-making initiatives. Prominent scholars have also pointed out the impact of the British Empire and WAP on Australia–India relations and early Indian migrants in Australia. Drawing on the debate concerning international students in Australia, our purpose in this article is to recover the role of Indian students in the story of Australian–Indian connections.

Design/methodology/approach

The article aims to highlight the reasons behind the involvement of the Australian government in the provision of scholarships and fellowships to Indian students and researchers at Australian universities during the period of WAP. To achieve this, it uses contemporary Australian newspaper reports to explore the popular representations of sponsored Indian students and researchers in Australia from 1901 to 1950.

Findings

The article concludes that the prevalence of this racially discriminatory immigration policy created a dissatisfaction among Indians, and some Australian sources of agitation, that helped chip away at the Australian government’s admission policies and the gradual demise of WAP.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the historiography and the effects of colonialism on Australian–Indian relations and debates on policy formation based on ideas of whiteness.

中文翻译：

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“白幕背后”：1901-1950 年在澳大利亚的印度学生和研究人员

目的

白澳政策 (WAP) 学术奖学金突出了亚洲移民的历史、早期认知和政策制定举措。著名学者还指出了大英帝国和WAP对澳印关系和早期印度移民在澳大利亚的影响。借鉴有关澳大利亚国际学生的辩论，我们在本文中的目的是恢复印度学生在澳大利亚-印度联系故事中的作用。

设计/方法/方法

本文旨在强调澳大利亚政府在 WAP 期间为澳大利亚大学的印度学生和研究人员提供奖学金和研究金背后的原因。为了实现这一目标，它使用当代澳大利亚报纸报道来探索 1901 年至 1950 年在澳大利亚受资助的印度学生和研究人员的流行表现。

发现

文章的结论是，这种种族歧视性移民政策的盛行引起了印度人和一些澳大利亚人的不满，这有助于削弱澳大利亚政府的录取政策和 WAP 的逐渐消亡。

原创性/价值

本文对历史编纂和殖民主义对澳大利亚-印度关系的影响以及基于白人思想的政策形成的辩论做出了贡献。