Striving for National Fitness: Eugenics in Australia 1910s to 1930s

Abstract

Eugenics movements developed early this century in more than 20 countries, including Australia. However, for many years the vast literature on eugenics focused almost exclusively on the history of eugenics in Britain and America. While some aspects of eugenics in Australia are now being documented, the history of this movement largely remained to be written. Australians experienced both fears and hopes at the time of Federation in 1901. Some feared that the white population was declining and degenerating but they also hoped to create a new utopian society which would outstrip the achievements, and avoid the poverty and industrial unrest, of Britain and America. Some responded to these mixed emotions by combining notions of efficiency and progress with eugenic ideas about maximising the growth of a white population and filling the "empty spaces". It was hoped that by taking these actions Australia would avoid "racial suicide" or Asian invasion and would improve national fitness, thus avoiding "racial decay" and starting to create a "paradise of physical perfection". This thesis considers the impact of eugenics in Australia by examining three related propositions: 1. that from the 1910s to the 1930s, eugenic ideas in Australia were readily accepted because of concerns about declining birth rate; 2. that, while mainly derivative, Australian eugenics had several distinctive Australian qualities; 3. that eugenics has a legacy in many disciplines, particularly family planning and public health. This examination of Australian eugenics is primarily from the perspective of the people, publications and organisations which contributed to this movement in the first half of this century. In addition to a consideration of their achievements, reference is also made to the influence which eugenic ideas had in such diverse fields as education, immigration, law, literature, politics, psychology and science.