Insanity And Immigration Control In New Zealand And Australia, 1860-1930 (mental Health In Historical Perspective)

This book examines the policy and practice of the insanity clauses within the immigration controls of New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia. It reveals those charged with operating the legislation to be non-psychiatric gatekeepers who struggled to match its intent. Regardless of the evolution in language and the location at which a migrant's mental suitability was assessed, those with 'inherent mental defects' and 'transient insanity' gained access to these regions. This book accounts for the increased attempts to medicalise border control in response to the widening scope of terminology used for mental illnesses, disabilities and dysfunctions. Such attempts co-existed with the promotion of these regions as 'invalids' paradises' by governments, shipping companies, and non-asylum doctors. Using a bureaucratic lens, this book exposes these paradoxes, and the failings within these nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australasian nation-state building exercises.-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Abbreviations 11 List of Tables 12 1 Introduction: ‘Lunatic Immigrants’ 13 Beyond the Asylum 15 Mapping Border Controls 16 Structure and Outline 18 2 Populating Australasia with Sound Minds 24 British Worlds, Without Welfare 26 Goldfields, Criminals and Imported Lunatics 33 The Unfortunate Lunatic 37 Conclusion 40 Part I New Zealand 49 3 Nation Building, Agent-Generals and Imported Lunatics, New Zealand 1870–1879 50 The Immigration and Public Works Bill 51 Hysteria, Mischief and Leniency 54 ‘Half-Scamps, Half-Lunatics’: The Imbecile Passengers Act 57 ‘Perfectly Sane Before They Left England’ 60 Altruistic Repatriation 64 The Quantity or Quality Question 66 Conclusion 70 4 Imbecile Passengers and Commercial Paradoxes, New Zealand 1880–1898 78 Austerity Measures in a New Travelling Age 79 Attracting the ‘Nerve-Exhausted’ But Not the ‘Weak-Minded’ 87 ‘Now Sir, Are You An Imbecile, A Cripple, A Pauper, or A Habitual Drunkard?’ 93 Conclusion 98 5 Deportation, Domicile and Mental Deficiency, New Zealand 1899–1930 106 Prohibiting ‘Any Idiot or Insane Person’ 107 The Duality of Border Control: Bonding Imbeciles and Returning the Insane 111 Medico-Legal Points in Connection with the Passenger Trade 116 Eugenics at the Borders 118 Conclusion 127 Part II The Commonwealth of Australia 136 6 The ‘Insane’ and the White Australia Policy, 1901–1912 137 Australia’s Extensive Prohibitions? 139 ‘Who Is to Decide Whether an Immigrant Is an Idiot or Insane?’ 142 ‘Either We Are Getting the Healthiest People in the World, or We Are Not Weeding Out the Undesirables’ 149 Conclusion 152 7 Eugenics and Border Control, Australia 1912–1920 160 Reinforcing Border Controls 161 Norris: Australia’s Overseas Frontier Guard 165 Repelling the ‘Mentally Inept’ 168 A Definite Eugenic Phase? 171 Conclusion 175 8 Effective Border Machinery, Ineffective Mental Equipment, Australia 1920–1930 182 Closing Gaps and Widening Prohibitions 183 Recruiting the Best of British, Again 185 Australia’s ‘Extensive and Elaborate Machinery’ 187 Determining Mental Standards 191 Returning the ‘Temperamentally Unsuitable’ 193 Conclusion 195 9 Conclusion 202 Appendix A 207 Appendix B 208 Appendix C 209 Appendix D 213 Appendix E 215 Appendix F 216 Select Bibliography 218 Index 237 Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: ‘Lunatic Immigrants’ (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 1-11 Populating Australasia with Sound Minds (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 13-37 Front Matter ....Pages 39-39 Nation Building, Agent-Generals and Imported Lunatics, New Zealand 1870–1879 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 41-68 Imbecile Passengers and Commercial Paradoxes, New Zealand 1880–1898 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 69-96 Deportation, Domicile and Mental Deficiency, New Zealand 1899–1930 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 97-126 Front Matter ....Pages 127-127 The ‘Insane’ and the White Australia Policy, 1901–1912 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 129-151 Eugenics and Border Control, Australia 1912–1920 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 153-174 Effective Border Machinery, Ineffective Mental Equipment, Australia 1920–1930 (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 175-194 Conclusion (Jennifer S. Kain)....Pages 195-199 Back Matter ....Pages 201-244