Having a Clean Up? Deporting Lunatic Migrants from Western Australia, 1924-1939

Abstract

Between 1924 and 1939, over 100 immigrants were deported from Western Australian mental hospitals. These deported ‘lunatics’ fell within the 3‐year (and later 5‐year) window between arrival and becoming ‘a charge on the state’. This meant that they could be deported by the Australian Commonwealth government under Section 8a of the amended Immigration Restriction Act. So who were these lunatic migrants? Were they already unwell and deliberately encouraged to migrate to Australia by unscrupulous foreign governments? Were they simply people for whom the pressures of life in an unfamiliar culture, in the middle of a global economic depression, became too much? By examining these deportees in more detail, and looking at factors such as their ethnic background and diagnosis, some underlying reasons as to why these individuals were targeted for deportation become apparent.

From Criminalisation to Individual Choice: Policy Responses to Changing Constructions of Intellectual Disability in Western Australia

“…Medical diagnosis informed the introduction of the WA Immigration Restriction Act 1897, whereby immigrants who were diagnosed as insane could be deported back to their country of origin, with no limitations on the time since arrival (Martyr 2011a). After Australian Federation in 1901, the Commonwealth government passed the first Federal Immigration Restriction Act with the same deportation criteria for insane immigrants.…”

“…After Australian Federation in 1901, the Commonwealth government passed the first Federal Immigration Restriction Act with the same deportation criteria for insane immigrants. In 1924 and again in 1932, changes were made to limit the diagnosis of insanity within three years and five years, respectively, since arrival (Martyr 2011a). By 1939, 112 patients had been deported from Claremont Hospital for the Insane to their country of origin under this legislation (Martyr 2011a).…”

Insanity, belonging and citizenship: mentally ill people who went to and/or returned from Europe in the Late Ottoman Era

“…Likewise, in Western Australia, according to the official figures, more than 100 mentally-ill migrants were repatriated to their home countries between 1929 and 1934 (Martyr, 2011: 171).…”

“…In the state of California, a commission was established specifically to repatriate Chinese and Japanese mentally-ill people to their own countries and, in May 1899, 85 of them who had been in prisons were deported ‘in accordance with the articles of the last pact signed with Eastern countries’ (Shin, 2012: 9). Likewise, in Western Australia, according to the official figures, more than 100 mentally-ill migrants were repatriated to their home countries between 1929 and 1934 (Martyr, 2011: 171).…”

Insanity and Immigration Restriction

“…It is for this reason that many of the acts included powers of deportation, even if an immigrant was committed to an asylum years after their original arrival; in some jurisdictions up to three years, or even up to five years later. 33 The more generous of the acts stipulated that idiots or the insane might enter if a resident, subject or citizen of the receiving country was willing to accommodate and provide all costs for support. Sometimes a large, for most a prohibitive, bond was sought -£100 for example.…”