WHITE DIVERS OF BROOME -

The White Australia Policy sought not only to restrict non-European immigration but also to remove non-Europeans from the country.

A constant thorn in the side of the policy was the pearling industry that made heavy use of Malay and Japanese workers.

The government set about making a change to this by bringing in white divers in 1912 and forcing the pearlers to use them on their boats.

This move was highly unpopular in Broome as the white divers were paid thirteen pounds a week compared to 2 pounds for Malay or Japanese divers. Also the European divers got a 40 pound bonus for each tonne of shells they brought up. Coloured divers had to bring up 8 tonnes of shell to get that amount of money.

Right from the start the white divers felt they were in a hostile environment. Neither the pearlers or the Malay and Japanese wanted them in Broome.

The government experiment was doomed to failure because it was easy for the pearling boats to take the white divers out to areas already stripped of pearls.

By the end of the first season the lead diver, Thomas Webber was dead in what some considered suspicious circumstances and two of his comrades were seriously injured. The men felt bitter and betrayed and one of the men, John Nowry, felt strongly enough to give evidence before a Royal Commission into pearling that was held in 1913.

Nowry said he was certain that the white divers had been taken to areas already worked out and that there was no difference between Europeans and Asians when it came to detecting pearl shell on the sea floor.

In the end the pearlers won and by 1913 there were 1166 Japanese and 634 Malays and 107 other non-Europeans working on the boats. There were no Europeans at all on the boats.

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