FLESH -Many Tones
Lifting his pant leg, as part of an Occupational Therapy ADL assessment (Activities of Daily Living) of this black skinned lower leg amputee, I was SHOCKED to see his prosthesis was black too. I was expecting pink or “flesh color”!
WHITE Australia Policy was not to be dismantled until 1973, thus, for me leaving Australia in 1966, except for some British Commonwealth (mostly Indian and some African) university students, I had known only 1 black person: an itinerant, flamboyant Nigerian gentleman, who married a friend of mine. Aboriginal people were not yet considered Australian citizens and were not included in the census. Furthermore they were absent from any educational institutions I attended. I had never met one. One of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the parliament of the newly federated Australian nation was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. This Act, known as the White Australia policy, aimed to not only restrict numbers of non-white migrants to Australia, but also to deport ‘undesirable’ migrants who were already in the country. The policy was openly racist, and was designed to support the ideal of Australia as a ‘purely’ white nation, untroubled by the threats non-white populations were thought to pose to a country’s social, political and moral standards.
The Australian Government actively enforced the White Australia policy. British migration was favoured and encouraged, and a dictation test – in any language a potential migrant was unable to speak – was administered as a way of stopping migrants from outside the United Kingdom from entering Australia.
Fables, Facts and Froth with Jill Lowe
An imigration review in 1966 led to the most significant step towards the abolition of the White Australia policy. Under the new laws, all potential migrants were subject to the same rules and restrictions with regard to acquiring visas, and were eligible to become Australian citizens after the same waiting period of five years. Migrants to Australia were to be selected for their skills and ability to contribute to Australian society, rather than their race or national affiliation. In 1973 the Whitlam Labor government definitively renounced the White Australia policy. In its place it established a policy of multiculturalism in a nation that is now home to migrants from nearly 200 different countries. Truth is, the notion of flesh color (now considered an offensive term) or nude, was applied to pantyhose, prostheses, moles on skin, clothing, bandaids and still today the INITIAL picture in one’s head of nude is pink or beige. Now, awareness makes one quickly add the range, but often only after the automatic conjecture.
In 1966 London, I believe it was very forward thinking to provide prostheses in a range of skin colors, because it was not until 1992 in USA for example that Crayola introduced a RANGE of colors for “flesh tone.”
Oh my ………many are still working to elicit the LEARNED response of a range of colors to be the automatic response to the term “flesh tone”.
As a result, non-white people – including Australia’s indigenous population – made up only about two per cent of the overall population in the early 1940s. The city of Broome in far north-west West Australia was made exempt from Australia’s Immigration Restriction Act (1901), allowing it to remain open to Malay, Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants who long worked the pearl beds. Their descendants make up a substantial proportion of Broome’s population today..
Panty hose to day
Racism continues. Racism is taught and is not innate in us. We as a population in Australia were taught to be racist during the White Australia Policy. It takes active new learned responses to change behavior, attitude and thinking. The change does not just happen. One must pay attention to one’s response and learn new pathways. Notes Photo of Jill : Joe Mazza Bravelux inc.
Photos: Copyright © 2021 Jill Lowe. All rights reserved
1952 ad for bandaids