World population and Australian land: Demography and sovereignty in the twentieth century

Abstract

While much Australian historiography focuses on the declining national birth rate, this article demonstrates the extent of concern about world overpopulation. Analysing the work of three internationally significant demographers, it argues that Australian land—Australian ‘emptiness'—was closely scrutinised in an intellectual and political milieu more global and cosmopolitan than national, regional or imperial. In this tradition of expertise, the ethical as well as legal status of white occupation in Australia was called into question, and the Immigration Restriction Act came under strong critique.