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Facing Fortress Australia: Ceylonese Migrants in the 1950s & 1960s-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Earlson Forbes, whose title in THE CEYLANKAN, vol 27/2, May 2024 is “Fortress White Australia: What early Ceylonese migrants [1949 t0 1969] were up against” … [without most of the author’s pictorial illustrations because of The Editor’s technical inexpertise] The Six Australian Colonies came together on the 1st  of January 1901 to form the independent Nation of the Commonwealth of Australia.  From 1788 (First Fleet arrival at Sydney Cove) to the time of Federation, Australia was populated by convict and free settlers almost exclusively from Britain.  The 1901 census put the population at 3.7 million.   Aboriginals were not counted in this census. A small percentage of the population was made up of Pacific Islanders and Chinese.  The Chinese entered Australia in the second half of the 19th century at the time of the Gold Rush in Australia (mid-19th century) and in the years following. ...