January 13 - The Kimberley Plan

Before and during the Holocaust in Europe the Freeland League, led by Isaac Steinberg, applied to buy 7 million acres of land in the Kimberley region in WA. The plan was to settle 75000 jews fleeing Europe in the area. He based his campaign on the officially declared need to populate northern Australia.

Prime minister John Curtin vetoed the idea because he said it would go against the immigration policy at the time. I find it interesting that no mention was made of the local indigenous population of the area, as if no one else already lived there. I dread to think what the situation there would be like had Curtin gone along with the idea.

Here's my book entry about it