Japanese

Australian connections with Japan intensified in the first decades of the twentieth century, when teaching of the Japanese language was first introduced to the University of Sydney and Fort Street High School. The National Library of Australia (NLA), the National Archives of Australia (NAA) and the Australian War Memorial have extensive holdings of Japanese sources relating to specific individuals seeking exemption under the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901; materials on Japanese in Northern Australia; diplomatic connections between Australia and Japan; sources created by early Japanese temporary settlers in Australia related to trade in products such as wool, silk and sugar; and documents related to WWII.