An immigration policy that lasted well into the 1960's and 1970's in Australia. The gist of the whole deal was that Australia was a pre-dominately Anglo-Saxon nation, and an excess of foreigners would degrade it. This is a good example of how widespread racism was only a few decades ago. How quickly they forget.
The main target of the quota was Southern and Eastern European, as well as Jews and Asians. It placed a very strict quota on the number of entries into Australia, all different by race. The lowest quota was placed on Asians, followed by the Slavs and to a lesser degree the Jews.
When the law was first challenged in the early 1900's, the Prime Minister (I forgot his name) said: "Two Wongs don't make a Wright."* This statement was met with a standing ovation. Racist prick. After the toning down of this law (after World War II) it was quickly erased from memory. In came the flood of refugees and immigrants. It was only completely removed in the 1970's.
This demonstrates how countries that now consider themselves to be free and democratic forget their own past atrocities very quickly. Australia treated the Aborigines like a bunch of animals. America has slavery and Jim Crow laws. Think about that next time you bash China for human rights abuses. Thank you.
* Ed note (Feb '06): It has been noted that the actual quotation "Two Wongs don't make a white" is attributed to Arthur Caldwell, the Australian Minister for
Immigration in 1947.