Chinese Australians and the Immigration Restriction Act in New South Wales: A Guide to Finding Records

This research guide helps you locate and understand records created in the administration of the Australian Immigration (Restriction) Act in New South Wales over the first half of the twentieth century. These records are now held by the National Archives of Australia. The records discussed in this guide relate to people who:

• were of Chinese or part-Chinese descent, as well as Japanese, Indians, Syrians and Afghans, although they appear less frequently in the New South Wales records
• were Australian-born or were migrants already living/settled in Australia
• travelled or planned to travel outside Australia, leaving from the port of Sydney
• arrived in Australia from overseas at the port of Sydney.