Department of Immigration

The Department of Immigration was an Australian government department that existed between July 1945 and June 1974.

Department of Immigration

Department overview
Formed	13 July 1945[1]
Preceding Department	Department of the Interior (II)
Dissolved	12 June 1974[1]
Superseding Department	Department of Labor and Immigration – for immigration Department of Foreign Affairs – for visa functions
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Department executives	Tasman Heyes, Secretary (1946–1961) Peter Heydon, Secretary (1961–1971) Bob Armstrong, Secretary (1971–1974)

Scope

Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the Department's annual reports.

At its creation, the Department's functions were:^[1]

• Admission of contract immigrants
• Deportation and Registration of Aliens
• Emigration of Children and Aboriginals
• Encouraged migration
• Immigration
• Indentured coloured labor
• Nationality and Naturalization
• Passports
• Publication of Newspapers in foreign languages
• Repatriation of destitute Australians

Structure

The Department was a Commonwealth Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Immigration.^[1]