The White Australia Policy

       Fifty years ago, when I lived in Sydney, I frequently visited my godmother in the old suburb of Ashfield. However, when I returned in the 1990s, the suburb had changed. It no longer looked like Australia. The commercial centre was full of east Asians. My godmother's church was offering lessons in English because, apparently, you don't need to be fluent in the national language in order to immigrate. English, at any rate, was optional on the shop windows, where indecipherable languages predominated. The population, I presume, were basically good people with whom I'd make friends if I lived there, but it was like a foreign country. I don't like feeling a stranger in my own country. I want my country back!