''O'Keefe v Calwell'' is a

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

case. Annie O'Keefe was a Dutch subject born in the

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

and one of 15,000 people who were evacuated to Australia from nearby countries during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and given sanctuary. She arrived in Australia in September 1942 and settled in the outer

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

community of Bonbeach. She married an Australian, believing that the marriage would also allow her to remain, but the government issued a deportation order for Annie and her children in January 1949. Public support allowed her to challenge the deportation order. The High Court ruled in favour of O'Keefe. This was because she had not formally been given the status of a prohibited immigrant when she was allowed to enter Australia with a certificate of exemption, so the expiration of the certificate did not make her liable to deportation as a prohibited immigrant. Nor could she be declared a prohibited immigrant more than five years after being allowed into the country. The case proved the Aliens Deportation Act 1948 a failure, leading the Minister for Immigration

Arthur Calwell Arthur Augustus Calwell King's Counsel, KC (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party from 1960 to 1967. He led the party through three federal elections, l ...

to push forward with the War-time Refugees Removal Act 1949. The action in the High Court was the first successful legal challenge to the White Australia Policy.

References

High Court of Australia cases 1949 in Australian law Visa policy of Australia Australian migration law Immigration case law White Australia policy 1949 in case law Australia–Indonesia relations Australia–Netherlands relations {{Australia-law-stub