Over the last few years, the Law Library of Congress has published a number of reports related to the immigration and citizenship laws of various countries. For example, I’ve written reports about Australia’s points-based immigration system, guest worker programs, investor visas, and pathways to citizenship. However, these projects did not involve delving into the early history of immigration law in Australia, which is actually very interesting. So, when I saw that December 23 is the anniversary of the promulgation of Australia’s first federal immigration law, the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to do some research, improve my knowledge, and share it with you all!