Immigrants to Australia immediately after World War II. Before 1939 the population of the continent consisted of Aborigines and people of predominantly British descent. The war greatly stimulated industrial production and a labour shortage was met by a programme of assisted immigration (£10 from London to Sydney). Of some 575,000 new arrivals between 1947 and 1952, over half were Polish, Austrian, Italian, Maltese, Dutch, Greek, and Yugoslav, and they introduced cultural variety into Australia.