Desc: The Birth of White Australia: Directed by Phil Walsh. With Rita Aslim, Frank Hardingham, Alice Layton, Dot McConville. An early Australian silent film depicting historical events on the Young district goldfields, then known as Lambing Flat. During the gold rush of 1861, tensions between Australian miners and immigrant Chinese led to rioting, with Chinese miners attacked and driven from the diggings. The film portrays these events as being the genesis - or birth - of the White Australia policy, a significant political issue of the day.