The Australian certificate of registration of alien

The Aliens Registration Act 1920 kept the wartime register of aliens in peace. Every person over sixteen not of British nationality, the wife of an alien included, registered at the police station nearest to his place of abode, or, arriving by sea, before an aliens registration officer on board at the first port of call, before landing; the officer could require his signature and the prints of his fingers and thumbs. He received a certificate of registration, gave notice before any change of abode and reported within seven days at the new one, could not change his name without notice, and had to show the certificate to any officer who asked and give it up on leaving the Commonwealth. The penalties ran to one hundred pounds or six months. The Act's operation was suspended on 4 June 1926.

Bearer prints Form B1 of the Regulations of 20 January 1921 in its own words: the particulars, the personal description and the officer's signature, and on the back the Notice to Aliens and the registered changes of abode. No certificate actually issued has been found, so the layout is ours. For the foreign investigator who lands at Fremantle or Port Hedland.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

Parts reconstructed

• the layout: the words are Form B1 of the Regulations' Schedule, read, but no certificate issued has been found, so their places on the card are ours

The same paper elsewhere

• Aliens' certificates of registration by country

Still to be confirmed

• the day the Act came into force (by Proclamation) is not read: the Regulations of 20 January 1921 are taken as the start. What would settle it: the Proclamation fixing the commencement of the Aliens Registration Act 1920.

Sources

• Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia; Home and Territories, Aliens Registration Regulations, Statutory Rules 1921 No. 17, in operation 20 January 1921; the Schedule: Forms A1, A2 (applications), B1 (Certificate of Registration of Alien, with the Notice to Aliens and, on the back, Registered Changes of Abode), B2 (alien seaman), C, D, E (read directly)
• Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Aliens Registration Act 1920 (Commonwealth of Australia), No. 49 of 1920, assented 2 December 1920; an alien is any person over sixteen not of British nationality, the wife of an alien included (s. 3); registration at the police station nearest the place of abode, or on board at the first port of call (ss. 6-8); signature and prints of fingers and thumbs (s. 9); the certificate (s. 10); change of abode (s. 11); change of name (s. 12); the certificate produced on demand and given up on leaving (s. 14) (read directly)
• Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Aliens Registration Act Suspension Act 1926, No. 17 of 1926, s. 2: the operation of the Aliens Registration Act 1920 suspended until a date to be fixed by Proclamation; assented 4 June 1926 (read directly)

Open the passport office · MGS Toolbox