page_title: Attempted exclusion of Egon Kisch from Australia
section_title: The High Court rules
hierarchical_section_title: Attempted exclusion of Egon Kisch from Australia / The High Court rules
caption_attribution_description: Painting of Maurice Blackburn, Australian politician and lawyer.
context_page_description: In late 1934 and early 1935, the United Australia Party Government of Joseph Lyons failed to exclude Egon Erwin Kisch, a member of the Communist Party of Germany, from entering Australia.
context_section_description: Egon Kisch's legal team was headed by Christian Jollie Smith, who secured a writ of habeas corpus for Kisch and briefed Albert Piddington and Maurice Blackburn, who took his case to the full bench of the High Court, which on 19 December 1934 ruled that he be free to visit Australia. Kisch's legal team were able to demonstrate that Constable Mackay, who had administered the test, although born in Scotland, was not actually able to understand the Lord's Prayer in Scottish Gaelic himself. Crucially, the Court ruled that the dictation test had been invalid in any case, in that Scottish Gaelic was not "a European language" within the meaning of the Immigration Restriction Act. Kisch was now free to visit and speak in Australia. Or so it seemed.
caption: Labor Parliamentarian and MAWF member Maurice Blackburn acted as one of Kisch's legal counsel
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