Displaced personsAfter the Second World War, Australia's population was barely 7.5 million, with most people living in the big cities of South Eastern Australia. Great concerns were expressed at the time about Australia's many open spaces and the fear of 'the yellow hordes in the north' created such slogans as 'populate or perish'. After the war the Australian Labor government, under Ben Chifley, started an urgent recruitment program in Europe to attract immigrants.