While people were coming from all over the world to seek their fortunes on the goldfields, it was the arrival in Victoria in 1853 of Chinese immigrants that created some controversy.
Chinese immigrants came to seek a better future for their families who remained at home in China. Back home, it was a time of grinding poverty, lawlessness and oppression, particularly in the districts of Canton, in Kwangtung Province, from which many Chinese came. They will send their earnings back to China, rather than spend it in Victoria.
The Chinese are seen to be hard-working, law-abiding and patient, but keep to their own strange customs and dress, and made no effort to socialise with those of other races. They do not expect to become rich overnight and are willing to sift through the remnants of abandoned mine shafts and muck heaps to find those grains that the European miners had overlooked. In hard times, these are the very places that the miners could fall back on, so this angered many a digger who was down on his luck. Soon, criticisms mounted that the Chinese were muddying water needed to wash gold, but in truth the real worry was that so many Chinese were coming that there would be no gold left for the Europeans.
Racism against the Chinese came to a head during the gold rushes. The Europeans saw the Chinese and Australian Aborigines as being inferior beings, but while the aborigines could be ignored, the Chinese posed a real threat. The 'Melbourne Punch' magazine created uproar when it published a woodcut of a rich Chinese having his boots cleaned by a white man.
The 'Melbourne Punch' magazine. Source State Library of Victoria
Some Chinese realise that there was money to be made in providing services. They set up restaurants, laundries and stores and do domestic services that the Europeans were unwilling to do. But the Europeans maintain a general contempt for these 'Celestials', as they call the Chinese. The European believe they were superior to all other races, but there is the nagging fear that Chinese would take European jobs, that they would bring strange diseases with them, and that they would steal European women, and smoke opium instead of drinking grog. Despite the fact that few miners ever went to church, the Chinese religious practices such as Taoism or Buddhism confirmed to many Europeans that the Chinese were heathens. The middle-class Christians, staunch church-goers in this Victorian age, noted with disgust that they worshipped idols on their altars.
The 'Melbourne Punch' magazine scene represented in the Canvas Town diorama
Riots and a strong anti-Chinese sentiment lead the colonial governments of the time to believe Australia should not be a culturally diverse society. During the gold rushes, legislation is introduced around the country to restrict Chinese immigration. And later, after Federation, the Australian government will introduce legislation that acts as the foundation of the so-called White Australia policy.
Yoke used by Chinese labourers in Victorian goldfields, 19th century, ANMM Collection
Immigrants arriving in Chinatown (Little Bourke Street), Melbourne. Date: 1866, Source: State Library of Victoria. Author Unknown author, public domain
Discussion Topics:
Compare the experiences for English speaking gold seekers and the Chinese gold miners.
Why as a group did the Chinese community become so ostracised in Australian society at the time? (Think about culture, values, language, food, religion, clothing)
There was a commonly-held fear that the Chinese would 'over-run' the country.
Look at the statistics of the time and chart where miners came from. Do you find this statement to be true? Map the shipping route from China compare it to English and USA.
CLICK HERE to see some transcripts of newspaper articles of the time found on Trove.