The Chinese Experience in Australia © ASIA Volume 43 Number 2 79 The Chinese Experience in Australia – A Brief Outline for Stages 3– 5 by Di Dunlop dward Hargraves returned to Australia from California in 1851 where he had experienced the Efrenzy of the Gold Rushes in California. He had previously been at Bathurst in New South Wales and believed that the local rock formations resembled what he had seen in California. He spent time panning in Bathurst, and found gold. On 15 May 1851 the discovery was announced and workers flocked to the area to make their fortunes. By August of that year the interest had shifted to Victoria, because Thomas Hiscock had discovered gold on the rich alluvial flats at Ballarat. Both Geelong and Melbourne were almost emptied of men. By the end of the same year news of the discoveries had spread around the world. Hopefuls came from Ireland, Scotland, England and America. By the end of 1853 the decline in income of the alluvial digger caused him to perceive a wider significance in the difference between the equality and mateship of the goldfields, Banner from 1860 and 1861 anti-Chinese rebellion on the Lambing Flat goldfields, now present day Young, NSW. Source: Wikimedia Commons and the inequality and political and social privilege that prevailed in the society that surrounded him.·1 Chinese had first begun to arrive at t he Victorian Life was difficult and the crime rate was high. The goldfields in large numbers during 1856. By this time administration of the goldfields was harsh and corrupt. it was difficult to find alluvial gold, and teams were This led to the event known as the Eureka Stockade, digging to greater depths. The majority came from where twenty-five men were killed and thirty were southern China in groups of six or seven hundred. ‘Each man with a pole and two baskets and a hat like wounded. ‘When the soldiers had once tasted blood, 3 they became violent. The mounted troops began to the top of a haystack nearly a yard across.’ mangle the diggers till they were stopped by their By 1861 there were over 24 000 Chinese on the commanding officers.’ 2 Victorian goldfields, with only a handful of them being Peter Lalor, leader of the diggers, went into the women. Their expectations were to make their fortune Victorian Legislative Assembly the following year. and return to their homeland. Life on the goldfields continued. Obsession with the In 1861 Chinese immigrants were 3·3% of the Licence tax soon gave way to other issues for those population. Most were under contract to Chinese and struggling to make an income on the ‘diggings’. They foreign businessmen. In exchange for their passage, turned their anger on the Chinese. they worked until their debt was paid off. Between 1852 and 1889, there were over 40 000 arrivals and 36 000 departures. Poor returns on the fields led to a growing campaign to oust the Chinese, bolstered by racism based on fear of competition. Fawkner in the Victorian Parliament wanted to frame a bill ‘to control the flood of Chinese settling in the Colony and to prevent the goldfields of Australia Felix from becoming the property of the Emperor of China and the Mongolian and Tartar hoardes of Asia’. 4 Racism continued. The Chinese were accused of immorality caused by the absence of women, and of exporting all their wealth to China and thereby not Battle of the Eureka Stockade. J. B. Henderson [1834] Watercolour. contributing to the wealth of this country. State Library of NSW. Source: Wikimedia Commons 80 © Journal of the Asia Education Teachers’ Association – June 2015 The Chinese Experience in Australia – A brief outline Both New South Wales and Victoria passed laws to restrict the number of Chinese able to come to Australia. Instead, Chinese began to land in South Australia and walk overland. On the goldfields discrimination continued and riots began to occur. First on the Buckland River in Victoria in 1857, and then at Lambing Flat near Young, New South Wales, in 1861. A group gathered behind a ‘No Chinese’ flag and, whipped into a frenzy by martial music, they rode to the Chinese area and attacked the Chinese. Troops finally arrived to stop the attack and arrested those involved. However, all of the charged Europeans were acquitted in the Goulburn trials. Over the next decade, alluvial digging declined and the anti-Chinese agitation also declined. Chinese continued to migrate to the colonies, and settled as market gardeners and shopkeepers near all the major towns and cities. During the 1880s, anti-Chinese demonstrations continued as the hostility to the Chinese grew. It was based on fear of racial contamination, and the fear that wages would be undermined for the working class. Many believed that an alien culture was incompatible with the growing sense of Australian nationalism. Parliaments responded by imposing more and more Location where the Riot Act was read in 14 July 1861 on the then site of the restrictions. In 1888, 30 000 gathered in the Domain Police Camp at Lambing Flat, now Young, NSW. Source: Wikimedia Commons organised by the anti-Chinese League. At this time The law actually allowed for a ‘dictation test· which The Bulletin was a flagship for anti-Chinese sentiment, would achieve the racial objective. Any proposed vilifying the Chinese in cartoons and articles. It used immigrant would be asked to write out from dictation racism in the cause of Australian nationalism. By and sign a passage of fifty words in length from any the 1890s all colonies had laws restricting coloured European language. Officials were given discretionary immigration. power to use the test where ‘apropriate’ in order to The White Australia Policy, as it came to be known, exclude undesirable applicants. was fully developed in the decade from 1891 to 1901 – This policy was not removed in Australia until the at Federation. 1960s. It had been a policy that reflected the values of The powers regarding immigration were given to its time. Perhaps it is seen as ironic that the Australian the new Federal government, and the first piece of values of unity and egalitarian ism were promoted legislation passed was the Immigration Restriction within the context of White Australia for sixty years. Act of 1901, introduced by Prime Minister Edmund After World War II, huge numbers of Europeans were Barton. disp laced and Australia was looking for ‘appropriate· Racism and fear of ‘foreigners’ had been one of the since he believed that coloured people would not major factors in uniting the colonies. They believed assimilate. He argued that·Australia’s integration their united strength would protect them from the policy is based not on racial grounds but on a desire 7 ‘yellow hoardes’. Barton said ‘I do not thi nk that to preserve the homogeneity of our race.’ the doctrine of the equality of man was really ever Over time it became evident that Australia could not 5 intended to include racial equality.’ Alfred Deakin progress as a migrant nation while it denied access said ‘The unity of Australia is nothing, if that does not to the peoples of Asia. The last two defenders of the imply a united race . it was . .is unity that made the Policy were Caldwell and Menzies. but times were 6 Commonwealth possible’. changing. © ASIA Volume 43 Number 2 81 The Chinese Experience in Australia – A brief outline It was in 1965 that the Labor Party deleted the Policy that is now part of our culture, but Chinese herbal from its platform. By 1971, nine thousand non-white medicine, acupuncture, tai chi and martial arts. immigrants entered Australia under the Liberal References Government, even though technically the Policy had Clarke. Manning (1 992). never been removed. A Short History of Australia. Claremont. From that time on race was not used as a justification Kelly. Paul (200l ). for the denial of entry in to Australia, and Chinese A Hundred Years – The Australian . Allen & Unwin. part of the twentieth century. Story A distinctive part of Australian communities today, Footnotes whether in the country towns or the city suburbs, are 1–4 Clarke. Manning (1992). A Short History of the Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese. etc. restaurants. All of Australia. Claremont. our major cities have a Chinatown, where Australians 5–7 Kelly. Paul (2001). A Hundred Years – The of all backgrounds intermingle. It is not only food Australian Story. Allen & Unwi n NAA: SP11/6. Certificate of Exemption from the Dictation Test. Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia (NAA) Source: http://guides.naa.gov.au/chinese/gallery/ 82 © Journal of the Asia Education Teachers’ Association – June 2015 Timeline of Chinese Migration by Julie O’Keeffe The information spread quickly, and Louis claimed it was this letter which started the rush of 50 000 Chinese to the Victorian goldfields. Louis found gold and became a prosperous merchant and an important spokesperson for the Chinese, Louis Ah Mouy has descendants in Australia. 1851–56 Between these years it is estimated that about 50 000 Chinese came to Australia to search for gold in Victoria. John Alloo, a Chinese, ran a restaurant in the main road of Ballarat where a three-course meal could Washing Tailings from Ten Australian Views, c. 1870s. Courtesy National be purchased for one shilling. Some of the Library of Australia. Source: http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au Chinese at the goldfields set up businesses, began market gardening, and ran restaurants. 1400s During this period the Chinese were Fresh vegetables grown by the Chinese were interested in adventure and exploration. very welcome on the diggings.