At the time that news about the Australian goldrush reached China in 1853, the country had been suffering from years of war and famine. In order to raise money for the fare to Australia, a man would take a loan from a local trader, agreeing to make regular repayments. His wife and children usually stayed behind, and worked for the trader if the man was unable to repay the money he had borrowed. To reach Melbourne, it was a journey of several months by ship in cramped conditions.
A village in China

When the Chinese arrived at the goldfields, they stayed together in large teams, often groups of people from the same town or region in China, with a head man in charge. Each head man allocated work groups to do duties such as mining, cooking, growing vegetables for the team. Much of the alluvial gold was running out and the Chinese miners re-worked claims that had been abandoned and collected gold that had been missed. They preferred not to go deep underground for fear of offending their mountain gods. The Chinese built their dwellings and temples separate from where the other diggers lived, and kept to themselves.

There was ignorance about Chinese customs and culture, and the Chinese seemed very strange and different to the western diggers. The people at the diggings were suspicious of them and resentful of their methods of mining. The appearance of the Chinese, with their pigtails and unfamiliar clothes, their habit of going barefoot and of carrying loads balanced from two bamboo poles, their religion, all made them the target of a great deal of racism and prejudice. The Chinese were generally very hardworking and honest, and were quiet and law abiding. Local Chinese societies came into being, to advise newly arrived Chinese about how to fit in.

illustration © [2007] Jupiterimages Corporation

In an attempt to limit the number of Chinese at the goldfields, a law was passed in 1885 that any Chinese person entering Victoria would pay ten pounds tax, and one pound for a protection fee, the right to mine and live in the colony. No one entering Victoria from any other country had to pay this tax. However, this did not reduce the numbers of Chinese. They landed in South Australia and walked several hundred kilometres to reach the Victorian goldfields.

Some Chinese returned home after the gold rush, but many stayed here. They found jobs, set up market gardens, restaurants or laundries. They brought their families to Australia. Gradually the Chinese became a respected group in Australian society.