Gold rushes: 1853 to 1877
Large numbers of Chinese people were working on the Victorian goldfields and fewer on the smaller NSW fields in the mid 1850s, when major gold finds in NSW and the passing of more restrictive anti-Chinese legislation in Victoria resulted in thousands of miners moving across the border in 1859. Many more Chinese gold seekers came by ship through Twofold Bay and Sydney and onto the various diggings. Fish curing, stores and dormitories in places such as The Rocks, soon developed to support the miners on the fields as well as those on their way to the diggings or back to China. The presence of numerous Chinese on the diggings led to anti-Chinese agitation, including violent clashes such as the Lambing Flat riots, the immediate result of which was the passing of an Act in 1861 designed to reduce the number of Chinese people entering the colony.
Chinese miners:
Chinese people first came to Australia in large numbers during the Gold
rush in the 1850s and 60s. About one-third of the miners were Chinese.
Many Chinese-Australian families can trace their settlement in Australia to that time. Monuments and buildings developed by Chinese settlers serve as reminders of the long history of Chinese immigration to Australia. Examples remain in towns like Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria. Memorabilia is displayed in museums like the Chinese Museum, Melbourne, and the Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo.
Gold rush~
The largest foreign contingent on the goldfields was the 40,000 Chinese who made their way to Australia.
In 1861, Chinese immigrants made up 3.3 per cent of the Australian
population, the greatest it has ever been. These Chinese were nearly all men (38,337 men and only eleven women!) and most were under contract to Chinese and foreign businessmen. In exchange for their passage money, they worked on the goldfields until their debt was paid off. Most then returned to China. Between 1852 and 1889, there were 40,721 arrivals and 36,049 departures.
There were campaigns to oust the Chinese from the goldfields. The motivation was based on racism and fear of competition for dwindling amounts of easily found gold as the Chinese were known as untiring workers.
Chinese in Australia~
After the British settlement of Australia (1788) small numbers of Chinese men arrived as indentured laborers, convicts and free settlers. However the numbers of Chinese immigrants to Australia did not really become significant till the Victorian (1850s) and New South Wales (1860s) gold
rushes. Most Chinese arrivals came from impoverished areas in
southern China, particularly the provinces around Canton.
Pushed by environmental, economic and political difficulties in China and pulled by the lure of gold, many who arrived went into debt to pay their passage under a 'credit ticket' system. From the first Victorian gold
rushes onwards the number of Chinese people in Australia quickly
reached approximately 50,000. This was maintained up until federation although the proportion in each colony varied according to gold rush and other economic opportunities.
Chinatowns and benevolent societies often based on clan or district ties quickly developed across Australia to support the Chinese population. As gold and other minerals were discovered in Queensland, Northern Territory and north-east Tasmania Chinese miners followed. Along with the miners came Chinese entrepreneurs who helped provide goods and services for the emerging Chinese population. As mining became less profitable Chinese miners then became increasingly involved in and successful at market gardening, storekeeping (including importing and exporting), furniture making, the growing and wholesaling of bananas, fishing and the pearl diving industry.[06] The contribution of Chinese labor to Australia's development was particularly significant in the Northern Territory and north Queensland area.
The Chinese Influence in Australia's Gold rush days
Buddhism in Australia Although the first concrete example of Buddhist settlement in Australia was in 1848, there has been speculation from some anthropologists that there may have been contact hundreds of years earlier. Citation needed Buddhists began arriving in Australia in numbers during the gold rush of the 1850s, with an influx of Chinese miners. However, the population remained low until the 1960s. Buddhism is now one of the fastest-growing religions in Australia. Immigration from Asia has contributed to this, but some people of Anglo-Celtic origin have also converted. The three main traditions of Buddhism - Theravada, East Asian and Tibetan) - are now represented in Australia.
According to the Australian census in 2006, Buddhism is the largest
non-Christian religion in Australia, with 418,000 adherents, or 2.1% of the total population. It was also the fastest growing religion in terms of percentage, having increased its number of adherents by 109.6% since 1996.
The Nan Tien Temple, or Southern Paradise Temple in Wollongong, NSW,
began construction in the early 1990s adopting the Chinese palace building style and is today the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere. The Temple follows the Ven. Master Hsing Yun of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order. (星云大师 佛光山)
Chinese Temple ~ Joss House
Whenever enough Chinese people congregated in one area for long enough they would build a Joss House as a place for worshipping Hon Sing. He was the founder of the Ming dynasty, a period that was considered the greatest in Chinese history. The texts in the building reads, \~ Temple of Hon Sing ~ Health, wealth and prosperity\the beauty of the area and a philosophical text on the virtues of doing good and evil. Hon Sing preached the three virtues of Unity, Courage and Honesty.
The Joss House was built as a portal, or window of Heaven, that spirits could descend from. The roof was tilted up at the edges to deflect evil spirits and the creatures near the doorway were there to deter them. The color red has a special meaning of good fortune.
Life for the Chinese wasn't always easy!
The number of Chinese people that came to Australia in the 1800's is open to speculation. It is believed about 7000 Chinese worked in the Araluen Goldfields. The beckoning of gold however often took a personal toll on the individuals.
Various Chinese societies (eg. the Sze Yap) tried to help these \in a strange land\of this, Chinese were the target of prejudiced and racist attitudes and outright persecution by both European miners and the Government of the time. They were usually regarded as a pagan and inferior race and were often unfairly blamed for many things not of their doing. For example, outbreaks of disease were often blamed on the Chinese.
During the Mogo gold rush Chinese lived at Chinaman's Point on the Clyde river for mutual protection, and travelled by boat across the Clyde River to \
A very few Europeans were prepared to praise them for their adaptability, dignity, hard work and honesty, but overall, they were resented as much
Chinese peopole in Australia--Gold Rush
