The Victorian Gold Rush

The facts/figures:

The personalities:

The Issues/Themes:

Analysis:

Life on the gold fields

The facts/figures:

The personalities:

The Issues/Themes:

Analysis:

The Chinese

The facts/figures:

1854 there were only 2,000 Chinamen on the gold fields

Years after 1854 there was a rapid rise in Chinese immigrants, where around 25,000 Chinese were in Victoria alone in 1861

In 1861, Chinese immigrants made up 3.3% of the Australian population

40,000 Chinese made their way to Australia as news had broke out about the gold fields

The anti-Chinese laws of the late 1870s and 1880s, and the White Australia Policy of 1901, were declarations that Chinese people were a threat to mainstream Australia

An anti-Chinese licence fee was introduced by the government to help reduce the amount of Chinese immigrants working in the gold fields, this was among other ways to restrict the Chinese from entering Australia such as limiting Chinese immigration in various states of Australia

Violence towards the Chinese was firmly entrenched as there were many occasions of hostility towards the Chinese, the most notable anti-Chinese riots occurred at Buckland River, Victoria (1857) and Lambing Flat, NSW (1861)

The personalities:

Charles Thatcher: A singer and songwriter, Charles Thatcher wrote the song “CHINESE IMMIGRATION” which was popular during the time of the GR, Thatcher earned his living as an entertainer on the gold fields. Even though his song was a popular hit during the 1800’s, his song today would be considered racist and discriminative.

“The customs of their country, of course will then prevail, and every English slave will have to wear a long pigtail. We’ll all of us be fed on rice, as true as I’m a sinner, and ‘stead of spoons we’ll have to use those chopsticks for our dinner.”

The Issues/Themes:

Riots and Raids: This was a major issue because after alluvial gold begun to deplete miners had to work harder to find gold. White diggers essentially thought to themselves that the Chinese diggers are the ones who are taking away their chance at being rich. This lead to two of the most notable anti-Chinese riots to occur, the Lambing Flat