Table of Contents
What did the Chinese do on the goldfields?
Chinese gold miners were discriminated against and often shunned by Europeans. Despite this they carved out lives in this strange new land. The Chinese took many roads to the goldfields. They left markers, gardens, wells and place names, some which still remain in the landscape today.
What was China like during the Gold Rush?
Chinese immigrants were often treated violently, and the government even supported this behavior. Anti-Chinese riots and attacks on Chinese areas were very common, and in addition, Chinese miners were often violently driven from the abandoned mines they had been working.
How did the gold rush affect the Chinese?
After the gold rush ended, many Chinese immigrants worked as farm laborers, in low-paying industrial jobs, and on railroad construction. The railroads hired many immigrants, many of them Chinese. Chinese workers were paid less than white laborers. They were also given the most dangerous jobs and longer working hours.
What was life like for the miners?
Life in the gold fields exposed the miner to loneliness and homesickness, isolation and physical danger, bad food and illness, and even death. More than anything, mining was hard work. Fortune might be right around the corner, but so too was failure.
Where did the Chinese come to work in the Goldfields?
Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia an24794265 By the early 1850s, news of a gold rush in Australia had reached southern China, sparking an influx in Chinese migration to Australia. It is thought that approximately 7000 Chinese people came to work at the Araluen gold fields in southern NSW.
What was the population of the Victorian goldfields?
By late 1858 the population of the Victorian goldfields had reached 150,000. Over half were British immigrants: 40,000 were Chinese. Fleeing violence, famine and poverty in their homeland, Chinese gold seekers called Australia the ‘New Gold Mountain’. Chinese miners faced discrimination on the goldfields from the start.
What did the Chinese people do in Victoria?
Doctors, gardeners, artisans and business people voyaged here and contributed to Victoria’s economy, health and cultural life. As the nineteenth century wore on and successful miners and entrepreneurs returned home, the Chinese Victorian population dwindled.
What was life like for the Chinese in the Gold Rush?
They were known for being hard-working and peaceful people, however their experience of the gold rush was marred by racism and discriminatory politics. Chinese migrants were forced to live under a protectorate system and required to pay taxes that no other migrants had to pay.