In the mid-19th century, with the onset of the "gold rush" in Australia, many Chinese from Guangdong and Fujian came across the ocean to Australia. In 1861, the number of Chinese who came to Australia reached 38,000, accounting for 10% of the total population of Australia at that time. 3.3. Later, as the "Gold Rush" subsided and the colonial government implemented the "White Australia" policy that restricted the immigration of people of color, the Chinese population gradually shrank. By 1947, only 10,000 people remained.
According to the assessment, Australia has 9,507 tons of gold resources. Among them: 5,415 tons of economically significant gold resources have been proven, with Western Australia accounting for 62%, reaching 3,124 tons; South Australia ranks second; and New South Wales ranks third. Proven gold resources of sub-economic significance are 1,269 tons, of which Western Australia accounts for 71%, reaching 821 tons; Queensland has about 105 tons; New South Wales has about 63 tons; and the Northern Territory has about 94 tons. The implied gold resource is 2823 tons
After the gold mine was discovered. Driven by the "gold rush", batches of Chinese went to Australia to search for gold, and a new page in the history of Chinese immigration to Australia began. But this chapter of history is even more bleak and tragic than those who came before it, leaving behind a history of blood and tears for the Australian Chinese gold rush.
The discovery of gold mines in Australia
According to historical records: The earliest gold mine was discovered in Australia in 1851. In fact, in the first half of the 19th century, Australians had no idea gold existed at all. Although in 1823, a government surveyor, J. MCBRIEN, once reported that: In the Fish River 15 miles east of BATHURST in New South Wales (NEW SOUTH WALES), a Sands. Between 1839 and 1842, gold mines were also discovered in New South Wales. However, the local government was afraid that the news would be leaked, so it never spread the news or organized manpower to mine it. It was not until 1851 that an Englishman living in Australia, Edward H. HARGRAVES, officially mined gold. Hartley was originally born in England and arrived in Australia in 1832. He worked in a variety of occupations, including business and fishing. After the news of the discovery of gold mines in California, USA, reached Australia in 1848, he went to the United States to pan for gold and achieved quite a harvest within a few years. During his stay in the United States, he paid close attention to the topography of gold mines. After research, he found that the landforms of New South Wales in Australia were very similar to those in California, so he concluded that there must be gold mines in the new province. Therefore, he returned to Sydney, Australia from the United States on January 7, 1851, and immediately went to the mountains near Bathurst to observe and explore. The result made him overjoyed. On February 12 of the same year, he officially panned for gold in Xiaqiu River. This was the beginning of the discovery and mining of gold in Australia, opening a new chapter in Australia's gold mining history. Later, in recognition of his achievements in discovering and mining gold mines, the Australian government awarded him a bonus of 10,000 pounds as an encouragement (Note 3). And Hargreaves became a well-known figure at the time.
The discovery and mining of gold has indeed become an epoch-making event in Australian history. Since then, with the development of the gold mining industry, people from all over the world have flocked to Australia. The population of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and other provinces has increased dramatically, which has promoted the development of local industry and commerce and pushed Australian society into a new era. At the same time, the colonialists also plundered a large amount of gold from here and transported it back to their home countries. According to records, on one day in November 1852 alone, three ships bound for London carried 7 tons of gold. No wonder Marx later wrote in "Das Kapital": Almost all the gold in the European capitalist countries was obtained from Australia and the United States (Note 4).
Indentured Chinese laborers who were deceived and sailed across the ocean
Around 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty), news of gold production in Australia spread throughout the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong in China. This little news was initially spread by recruitment dealers and brokers of Australian shipping companies based in Hong Kong. They exaggerate and publicize the bright future of gold everywhere in Xinjinshan, with the purpose of luring China's poor farmers to willingly go to Australia as cheap labor to mine gold mines for them.
At this time, China's decadent Qing Dynasty was already at its end. The black hands of the imperialist powers are gradually reaching out, and the Chinese society's economy is on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty continued to exert his despotic power and oppressed and exploited the poor people even more cruelly. Coupled with the raging peasant uprisings in various places, wars continued frequently. The poor farmers on the coast of South China, either forced by life or to escape the disasters of war, are thinking of leaving their hometowns to escape their predicament. At this time, foreign speculators and labor recruiters set up so-called "pig houses" in places such as Xiamen, Fujian and Hong Kong to recruit Chinese workers. They hired groups of gangsters to defraud the poor by using financial inducements and forced hard pulls. According to historical records: The owner of the "Piggy House" stipulates that no matter what method the traffickers use, as long as they get Chinese people and deliver them to the door of the foreign bank, they can be paid per head. At first, every "pig boy", whether he was cheated, abducted, robbed, or kidnapped, was paid Yin Yang 3 yuan, which later increased to 8 to 10 yuan, and sometimes as high as 90 to 100 yuan. Those Chinese workers who were deceived into recruiting signed contracts with labor dealers or brokers. Most of them stipulate that after the Chinese workers arrive in Australia, their labor income will be used as ransom payment for a period of three years. Only after 3 years can I be free and can I accumulate my own wages. This is the origin of the so-called "INDENTURE SYSTEM" or "selling piglets". These Chinese workers are called "contracted Chinese workers."
In addition to the "contract system", there is also a credit system for trafficking Chinese labor. That is to say, the Chinese workers' ferry tickets to Australia were obtained on credit from the recruiting foreman or broker. After arriving in Australia, within a certain period of time, the Chinese workers had to use most of their labor income to repay the ferry tickets and other expenses. In fact, this is also a "contract" in disguise. In addition, a small number of Chinese workers borrowed money from loan sharks in China and used their family members as guarantees. After working in Australia, they remitted their wages back to China to repay their debts.
After the Chinese workers boarded the recruitment boat, it was like falling into a "floating hell". The sailors on the ship were fully armed and fierce. They beat and even shot Chinese workers at will. Sometimes all the Chinese workers on the ship were locked in the cabin and prohibited from moving freely. At that time, shipowners mostly violated regulations related to international shipping management, overloaded and deducted food and water from passengers. The overloaded passengers were packed into the cabin as much as possible. The ventilation equipment on the ship was very poor, and the Chinese workers died of illness and starvation. Some were beaten to death or thrown into the sea, and some were abandoned on desert islands. Some Chinese workers committed suicide out of grief and anger due to the torture (Note 5).
The trail of blood and tears of the Chinese gold rush
Because Victoria has many gold mines, people named Melbourne (MECBOURNE), the capital of Victoria, Xinjinshan to distinguish it from the United States. of San Francisco.
After 1851, a large number of Chinese workers came to Victoria Province by boat. As soon as the ship docked, they flocked to the gold mining area. At that time, BALLARAT in southwestern Victoria was the place with the largest concentration of Chinese workers. According to statistics in 1853, there were 2,000 Chinese workers in Balal, which increased to 25,000 three years later. At one time, Chinese made up the majority of the residents of Balal. The SOVEREIGN HILL here was named Dajin Mountain by Chinese workers because it was rich in gold. ARARAT and AVOCA to the north of Balal are also known as the "Guangdong Mines" because of their rich gold content.
Due to the large influx of Chinese laborers, the locals were worried about losing money, and they prompted the provincial authorities in Victoria to legislate in 1855 to restrict the entry of Chinese laborers. In addition to stipulating that every 10 pounds of tonnage of the ship was limited to one Chinese laborer, a head tax of 10 pounds was levied on each Chinese entering the country, and the captain was ordered to collect it on his behalf. Afterwards, in order to avoid paying the head tax, the shipowners sailed the ships carrying Chinese laborers to South Australia, a province where there was no tax. After the Chinese laborers landed, they walked more than 300 kilometers by land into various gold mining areas in Victoria. It is said that between 1855 and 1858, as many as 20,000 Chinese workers landed in South Australia and walked to Victoria. Historians describe the scene of Chinese laborers "entering the mountains" like this:
They got off the ship and landed one after another. They all wear blue or black shirts and first set up camp on the grassland on the outskirts of ADELAIDE.
The guide explained to them the conditions along the way into the mountain and to the mining area. There are about 100 Chinese workers in each team. In addition to paying the guide fee of 2 pounds, each person also pays 130 pounds for the cost of carrying food utensils.
They marched southeast from MOUNT LOFTY, sleeping in the open air along the way. They were often attacked by natives, poisonous snakes, and wild beasts. They suffered terribly. After arriving in WELLINGTON, , they had to wade across the MURRAY RIVER
and follow the same old path that Australian workers used to find gold five years ago.
“Some people came to Robe by boat and turned eastward into the inland. Robe is a small coastal town. Because there are often a large number of Chinese workers passing through, business is booming and the market is prosperous. Prosperity. Ships from China were also loaded with bulk goods such as tea, silk, and tung oil. After being unloaded, they loaded a large amount of wool for export. Around 1857, more than 3,000 Chinese workers often stopped here waiting to enter the mountains. "(Note) 6)
Chinese workers who came from all over the world worked hard immediately after settling in the gold mines. Wearing large round bamboo hats with pointed peaks on their heads, and carrying simple bags and hoes, shovels, and dustpans for gold mining on their shoulders, they traveled in groups over the mountains and ridges, walking on the rugged and desolate mountain roads, looking for gold everywhere. mine. Once they discovered the strange-colored soil and confirmed the presence of mineral deposits, they settled down and built simple shacks (mostly with gravel walls and bark roofs or bamboo frames with bark walls and roofs). The house is very low, and people cannot stand upright in it. The Chinese workers had no choice but to lie on the ground or make beds made of tree strips to avoid frost, rain and snow.
At that time, the mining tools used by Chinese workers were very simple. Most used hoes and shovels to dig wells and excavate sand. Some people went down into the wells and spread the sand to the ground; some people were at the mouth of the wells, using wooden basins to collect the sand. Shake constantly and rinse with water. Because golden sand is heavier than sediment, after the sediment is washed away, coarse golden sand particles remain at the bottom of the basin. This is called "gold panning". The Chinese workers got up early and worked hard in the dark, digging and washing. They were so tired that their backs were sore and their legs were scarred. They were dizzy and unwilling to stop and rest. They have no skills and simple tools. Usually, Chinese workers can only dig out residues in mine pits that have been mined and abandoned by white people. Therefore, they are contemptuously called "drag diggers" and "TAILERS" by white people. The Chinese "gold-mining" workers could occasionally find the remaining gold sand through hard work. Later, white people often used "CHINAMAN SLUCK" to describe a person's good luck, and this is how it came about. To this day, when Australians buy lottery tickets, they often ask Chinese people to point out the numbers or purchase them on their behalf. They call it taking advantage of "the luck of the Tang people". The Chinese workers were burdened with heavy debts and the expectations of their elderly parents and orphaned wives and children who were living in their hometown. After years of hard work, they finally got their rewards. Many of them sent or brought back the gold they harvested to China. According to data, from July 1, 1856 to June 30, 1857, the gold exported from Melbourne to China alone amounted to 111,903 taels (ounces), which was worth about 500,000 pounds at the time. This inevitably aroused the jealousy and hatred of white people, and planted the seeds of subsequent anti-Chinese atrocities.
Chinese workers mined gold in the barren mountains and wild ridges. In addition to suffering from well collapse accidents and people being buried at the bottom of the wells, they also had to withstand the intrusion of wind, frost, rain and snow, and the attacks of venomous snakes and beasts. They also had to deal with rugged white people and savages. The provocation and attack of the natives. At that time, there were many indigenous people in the mountains, and Chinese workers were often killed in brutal ways, which was unbearable to watch.
Records of Gold Diggers - "Legacy of Experience" by Tan Shipei
Most of the Chinese who went to Australia in the early days were farmers, workers or small businessmen. Their education level was extremely low, so it was naturally difficult for them to It is a pity to write down the gold mining life at that time. However, Professor Liu Weiping, a professor of history at the University of Sydney in Australia and an expert on overseas Chinese history, accidentally discovered the work of Tan Shipei, a Cantonese overseas Chinese living in Australia: "Experienced Legacy".
Tan Shipei was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong in 1855 (the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty). Due to his poverty, he heard that Australia was rich in gold, so he went to Australia with his father and younger brother in 1877 (the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty). , started out as a gold miner, and later changed his career to business and became rich in politics.
It was nine o'clock in the evening when the bell tolled. I suddenly heard a crowd rising up and wailing warnings. They were under martial law all night. As if they were faced with a powerful enemy, they kept watch until dawn and immediately fled. It had been five years. I saw a gold miner catching the moon on the bottom of the sea, and I looked away. land. Servants in the tavern can get two pounds a month as wages. That year, apart from expenses, I had an actual salary of 25 pounds 16 commanding 6 pence. I have been here for six years without any encouragement. ..."
The following describes how after he left the gold mine, he worked in gardening and raising pigs, reclaiming wasteland to grow sugarcane, logging, plumbering, opening a store, etc., as well as his story of getting married and the business rules he warned his children. From From Tan's booklet, it can be seen that gold mining was a hard and hard work at that time, but the harvest was not much. At the same time, it can also be seen that behind the successful history of a small number of Chinese, there are not many many stories of blood and tears of old age, death in another place or wrongful death. !
Chinese notices in gold mining areas a hundred years ago
In the mid-19th century, the number of Chinese engaged in gold mining in various provinces of Australia increased day by day. According to statistics: In February 1857, the number of Chinese people engaged in gold mining in Victoria Province increased. There were 25,528 Chinese in the country, and by June there were 33,694. By the end of 1858, the number of Chinese in the province had increased to 42,000, but by 1861 it had dropped to 24,700, accounting for 1/100 of the province's population. In New South Wales, only 896 Chinese entered the country in 1856. This number increased to 12,000 in 1858. By 1861, there were 21,000 Chinese in the province, accounting for 1/160 of the population in the province. Queensland is in Gold mines were discovered one after another after 1869, and Chinese people arrived in large numbers. By 1877, there were about 25,000 Chinese in the province.
At this time, governments around Australia had no control over the sovereignty of gold mining areas and gold mining technology. Management, etc., are stipulated in many laws and regulations. In May 1873, the Queensland Provincial Government issued a decree on the gold mining area, which was translated into Chinese by a translator named Henry. This is actually an important historical material in the history of overseas Chinese in Australia. You can see some of the conditions of gold mining at that time:
"I tell the Chinese and English people to know that the rules established in Britain today are all good and beautiful, with kindness and love as the heart, and equality. To cure. I am afraid that the lack of knowledge will lead to disputes and troubles, so I have listed all the regulations at the end. One rule: Take Nipi Xin and Fu Ca Lao, and each person who takes gold is limited to an area of ??40 feet square. 1. Regulations: Where there is water, only two people can work together. The restricted area is 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. Three people working together, the restricted area is 100 feet long and 70 feet wide. 4 people together, limited area, 100 feet square. One regulation: There is a puddle bottom, and each person is limited to 30 feet square. One regulation: When taking the white stone area, each person is limited to 40 feet in width. One rule: Someone opened a new pit, like Shihujin, and the government rewarded the favor by giving 20 more people space. One rule: If someone has a long history and gets gold, the government will reward people with favors and build a dam. One rule: Take the muddy place and let the officials decide the length and the amount. One rule: if the work is suspended, the time limit is 3 days and 3 nights. If it expires and someone fights for it, the Yamen will ignore it. One rule: If a clay worker is sick and unable to return to work, please pray to the government for a favor so that there will be no competition. One rule: According to the rules of Shihu, one person can control the place of 2 people, and 2 people can control the place of 4 people. They are all because they have a partner to do the middle stone kung fu, and they are not allowed to compete for it. One rule: Any place with a wooden fence belongs to other people's tax land. You are not allowed to dig inside for a thousand years. If you don't follow it, you will be taken to the Yamen and severely punished. One rule: Tang Fan and others need to collect Shun coins. If no fine is found, they will be strictly enforced and will not be leniently tolerated. ”
The anti-Chinese storm caused by the gold rush
The large influx of Chinese workers inevitably aroused the resentment of local European whites. Because the Chinese are hard-working, united and cooperative , they were able to accumulate a fortune in a short period of time, which aroused the jealousy of European immigrants. They believed that the Chinese had taken away their jobs. The Chinese came here not to settle down and start a business, but to make a fortune. They grabbed a handful and left, and the gold dug out was being shipped back to China continuously. The incitement of the rumors aroused the anger of the white people, and they shouted: "We must effectively prevent the gold mines in Australia from becoming the emperor of China." Property of the Mongolian Tatar tribe in Asia. "It finally evolved into a trend of anti-Chinese violence. The thugs opposed the Chinese for various reasons, falsely accusing the Chinese of being uncooperative, unhygienic, and not abiding by the law. At that time, there were about 9,000 Chinese in Bala?, which produced gold, and there were only 2 women, so they were White people falsely accuse them of immoral behavior.
As anti-China voices grow louder, a storm of anti-Chinese sentiments ensues. In 1854, European immigrants in Victoria held a conference and decided to collectively organize a massacre in Bendigo on July 4 in an attempt to drive all Chinese workers out of the gold mining area. Fortunately, the local government discovered it early and took measures to dissuade it, so no serious incident occurred.
This attracted the attention of the local government. In 1855 (the fifth year of Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty), the Victoria Provincial Government established the "Royal Commission on Gold Mines" to investigate the situation of gold mining. Finally, it passed a bill restricting the entry of Chinese, stipulating that all registered ships could only take Chinese 1 It also stipulates that each Chinese entering the country must pay a head tax of 10 pounds per year, which is collected by the captain of each ship. In addition, it is also stipulated that every Chinese must pay a "protection fee" of 1 pound per year. The Australian authorities used this money to hire a "protection officer" to mediate disputes. It stipulates that Chinese passengers who enter the country exceeding the tonnage limit will be fined 20 pounds each, and the ship owner will be fined 10 pounds. This bill was the first formal act to restrict the entry of Chinese into Australia, and it actually kicked off the history of Chinese exclusion in Australia.
In July 1857, anti-Chinese violence first broke out in the Buckland mining area of ??Victoria Province. Instigated by the authorities, about 500 white people took part. An anti-Chinese alliance was formed. Afterwards, groups of white miners came to the case office to besiege the Chinese. They ran rampant, burning Chinese houses, robbing Chinese property, and even brutally beating the Chinese. As a result, three Chinese workers were beaten to death, dozens of Chinese workers were injured, and the property damage of the Chinese workers was approximately 8,000 to 9,000 pounds. After the incident, the Victoria Provincial Government sent troops to maintain order, and the violence subsided. After the anti-Chinese incident in the Buckland mining area. The Victoria provincial government realized that it was no longer effective to restrict the entry of Chinese immigrants. Because the Chinese could bypass Victoria, land from the neighboring province of South Australia or New South Wales, and then trek long distances to the gold mining areas of Victoria. Moreover, because ships kept stopping at various ports in Victoria, the commerce on both sides of the province was depressed and the trade volume dropped. Therefore, the Victoria provincial government authorities called on the provincial governments of New South Wales and South Australia to take similar actions. The South Australian government immediately expressed its satisfaction, and in 1857 passed the same act as Victoria to restrict the entry of people from the public lands. However, New South Wales was rejected by the House of Lords. Therefore, a few years later, the number of Chinese coming to New South Wales increased dramatically. This also aroused jealousy and opposition from local white people, which finally led to the LAMBING FLAT incident on December 12, 1860. The white people's riots continued until September of the following year. Two to three thousand Chinese were robbed by the white people in broad daylight, countless houses were burned, three people were killed and injured, and property damage was serious. In the same November, the new province passed a bill restricting the entry of Chinese that did not exist three years ago. From then on, the number of Chinese immigrants decreased, from 1,030 in 1862 to only 63 in 1863. Due to the decrease in Chinese workers coming to Australia, Australia's gold mining industry is increasingly sluggish.
However, the bills restricting the entry of Chinese in Victoria, Nanyuan and New South Wales provinces have been opposed by the British government. Because Britain and the Qing government of China signed a treaty that allowed the people of the two countries to travel freely. In order to safeguard its existing interests in China, Britain had to oppose the Chinese Exclusion Acts in Australian provinces. Coupled with the decline of the gold mining industry, the Chinese Exclusion Acts in these three provinces were automatically repealed. During the next 10 years from 1867 to 1877, the anti-communal sentiments of white people in various parts of Yuen Chau softened slightly, forming the first round of anti-Chinese anti-Chinese sentiments.
Around 1870, gold was discovered one after another in the northern province of Queensland (QUEENSLAND), and public land workers came in large numbers. By 1877, there were 25,000 Chinese workers in Queensland, an average of 7 residents per There is one Chinese laborer in the country. It is estimated that white people mined 1.3 million ounces of gold at that time, and Chinese workers also mined 1 million ounces. This situation aroused opposition from local white residents, and the Queensland provincial authorities once again took various measures to restrict Chinese people, thus forming a second round of anti-Chinese. In the 10 years from 1877 to 1888, there were only 550 new arrivals in Queensland.
From June 12 to 14, 1888, the Oceanic Intercontinental Conference was held in Sydney. The conference passed a more stringent bill restricting the entry of Chinese: any ship was only allowed to carry one Chinese person per 500 tons. Australian residents must obtain a written permit to enter the country and move across provinces, and must obtain permission first. These resolutions actually almost excluded the Chinese from Australia. After that, the Chinese in Australia had no access or entry. By 1888, there were only 50,000 Chinese in Australia, and by 1901, the number dropped to 30,000.
In 1901, the Federation of Australia was formally established and decided to adopt the "Silent Writing Test" to further limit the number of immigrants. It stipulated that every immigrant entering Australia must write a 50-word paragraph silently in front of Australian officials. The language of any European country is actually equivalent to closing the door to Macao, making it even more difficult for Chinese people to go. Later, white Australians put forward slogans such as "Snow White Australia" and "Australia for Australians" and implemented the "White Australia Policy" (Note 10). Since then, the land of ancient Australia has been riddled with thorns? , the Chinese who have shed countless blood and sweat and made significant contributions to the prosperity and development of Australian society have become the targets of exclusion. At this time, gold mines in various places were also drying up, and mining operations effectively came to a standstill. Chinese workers also returned to China one after another, and those who survived moved to cities one after another, working in vegetable gardens, vegetable vendors, laundries, furniture craftsmen, small traders, or running retail stores. The gold rush era also came to an end.