1. Year 9 Humanities

2.  In 1851, gold was discovered in Australia near Bathurst in New South Wales. In the
same year, gold rushes soon started in Victorian towns such as Bendigo and
Ballarat.The gold rushes quadrupled Australia's population in ten years:
 1851 438,000
 1861 1,168 000

3.  Of that 1861 population, the Chinese numbered about 40,000 - 3 percent of the
population. However, they were concentrated in the Victorian gold-rush areas that
also attracted the mass of the early white diggers - Ballarat, Bendigo, and
Beechworth.
 Influx of Chinese Miners
 The rate of Chinese migration alarmed Victorian government officials. According
to the 1853 census there were 2000 Chinese in the colony. At the beginning of 1855
there were 10,000 on the goldfields. During March 1854, four ships arrived
bringing 1,400 Chinese. By June the numbers had increased to 17,000.
 The 1850s was a period of rapid population changes, especially for Victoria. In the
Census of 1851 there were 197,186 people in New South Wales and 97,489 in
Victoria. By 1861, these figures were 541,800 and 350,086 respectively.
Melbourne's population increased from 23,143 to 139,196 in this period.

4.  The colonists began to feel that, in the words of the Victorian Governor, they 'could
without much difficulty calculate the period at which the Chinese would outnumber
the subjects of the Queen of Great Britain'.The Restriction Act was passed to limit
Chinese passengers to one for every ten tons of registered tonnage. A fee of £10
(twice the weekly wage of a skilled worker at the time) was imposed on each
Chinese miner.

5.  To restrict the number of Chinese miners, the Australian colonies levied a poll tax
on the Chinese coming into the country:
 1855 Victoria enacted a £10 poll tax(twice the weekly wage of a skilled worker at
the time). One in five adult males was Chinese.
 1857 South Australia enacted a poll tax to prevent the Chinese from arriving at the
Victorian goldfields after disembarking in South Australia.
 1861 In New South Wales, by 1861 there were 21,000 Chinese in the colony - one in
sixteen of the population.

7.  The worst violence against Chinese miners was in central New South Wales.
European diggers were incensed by the Chinese and their apparent wastage of
water when extracting gold. A weak police presence was unable to contain the
situation. Six anti-Chinese riots occurred at the Lambing Flat camps over a period
of 10 months.The most serious riot occurred on 14 July 1861 when approximately
2000 European diggers attacked the Chinese miners. Although they tried to get
away from the violent mob, about 250 Chinese miners were gravely injured and
most lost all their belongings. After this tragic event, Lambing Flat was renamed
Young.
 The pressure of public opinion against the Chinese caused the New South Wales
Government to pass the Chinese Immigration Restriction and Regulation Act in
1861 to restrict the numbers of Chinese in the colony. Queensland introduced
restrictions in 1877 and Western Australia followed suit in 1886.

8.  December 1880 to January 1881 Intercolonial Conference
1. Britain should follow America's example and re-negotiate its treaty with China.
2. Chinese immigration to Australia should be controlled.
3. This control should be uniform, based on a £10 poll tax plus tonnage restriction.
4. Chinese who were British subjects were to be exempt.
 1888 Intercolonial Conference on Restricting Chinese Immigration.
1. Traditional Chinese immigration should be virtually prohibited.The poll tax was dropped, but the
passenger limit was raised to allow only one Chinese for every 500 tons of cargo.
2. Britain should negotiate a new treaty, along the lines of that being negotiated by the United States,
whereby all Chinese should be denied entry except certain exempt groups such as crew, officials,
merchants, students and tourists.
3. Chinese who were British subjects were to be excluded from entering Australia.
4. Restrictions were placed on the movement of Chinese from Colony to Colony in Australia.
5. No Chinese were to be naturalised as British citizens in Australia.

9.  Competition on the goldfields.
 Competition in the labour market.
 Anglo-Saxon belief in racial superiority and purity.These ideas were influenced by
Social Darwinism.The idea of building a 'racially pure' nation was quite common at
the time.