Asian Studies Program
Chinese Australia
Brief History of the Chinese in Australia
This brief history of the Chinese in Australia is designed
to provide an introduction and context to the materials and
information on the Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation
website. References to related information on the website
can be found via links within the text (eg. [1]). A more detailed
history of the Chinese in Australia can be found on the Harvest
of Endurance Scroll website and of the Chinese in New
England, NSW on the Golden
Threads website.
THE CHINESE IN AUSTRALIA:
A context and introduction to material on the Chinese Heritage
of Australian Federation website
Chinese traders were visiting the north coast of Australia
from 1750s, probably earlier. After the British settlement
of Australia (1788) small numbers of Chinese men arrived as
indentured labourers, convicts and free settlers.[01]
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.[02]
From the first Victorian goldrushes onwards the number of
Chinese people in Australia quickly reached approximently
50,000. This was maintained up until federation although proportion
in each colony varied according to goldrush and other economic
opportunities.
Chinatowns and benevolent societies often based on clan or
district ties quickly developed across Australia to support
the Chinese population.[03]
As gold and other minerals were discovered in Queensland,
Northern Territory and north-east Tasmania Chinese miners
followed.[04] Along with
the miners came Chinese entrepreneurs who helped provide goods
and services for the emerging Chinese population.[05]
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 labour to Australia's development
was particularly significant in the Northern Territory and
north Queensland area.
Chinese communities across Australia grew socially and politically
more complex with the development of Chinese newspapers and
political and business associations.[07]
They were particularly interested in events occurring in homeland
China. Many of the
goldrush Chinese in Victoria were refugees who supported the
Taiping Rebellion in China in the 1850s. Their anti-Qing dynasty
attitude was a dominant influence on Chinese community life
and led to support for Sun Yatsen and the Chinese revolutionary
movement which eventually overthrew the last Chinese emporer
in 1911. Another spur to engagement with politics in China
occurred when Liang Qichao, an exiled Chinese reformer, visited
Australia in 1901.[08]
His visit helped to awaken nationalistic, pro-monarchy and
reformist ideas in Australia's Chinese and the establishment
of 'Protect the Emperor' organisations. Another way that Chinese
Australians engaged with China's modern development was as
business pioneers. Sydney banana merchants such as the Kwok
brothers and Ma Ying Piu established the first modern department
stores in China from the 1910s onwards.
The Chinese population were also concerned and involved in
political and social life in Australia.[09]
Often through community leaders and supported by the wider
community, they protested against discriminatory legislation
and attitudes.[10] Despite
the passing of the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901
communities around Australia participated in parades and celebrations
of Australia's Federation and the visit of the Duke and Duchess
of York.[11]
Although the Chinese were generally peaceful and industrious,
resentment flared up against their communities particularly
because of their different customs and traditions.[12]
Anti-Chinese leagues were established. Victoria was the first
to pass legislation to try and restrict Chinese immigration
through the introduction of a specific poll tax in 1855. This
was successively followed by New South Wales, Queensland and
Western Australia. Often such legislation did not distinguish
between naturalised, British citizens, Australian-born and
Chinese-born individuals.[13]
Legislation in Victoria and New South Wales was repealed in
the 1860s but by the 1880s there was a further explosion of
anti-Chinese feeling. Despite a steady decline in the number
of Chinese residents in Australia the numbers of Chinese and
Chinese Australians in the more visible Chinatowns of Melbourne
and Sydney was growing. In 1887 two Chinese Commissioners,
the first statesmen from China to visit Australia, arrived
to assess the living conditions of Chinese in Australia after
numerous requests from overseas Chinese.[14]
In 1888, following protests and strike actions, an inter-colonial
conference agreed to reinstate and increase the severity of
restrictions on Chinese immigration.[15]
This was adopted by most Colonies across Australia and provided
the basis for the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act
and the seed for the 'White Australia Policy'.[16]
The 'White Australia Policy' remained in force until the
1950s. In the 1950s and 1960s there was a gradual easing of
the Immigration Restriction Act, participation in the
Colombo Plan (which involved the education of Asian students
in Australia) and the adoption of a less Eurocentric attitude
to immigration. It was not until 1973 when the White Australia
Policy was abandoned and non-discriminatory immigration selection
adopted. As a result of these changes the number of people
in Australia of full or partial ethnic ancestory increased
dramatically. By the 1990s there were approximately 450,000
people of Chinese background in Australia. People of Chinese
background continue to be an integral part of Australian society
today.
[01]
- Indentured Chinese Labourers and Employers identified NSW,
1828-1856 - Maxine Darnell (go
to database)
[02]
- Origins of migration from China during the Qing (go
to background)
[03]
- Melbourne's Chinatown - Little Bourke Street area (go
to background)
- Melbourne Chinatown Streets Database 1900-1920 - Sophie
Couchman (go
to database)
- 'Notes by Mr J. Dundas Crawford on Chinese immigration in
Australian colonies, 1877' - a section describes mining life
and Chinatowns in Ballarat and Cooktown (go
to document)
[04]
- 'Chinese deaths on the way to the goldfields in 1892' (go
to document)
[05]
- Theatrical and opera troups (go
to background)
[06]
- Chinese and the banana industry (go
to background)
- Furniture making (go
to background)
- Market gardening (go
to background)
[07]
- Chinese language newspapers in Australia in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries (go
to background)
- Lin Yik Tong or Chinese Commerical Association (go
to background)
- Processions (go
to background)
- Australian Chinese business innovation in China at Federation
(go
to background)
- Death and burial (go
to background)
- Tung Wah Times index (go
to database)
- Christianity and the Chinese in 19th and early 20th century
Australia - Ian Welch (go
to database)
- Fading Links to China - Linda Brumley (go
to databases)
- 'Letter requesting permission to exhume bodies from the
Sydney cemetery for removal to China, 1862' (go
to document)
- 'Letter confiscated from an illegal immigrant when arrested'
(go
to document)
- 'Philip Lee Chun's explanation of the variations of his
name on official documents' (go
to document)
[08]
- A Chinese Reformer at the Birth of a Nation: Liang Qichao
and the Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation (go
to exhibition)
- Liang Qichao's visit to Australia (go
to background)
- Australian Chinese business innovation in China at Federation
(go
to background)
- 'Description of Liang Qichao's arrival in Melbourne in 1900'
(go
to document)
[09]
- Processions (go
to background)
- 'Chinese residents welcome Mr Justice Herbert to Darwin,
1905' (go
to document)
- 'Chinese tribute to Resident (Chief Administrator) in Northern
Territory, 1914' (go
to document)
- 'Chinese provide prizes for Returned Soldiers and Sailors
Imperial League of Australasia picnic day races,1918' (go
to document)
- 'Peace Day procession in Darwin, 1919' (go
to document)
- 'Mei Quong Tart presents an address to the Duke of York'
(go
to document)
- 'Chinese demonstration in aid of Melbourne Hospital, 1900'
(go
to document)
[10]
- Chinese protests against discrimination at the turn of the
century (go
to background)
- Poon Gooey incident, 1910-1913 (go
to background)
- Ah Mouy, Louis, 1826-1918 (go
to background)
- Cheong, Cheok Hong, 1851-1928 (go
to background)
- Lee, W.R.G., dates? (go
to background)
- Mei Quong Tart, 1850-1903 (go
to background)
- Meng, Lowe Kong, 1831-1888 (go
to background)
- Moy Ling, James, dates? (go
to background)
- Onyik & Co, dates? (go
to background)
- Ung Quoy, James, dates? (go
to background)
- Way Lee, Yet Soo War, c1853-1909 (go
to background)
- Wong Shi Geen, dates? (go
to background)
- Hodges, Charles Powell, 1831-1905 (go
to background)
- 'Chinese storekeepers in Darwin protest over accusations
of opium trafficking, 1907' (go
to document)
- 'Papers presented by the Chinese community to the Conference
on the Chinese Question in Sydney, June 1888' (go
to document)
- 'Petition by Lowe Kong Meng, Cheok Hong Cheong, Louis Ah
Mouy and 44 others presented to the Chinese Commissioners
who in turn presented it to the Victorian premier' (go
to document)
- 'File on Mei Quong Tart's deputation on 29 December 1902
and letter to Prime Minister Barton relating to deputation'
(go
to document)
- 'Lowe Kong Meng, Cheok Hong Cheong, Louis Ah Mouy (eds),
The Chinese Question In Australia, 1878-1879, F.F.
Balliere, Melbourne, 1879' (go
to document)
- 'Quong Tart, A Plea for the Abolition of the Imporation
of Opium, Sydney, John Sands & Co, 1887' (go
to document)
- 'Australian Chinese petition to the British government'
(go
to document)
- 'Mei Quong Tart petitions the Viceroy of Canton and Pekin
Government in Hong Kong' (go
to document)
- 'Correspondence between Cheok Hong Cheong and the Premier
of Victoria' office regarding Chinese on board the ship Afghan'
(go
to document)
- 'Chinese merchants in Sydney complain about the imposition
of the old Aliens Restriction Act and the new Immigration
Restriction Act, 1901' (go
to document)
- 'Ping Nam, president of the Chinese Merchants' Society,
objects to idea of requiring all Chinese to carry passports'
(go
to document)
- 'Ping Nam responds to the government's position on the Mrs
Poon Gooey case' (go
to document)
- 'Reverend W.J. Eddy, secretary of the Council of Churches
for Victoria, supports Mrs Poon Gooey' (go
to document)
- 'Cheok Hong Cheong's letter to the editor of the Argus
regarding the Factories and Shops Amendment Act, 1904'
(go
to document)
- 'Clarke, J.L., The Chinese Case Against the Chinese Employment
Bill, Melbourne, 1907' (go
to document)
- 'Shi Geen asks that all be treated equitably under the Factories
and Shops Act, 1907' (go
to document)
- Mr Way Lee's letter to the editor in response to Mr Hopkins
and the anti-Chinese movement in Adelaide' (go
to document)
- 'Copy of letter from Quong Tart to Prime Minister Barton
regarding the Immigration Restriction Act and NSW poll tax
on Chinese people' (go
to document)
- 'Petition regarding Chinese immigration from Y.S.W. Way
Lee, on behalf of the Chinese in South Australia to the South
Australian parliament' (go
to document)
[11]
- Opening of Federal Parliament and Royal visit celebrations
(go
to background)
- 'Description of the 1901 Chinese federation procession held
in Melbourne' (go
to document)
- 'Argus report on the Chinese procession at the opening
of the first Federal Parliament, 1901' (go
to document)
[12]
- 'Resident complains that Chinese are selling liquor without
a license in Darwin, 1902' (go
to document)
[13]
- Chinese NSW Naturalisation Database, 1857-1887 (go
to database)
- 'Chuck Meng's certificate exempting him from the poll tax
under the NSW 1881 Chinese Restriction Act' (go
to document)
[14]
- Visit of the Chinese Commissioners General Wong Yung Ho
and Consul U. Tsing to Australia in 1887 (go
to background)
- 'Report on the visit of the Chinese Commissioners to Australia,
1887' (go
to document)
- 'Dr George On Lee on behalf of the Chinese residents of
Sydney writes to ensure the Chinese Commissioners receive
an appropriate reception on arrival to Australia in 1887'
(go
to document)
- 'Australian response to the Chinese Commissioners visit
to Australia in 1887' (go
to document)
- 'Report on the visit of the Chinese Commissioners to Australia
in 1887 based on material published in the Chinese Times'
(go
to document)
- 'Report in London Times on the Chinese Commissioners
visit to Australian and Southeast Asian colonies in 1887'
(go
to document)
[15]
- Afghan incident, 1888 (go
to background)
- 'Letter to Water Police State from Sergeant John Donohoe
regarding the Afghan, 1888' (go
to document)
- 'Government response to reports in Sunday Times regarding
the influx of illegal Chinese immigrants' (go
to document)
[16]
- Taxes on Chinese Immigration to Australia, 1901 Immigration
Restriction Act and the Dictation Test (go
to background)
- 'Immigration Restriction Act 1901' (go
to document)
- 'Applying the Dictation Test to coloured persons who intend
to remain in the Commonwealth for a limited time only' (go
to document)
- 'Implications of dispensing with hand prints on some Certificate
of Exemption from Dictation Test (CEDT) forms' (go
to document)
- 'Investigation of how Certification of Exemption from Dictation
Test was being applied in Tasmania' (go
to document)
- 'Chinese stowaways on oil tankers with Chinese crews' (go
to document)
- 'Example of material held in the Boarding Branch Circulars
detailing how the Dictation Test should be applied' (go
to document)
- 'Proposed amendment to the Factories and Shops Act, 1904'
(go
to document)
KEY or LEGEND
story
short peice on the lives of individual
Chinese Australian during the federation perid (c1880-c1930)
database
database or listing which holds historical
information
background
short pieces designed to provide further
information about particular topics
document
transcript or image of historic document
exhibition
travelling exhibition developed by the
Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation project
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