[Editor: This chapter is part of The White Australia Policy: The Rise and Fall of Australia’s Racial Ideology (2025).]
Colonial concerns and national issues
The desire for a White Australia was evident in the various immigration restriction laws enacted by the Australian colonies in the 19th century. Concerns had been raised over the large numbers of Chinese who had entered Australia during the gold rushes (beginning in the 1850s), as well as regarding the significant numbers of Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) brought into Queensland to work on the sugar plantations.
The huge numbers of Chinese gold-seekers on the Australian gold fields raised the possibility that the white population in Australia could eventually be outnumbered by Chinese people.
Considering the cultural, racial, and religious differences between the two populations, many whites were against the idea of an “Asianised Australia” (or they were, more specifically, against having a “Chinese Australia”, as the case may be). The increasing numbers of Chinese immigrants led to an upsurge of anti-Chinese agitation.
In 1855 the Victorian government passed legislation designed to substantially reduce the influx of Chinese into the colony.
However, a large number of Chinese gold-seekers circumvented Victoria’s legislation by landing in South Australia (which had no laws limiting Chinese immigration), and then walking across the border into Victoria.
For many, this showed the importance of having inter-colonial co-operation on significant issues, or demonstrated the necessity for the Australian colonies to join together in a federation so as to be able to deal with issues which affected all of Australia.
Victoria was not the only colony to pass laws against the “Chinese threat”. Over time, other Australian colonies also passed laws to limit Chinese immigration.
At the goldfields in the Buckland Valley (Victoria) white miners agitated against the presence of large number of Chinese. A public meeting was held on 4 July 1857 to discuss the issue; following the meeting, the miners went to the Chinese sections of the goldfields, and ordered the Chinese to leave under threat of force and violence.[1]
On the goldfields at Lambing Flat in 1860, the white miners also banded together to expel the Chinese miners from the goldfields. Some of the rioters were subsequently arrested and charged. However, the outbreak of violence led to the passing of legislation against Chinese immigration in New South Wales. In later years, the riots at Lambing Flat were hailed as “The Birth of White Australia”.[2]
The reasons for the diggers’ antipathy towards the Chinese were varied. The Chinese were accused of misusing the often-scarce water supplies, dirtying the water that others needed. The vast majority of the gold that the Chinese eked out of the earth was sent to China, and therefore was not used for the benefit of the country, which was resented by white miners. A significant number of Chinese were brought to Australia as indentured labour by Chinese businessmen (indentured labour conditions were regarded as a form of near-slave labour), and that added to the antipathy of the miners towards the Chinese. There were also objections to their “heathen ways”, as the Chinese were overwhelmingly non-Christian, were known to be praying to “false gods”, and had built Joss Houses in furtherance of their religion (all of which could be quite offensive to traditionalist 19th century Christians). Complaints were also made against the Chinese for their alleged vices and criminality.[3]
References:
[1] “History re-told — the Buckland riot: The great Chinese drive at “The Valley of the Shadow of Death””, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic.), 10 January 1948, p. 7
“Buckland riot”, TITLE DATE
[2] “Lambing Flat Riots: Australian history”, Encyclopaedia Britannica
“Lambing Flat riots”, Wikipedia
“The Birth of White Australia”, The Yass Courier and General Advertiser for the Southern District of New South Wales (Yass, NSW), 2 December 1926, p. 5
“White Australia policy: Influence in our history”, Goulburn Evening Post (Goulburn, NSW), 3 September 1940, p. 5
[3] “Chinese immigration”, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (West Maitland, NSW), 29 November 1851, p. 2
“The Chinese must go”, The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 21 August 1886, p. 4 (column 1)
“The Chinese in Australia: Their vices and their victims”, The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 21 August 1886, pp. 11-15
“White Australia Policy: Influence in our history”, Goulburn Evening Post (Goulburn, NSW), 3 September 1940, p. 5
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