Racism on the Goldfields
For a few short years, from the beginning of the 1850s to the early 60s, thousands of people flocked to Australia. The ships that brought them often swung empty at their moorings as both crews and passengers swarmed inland toward makeshift camps. The lure was gold.With so many immigrants from different countries assembled on the goldfields, it wasn't long until threats to social stability were magnified in the form of racism. One of the main driving forces behind this racism was competition on the goldfields. For example, initial racism centred on gold-seekers from the United States. With their experience gained on the Californian goldfields, the Americans were active and successful in Australia, not only in finding gold but in business too. This created some unease, especially from the British who had claimed Australia as theirs. Foreigners like the Americans were constantly arriving on their land to search for gold at potential places they had not discovered themselves. Subsequently, the British were not happy with these gold-seekers and racism based largely on fear of competition erupted. Originally, most of the racism on the goldfields involved the British's disquiet over the presence of diggers from the United States an
" In my opinion, this statement stands true today, as the Chinese people have pride and great respect for being in Australia by sharing with us their cultures and traditions. Overall, however, the results of the racism against Chinese diggers were much more severe than a ten-pound tax. In addition, the Chinese digger living on the goldfields was usually not a 'free' man like the European. Most of the Chinese diggers were hired workers, paying off a debt at home by digging gold for someone else. As part of being racist, many diggers spread stories and often believed strongly that the Chinese were "indescribably repulsive, dirty and disorganised. These ongoing results of racism lead to the separation of the Chinese from the rest of the goldmining societies. The Chinese, like so many others, came to Australia to dig for gold because there were problems in their own land. They did this by limiting numbers on ships and introducing a tax on each Chinaman entering restricted parts of the country. Like the European diggers, the Chinese also had their own views about each other. One Chinaman wrote, "Many of the European diggers are dirty, careless, lazy, rowdy and unfriendly. On many occasions, racism spilled over into hatred and hysteria with crimes committed against the Chinese. However, this changed when the Chinese arrived. " On the other hand, some diggers looked beyond the stories and saw the Chinese for what they actually were. Chinese villages were typically set apart from the townships and a man known as a Chinese Protectorate was usually needed to make sure that his people were looked after and that others kept away from them and didn't hassle them.
Common topics in this essay:
Chinese Protectorate,
,
European Chinese,
South Wales,
Chinese Australia,
Subsequently British,
Australia Individual,
Flat NSW,
Chinese Riots,
Foreigners Americans,
chinese people,
european diggers,
diggers chinese own,
racism goldfields,
attitude towards,
results racism,
chinese diggers,
diggers chinese,
australian population,
chinese own,
addition chinese,
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Acceptance Essays
