Impact of gold on Victoria
The gold rush was the catalyst for the unprecedented development of Victoria. The first discoveries of Gold made at Clunes, 90 miles north of Melbourne, functioned as a magnet to thousands of prospectors in the hope of 'striking it rich'. Consequently, the influx of foreigners and the displacement of population from the Australian colonies to the Victorian gold fields, as emphasized by the Bathurst Free Press, "A complete mental madness appears to have seized almost every member of the community. There has been a universal rush to the diggings"; the phenomenal impact of migration was evident in the subsequent years of Gold discovery in Victoria. The economy was injected with thousands more consumers and the need for increased services was heightened with the news of additional gold findings. Thousands of children in the colony required education, which at the time was gravely inadequate to cater for the large numbers of children flooding into the colony as their families migrated for new opportunities. Furthermore, the diverse inhabitant's of the goldfields were the ingredients of a sweltering pot of culture, creating a cosmopolitan feel to the goldfields. The need for communications were obvious by the mid 1850's as electric tele
Polish digger Seweryn Korzelinski wrote in his memoirs "a happy-go-lucky German tailor, a brawny English smith, a slightly-built French cook, a Polish Jew, an American or Dutch sailor, watchmaker, confectioner, a Swiss hat-maker, an impoverished Spanish hidalgo, gather near a mound of earth and one can see amongst them here and there a black Negro head, a brown Hindu face or the olive countenance with slanting eyes of a 'child of the sun'. Aside from these beliefs, it was the distinct cultural differences that created a negative image of the Chinese and was the cause for further discrimination. Vegetables and Dairy produce more than trebled in price whereas meat increased in price comparatively slightly" (The Golden Age, 1963). The Chinese were further despised for their unruly habits, such as impulsive gambling and opium smoking, which particularly angered the European community as affirmed by a painting dubbed "Chinese opium-smokers" (Victorian state library) that illustrates a Chinese man smoking opium in the presence of a European lady sprawled onto the floor, depicted as a prostitute resulting from opium addiction. As the Argus reported in 1851; "No wonder that the small shop keeper was shutting up and abandoning his counter; no wonder that seamen were running away from their ships, printers from their type, doctors from their drugs. Scenes like the one represented in Edwin Stocqueler's "Australian Gold Diggings, 1855" illustrates the notion that rich gold resources created a thriving community. In ten years gold had transformed Victoria from a minor pastoral settlement to the most celebrated British colony and consequently transformed Melbourne into a thriving metropolis, many historians look back at this period as the defining moment in Australia's history, this view was shared by historian Geoffrey Serle, " the major significance of the 'lure of gold' was that it remade Victoria, and peopled it- whether or not with the 'best blood of the old world'- with men of more diverse talents, skills and backgrounds, and perhaps more vigour, than Australia had yet seen" (The Golden Age, first published 1963). The four years of economic misery and uncertainty was attributed to, as Geoffrey Serle wrote "their buildings constructed, their industries stunted and their agriculture in danger" (The golden age, 1963). The immediate reaction to the news of gold discoveries in regional Victoria stimulated the minds of the adventurous and optimistic, resulting in an influx of population into Melbourne from abroad. Key infrastructure organisations were established in 1853, which ultimately stabilised the standard of living, as more jobs were created for those not willing to work on the gold fields. The canvas town's of the early 1850's characterized the ambition of those in search for wealth more than a hundred miles north of Melbourne in the Gold fields. The number of inland population centres expanded as a result of new gold discoveries, hence a shift of population to the new deposits of alluvial gold. Religious practices in particular were seen as a threat to European civilisation and Taoist or Buddhist devotional acts confirmed to many Europeans that the Chinese were merely heathens. Victoria's soil contains boundless wealth, and her people an indomitable energy.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
