" (Melbourne, October 14 1852). The gold fields were Australia's first testing ground of a diverse population. The largely British population expanded to include people from all over the world, creating a mix of language and culture. 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'. They amuse themselves with conversation about their countries of origin and its habits and describe events they have experienced, because every one crossed many lands and many a sea before arriving in Australia".
             Despite an unparalleled assortment of backgrounds and nationalities, the gold field communities were peculiarly blended to create a tolerant society
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