I untied the thread that bound the parcel and carefully unwrapped the waxed paper, which crackled in my fingers. In it was a book, bigger than this one, with clean, fresh paper. And with the book came a smaller package, wrapped in the same paper. ‘This will help you in your new start, Shu Cheong. Use it wisely,’ Uncle said tearily.
I unwrapped the package, and there were two red packets, one filled with seeds from the Tree of Heaven and another with pieces of gold.
My final words in this book:
I leave now with a sorrowful heart. Uncle has looked after me as if I were his own son. Sometimes I feel like I am deserting him, yet I know that my fortune lies away from the Flat. I am not taking this diary with me. This diary now belongs to Uncle. It is the only thing that I can give him, and I know he will look after it well and treasure its words. I have another book to begin. Another journey to record of my life, the life of Shu Cheong in New Gold Mountain.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Gold was first discovered in the area known as ‘the Lambing Flat’ (near the town of Young, NSW) in 1860. The find attracted thousands of prospectors from other Australian goldfields and from overseas. It is thought that about 10 percent of the miners at the Lambing Flat goldfield were Chinese migrants.
As Shu Cheong describes in his journal, the Chinese were restricted to certain small mining areas, while white miners were free to work anywhere. The government claimed that this restriction was intended to protect Chinese miners from molestation. Nevertheless, the Chinese community was forcibly evicted by the white miners twice in 1860, and several more times in early 1861. The worst persecution occurred on 30 June 1861—the infamous ‘Roll-Up’ riot.
Although no deaths were officially recorded, the white miners’ actions were premeditated and extremely violent. They ‘scalped’ many Chinese, roughly chopping off their queues. They also destroyed their tents, mines and belongings.
Some of these Chinese miners (those from Hong Kong) were British citizens, and so had the same legal rights as most white miners. But it was the way they looked that determined how they were treated.
Troopers were directed to enforce the law at Lambing Flat, and so on 14 July 1861 three white miners who were known to have taken part in the riot were arrested and held in the local lockup. That night, a mob of miners gathered and demanded the release of their colleagues. Another riot erupted. The Riot Act was read by Commissioner Griffin (at the place where the Young High School now stands), and troops were ordered to charge the mob. Guns were fired, troopers and miners were injured and one miner, William Lupton, was fatally shot as the troopers fired over the heads of the miners. A park is now named after him.
The three prisoners were later released, and, in the miners’ celebration that followed, the courthouse, lockup and Commissioner’s quarters were burnt to the ground. There was now no authority on the goldfield whatsoever.
In August, following the arrival of fresh government forces, the Chinese miners were allowed to return to the goldfield by the Commissioner. Some Chinese returned to the Lambing Flat diggings, while others travelled to other goldfields. During the weeks and months following the Roll-Up riot, Chinese miners and merchants petitioned the NSW Legislative Assembly, requesting compensation for destruction to their property and for the physical abuses that they suffered. All claims were investigated by a government-appointed Special Commissioner, but only small amounts were ever paid to the victims.
In 1861, there were 11,838 Chinese on the NSW goldfields, and a total of 38,258 Chinese in Australia. This represented 3.8 percent of the Australian population. After the gold rush ended in the 1860s, many Chinese remained in Australia. They ran market gardens, worked on outback stations or in other forms of mining, became cooks, labourers, harvesters, shoemakers, professional gamblers or shopkeepers. There were Chinese furniture builders, shearers, carpenters, hawkers, and restaurateurs. Chinese merchants who ran businesses in Sydney and Melbourne were involved in the expansion of the import and export trades between Australia, Hong Kong and China.
In November 1861, the NSW Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Regulation and Restriction Act, and by the late 1880s most Australian colonies had passed similar Acts restricting Chinese immigration to Australia. The riots at Lambing Flat and the earlier race riots at Buckland River in Victoria laid the foundation for these Acts. In 1901, the Commonwealth Parliament introduced the Federal Immigration Restriction Act. The ‘White Australia Policy’, as it became known, was one of the first Acts passed in the year of federation and lasted for many decades. In today’s multicultural Australia, a ‘White Australia’ ideology no longer exists.
The Lambing Flat Folk Museum is a reminder of the days when it did. Operated by the Young Historical Society, it houses many artefacts from the goldfield. The original Roll-Up banner is on display there.
Today, Chinese immigrants and their descendants live and work in cities and towns throughout Australia, contributing to the pulse, the culture and the lifeblood of Australia. They are teachers and students, businesspeople, medical workers, miners, defence personnel, shopkeepers, street sweepers, actors and authors.
Lambing Flat, now a part of the town of Young, is once more in the news—not for restricting immigration as in 1861, but for offering shelter to foreign refugees. In the first decade of the 21st century, Afghan refugees who held temporary protection visas became valued members of the community. And the descendants of Chinese immigrants are still in Lambing Flat.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank the staff of the Mitchell Library at the State Library of New South Wales. Special thanks, too, to all at the Lambing Flat Folk Museum in Young, NSW, who took the time to answer my many questions.
The Chinese miners’ petition included in Shu Cheong’s diary entry for Thursday 21 February, 1861, is part of one of the petitions delivered by the Chinese community at Lambing Flat to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1861. The petition, entitled ‘Alleged Aggressions on Chinamen at Lambing Flat’, is held by the Mitchell Library.
CHRISTOPHER W CHENG
Christopher W Cheng is an Australian-born half-Chinese—and proud to be so. His father was born in China and came to Australia to complete his education before returning to Hong Kong. His mother, of English descent, was born in Australia. Chris is the first son and very thankful that his parents decided to stay in Australia.
He has taught in schools in New South Wales and at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo Education Centre, where he developed Taronga Zoo’s Zoomobile. He was also the Education Advisor for an American-based science CD-ROM project, the BioScope Initiative. He has an MA in Children’s Literature and is on the International Advisory board for an online e-journal—First Opinions, Second Reactions.
Most of Chris’s books, including his first picture book, One Child (illustrated by Steven Woolman) and Scholastic Australia’s non-fiction series Eyespy, have focused on animals and the environment. Chris is also the author of another My Australian Story title, The Melting Pot.
Chris now spends most of his time writing (and keeping house). He is married to Bini and they live in Sydney. They still have no pets. For more information about Chris and his work please visit www.chrischeng.com
Also Available:
Edward, Chek Chee, lives with his parents above their store in Sydney’s Chinatown. His mother is English, his father is Chinese, and Edward is trying to work out where he fits in.
He’s not the only one—the new White Australia policy is making it harder for Chinese people to settle in Australia, and the whole Chinese community must battle for rights that other Australians take for granted.
North-east Victoria, 1879. Jamie Ross and his older sister Ellen are alone in the world after the death of their father. Determined to make their fortune, they head to Beechworth—and straight into the midst of the search for Ned Kelly, the most notorious bushranger of all time. A chance encounter will bring Jamie closer to the outlaw than he could ever have imagined.
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Published by Scholastic Australia, 2005
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2014
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-925064-06-3
Text copyright © Christopher W Cheng 2005
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