Celestial Connections
The State Library of Victoria (SLV) estimates that by 1859 there were already 40,000 Chinese people in Victoria, working in both mining and other pursuits. Some of the Chinese had been here before the gold rush, but the vast majority arrived in search of gold. In the main towns
Celestial Connections
The previous story talked about early Chinese miners landing in Melbourne and walking to the goldfields. Then as the Victoria government introduced an entry tax for Chinese from 1855, some landed in South Australia and walked into Victoria. Others landed in New South Wales and found their way overland. There
Celestial Connections
Early Chinese arrivals would disembark in Port Phillip Bay, then embark on a long trek to the goldfields. Melbourne was full of stories about the latest rush, so it could be assumed that from the start of the rushes to the Waranga goldfields in 1853, a proportion of the miners
Celestial Connections
During the 19th century gold rushes, many Chinese miners came to the Waranga area, mostly from the mid-1850s onwards. In history, they have tended to be lumped together into one homogenous group. One reason for this was that they tended to stick together as part of tight-knit groups because of
Celestial Connections
The Waranga area has strong Chinese historical connections, thanks largely to the influx of Chinese miners during the gold rush. Gold discoveries in this area in 1853 post-dated earlier finds in Victoria, which had sparked the first gold rushes to the new state, by a little over two years. As
Waranga Dreaming
It is quite remarkable that humans have occupied the Waranga area for more than 40,000 years. We do not know a lot about that history, instead tending to focus almost exclusively on the period from the commencement of the gold rush in 1853. The process of colonisation, which commenced
Waranga Dreaming
These days we take our various modes of communication for granted – radio, television, telephone, the internet and so on. Imagine living on the extensive Ngurai-illum Wurrung Country prior to colonisation where none of these methods were available. For instance, how could people who were living for a large part of
Waranga Dreaming
Despite the fact that there is not a lot of information in contemporary writing (i.e. mid 1800s), it is clear that the local Ngurai-illum Wurrung people kept dogs (pure-bred dingoes) at the time of colonisation. The dogs were important to them in all sorts of ways, as they are
Waranga Dreaming
With the arrival of colonists, it was assumed that the local Aboriginal people would change their names to European sounding names. If you think about that for a while, it is an astonishingly arrogant expectation. The local Aboriginal people had lived in the Waranga area continuously for over 40,000
Waranga Dreaming
When we look at the night sky, we tend to look at the features that are illuminated e.g. stars, planets, meteors, satellites, the moon. We tend not to look at the dark spaces in between these features. With their comprehensive knowledge of the night skies, which were seen simply
Waranga Dreaming
Just prior to World War 2, a farmer at Prairie, west of Rochester, recorded the rainfall on his property. At the same time, he sketched the position of the crescent new moon each month. He seems to have been testing a theory that there is a clear relationship between the
Waranga Dreaming
Aboriginal people saw connections between everything in their world, with the sky being seen as an integral part of what is regarded as Country. “Country includes land, seas, waters, rocks, animals, winds and all the beings that exist in and make up a place, including people. It also embraces the