Celestial Connections
One of the things that caused dissatisfaction amongst the Chinese on the Waranga goldfields was the imposition of the so-called resident’s licence in 1857. It was one of several deterrents introduced from 1855 by the Victorian Government after political pressure to curb the number of Chinese immigrants. An
Celestial Connections
In the lead-up to the dramatic events that took place at Eureka Stockade in 1854, there was considerable political agitation on the goldfields. For all miners, the oppressive miner’s licence fee and the aggressive way in which the fees were collected were lightning rods for dissent. Meetings occurred
Celestial Connections
Horse-drawn puddling machines, such as the one reconstructed at Whroo, are examples of “the puddling technology developed in Victoria from 1854 in response to the need to process enormous amounts of clay soil which needed to be broken up to get at the gold. Horses were used to drag
Celestial Connections
As we have seen earlier, the Chinese gold miners were used to working in teams. Sometimes, this was a group of indentured workers, often from the same geographic area of China. When their debts were paid off, the miners were free to form their own groups to work a claim.
Celestial Connections
The Chinese were the pre-eminent alluvial miners on the Waranga goldfields in the 1850s and early 1860s. They tended to stick with alluvial mining well after the majority of miners had either left the industry or were employed by companies involved in quartz mining. In contrast to quartz mining,
Celestial Connections
The Chinese miners were mostly alluvial miners. Alluvium is the loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain or on an alluvial “fan”. Hence, alluvial miners worked relatively close to the surface as opposed to quartz miners. On
Celestial Connections
The Chinese on the Waranga goldfields (as on other goldfields) tended to live in clearly defined camps. Maps from the late 1850s indicate there were at least four – two at Rushworth and two at Whroo. Language was a massive barrier to communication with other miners until the Chinese had been
Celestial Connections
The Chinese miners and businesspeople on the Waranga goldfields tended to live in separate communities to the Europeans. There were various reasons for this. As a group, they suffered considerable racism from other residents of the goldfields, so it was safer to keep to themselves. Additionally, many of the miners
Celestial Connections
The first record of a Chinese miner that shows up in an Assistant Gold Commissioner’s regular weekly reports for the Waranga goldfields appears in late April 1854. An unnamed Chinese man brought two nuggets into the Gold Office (which was then located in a tent). The nuggets weighed 17
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