14. Residents' licences

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 earlier British treaty with China meant that the government could not just prohibit immigration completely, but it nevertheless did its best to make it very difficult.

Chinese protests peaked in the late 1850s, when the largest number of Chinese were in the country.  The protests were ultimately successful, but at a time when many of the Chinese gold miners had already gone home.  One of the main forms of protest against the resident’s licence fee was non-payment, which occurred regularly on the Waranga goldfields.

POLICING

The Waranga goldfields were under the control of an Assistant Commissioner.  He had staff such as clerical officers but also a detachment of police who were obliged to carry out his instructions at the local level.  One of the perennial problems faced was a lack of sufficient numbers of police to carry out all the duties required.  Also, the poor quality of men who were attracted to the job was an issue in what was then quite a remote location.

Towards the end of the 1850s, the Assistant Commissioners at Rushworth used the police to harass the Chinese to pay their prescribed residents’ licence fees.  This was clearly a direction from above, from the government via the Chief Commissioner.  The success or otherwise formed the basis for part of a pro-forma report that was regularly submitted from each goldfield to the head office.

LOCAL CONVICTIONS

In September 1860, the police rounded up 23 Chinese men and they were brought before the court.  Of these, 22 were convicted for not having a current resident’s ticket and they were each fined £2 ($4) – equivalent to about $150 in today’s money.¹  It is unclear whether the men were withholding the fee as a form of protest, they had simply hoped they could avoid payment, or for some other reason.

These convictions applied to arrests over a two-week period, in line with the regular reporting sequence by the Assistant Commissioner.  This was an unusually high figure for a fortnight in 1860.  At this point in time there were around 300 Chinese at Rushworth and Whroo, so the arrests constituted about 8% of the Chinese population of the day.  Generally, the figures were lower, but it was clear from the reports that a considerable amount of attention was paid to collecting the fees.  

In the lead-up to earlier goldfields protests, mainly about the miner’s licence fee, regular raids by police on the broader mining community were hated and lead to a great deal of friction.  It is likely that these resident licence hunts were similarly offensive to the Chinese, particularly as the impost only applied to them.

LAW AND ORDER

From a broader law-and-order point of view, the Chinese population were generally well-behaved.  They did not partake of alcohol to the same extent as their European counterparts, so were less likely to be involved in violent crime.  They were more likely to be victims of such crime.  A tendency by a minority to prefer opium as the drug of choice rather than alcohol meant that they were more likely to be of a subdued, as opposed to an aggressive disposition after imbibing.

The other factor that was regularly reported from the goldfields was that the Chinese were extremely hard workers, labouring from dawn to dark with their alluvial mining.  It was observed on a regular basis that they were more diligent workers than the wider population.  You can imagine that by the end of such long days, they only thing that they would be interested at the end of the day was getting a feed then a good night’s sleep. 

They also lived in close, tight-knit communities where the people looked out for each other.  Often the people they were living and working with were relatives or former neighbours from their home village.  This lessened the likelihood of engaging in crime, especially involving their countrymen.  Head men usually kept a tight rein on the men living within the Chinese camps.

Sources:  1  PROV, Assistant Gold Commissioner’s Report 24.9.1860