Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Australia has almost always had some involvement with Asia, one such instance is the Chinese coming to Australia and living on the gold fields (The Original Gold Rush Colony¹). It was believed that there was close to 7,000 Chinese that worked on the Araluen Gold Fields which is located in the Southern Part of NSW Gold Rush Colony¹). Within a thirty-seven year period, an estimation of about 40,721 Chinese immigrants that came to Australia, out of which 36,049 returned to China after the gold rushes had ended (Wells, 2007). This was because most of the immigrants were there on a contract and stayed until there debt was paid before returning back home (Wells, 2007).

During this time, the mistreatment for the Chinese immigrants grew to become more brutal (The Original Gold Rush Colony²). When the anti-Chinese Laws were formed in the late 1870s and 1880s, were “declarations that Chinese people were a threat to mainstream Australia (The Original Gold Rush Colony²). These laws lead to violence, wrongful arrest, committed to “lunatic asylum”, forced vaccination, eviction from their own built up farms or refusal from re-entering Australia (The Original Gold Rush Colony²).

One hundred years later after the first anti-Chinese laws, in 1972, there was a full political introduction of official policies of multiculturalism (The Original Gold Rush Colony²). Australia’s multiculturalism is a very much consists of the Chinese and other Asian countries, this has a great influence on the “modern Australia” (The Original Gold Rush Colony²). Australia has almost always had some involvement with Asia, especially with the Gold Rush in Australia Gold Rush Colony¹), although it was not always on good terms, however as time has moved on the connection between the two continents have gotten stronger.

References:

The Original Gold Rush Colony. (n.d.). Chinese on the Australian gold fields. Retrieved from http://www.goldrushcolony.com.au/australian-gold-history-culture-info/chinese-australian-gold-fields

The Original Gold Rush Colony. (n.d.). Anti-Chinese racism. Retrieved from http://www.goldrushcolony.com.au/australian-gold-history-culture-info/chinese-australian-gold-fields/anti-chinese-racism

Wells, K. (2007). The Australian gold rush. Retrieved from http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-gold-rush