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National Library of Australia
The arrival of a china trader: Chinese passengers at the customs house.
National Library of Australia
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Australian gold rush sparks customs chaos
By Fletch Heinemann
Despite an outward appearance of pure capitalism, the Australian gold rush of the mid-1850s instigated a vast political
and social revolution that not only transformed Australia but also overwhelmed early colonial Customs services.
The gold rush attracted fortune-seekers from all over the world - ship-load after eager ship-load. It also instigated
a Customs-administered "White Australia policy" that was not repealed until well into the 20th Century.
That policy owed much to an influx of thousands of industrious, frugal and skilled Chinese miners, firstly into
Victoria, and then later into New South Wales.
Waves of Chinese migrants, plus thousands upon thousands of diggers from other countries, were all attracted by
tales of alluvial gold - just lying there for the taking. However many white miners believed that Australian gold
was rightfully the property of white men only. Conflict was thus inevitable - leading to discriminatory immigration
laws being passed which burdened an already hard-pressed Customs service with additional responsibilities all aimed
squarely at keeping Australia "white".
During one 12-month period, ships sailing into Port Phillip transported over 4000 diggers from China. When the
Onyx later arrived in Melbourne from Hong Kong, bearing news that 43 of its Chinese passengers had died en route
from overcrowding, far from provoking compassion or pity, the incident stirred already strong anti-Chinese feelings
to fever pitch.
This incident and Chinese migration in general sparked a political response (which later became the "White
Australia policy") which was to persist as part of Australian "life" well into the 20th century.
Following the Eureka Rebellion in 1854, the colony of Victoria relinquished the power to raise revenue by issuing
licences. In its wake, a £10 poll tax was levied on Chinese immigrants entering the colony. Coupled with
the Passenger Act, this was supposed to restrict Chinese immigrants to one per ten tons of vessel tonnage.
But ships masters and Chinese diggers evaded these Customs-enforced laws by landing at Robe in South Australia
and travelling the 200 miles (320km) overland to the Victorian gold fields - on foot. The Victoria-South Australia
border was largely unguarded and in a state of flux, making Customs supervision almost impossible.
Henry Melville, the Collector at Robe at the time, watched as 45 vessels from Hong Kong landed about 20,000 Chinese
miners - all intent on getting to the Victorian diggings. In another instance, The Young America sailed into Guichen
Bay with 1000 Chinese passengers.
By the simple ruse of avoiding Victorian ports, Chinese migrants entered Australia unhindered, evaded the discriminatory
Victorian £10 poll tax and assisted ships masters to garner lucrative profits by eluding the Passenger Act
requirements.
Other government strategies were then tried. These included the imposition of higher Customs duties on opium and
rice. This had a two-fold purpose - of discouraging Chinese migration and bolstering the flow of government revenues.
These had ebbed following the Eureka Stockade and the cessation of the gold licensing system.
Opium soon developed into a lucrative source of income for Victoria's colonial treasury. Poppies were grown in
south-western Victoria, while authorities tolerated the drug itself.
Customs was then involved in "supervising" the manufacture of opium. A Victorian police report in 1868
conceded that although [opium] use was prejudicial to the constitution of the individual, it does not excite him
to acts of violence or depravity against others as the use of intoxicating liquor does with Europeans.
This sentiment prevailed until the 1880s when new moral objections to opium, married with racial concerns, inspired
an inter-colonial movement to ban the drug. But, in practice, banning opium only pushed the trade underground and
increased instances of smuggling. For this reason, and due to a political preoccupation with the depression of
the 1890s, opium was not banned until 1908.
Victoria's alluvial goldfields dried up in the mid-1860s. Discoveries in New South Wales meant that Customs officers
were given responsibility for administering the discriminatory immigration laws in NSW - also directed primarily
against Chinese miners. However, in 1861, some 20,000 Chinese arrived in New South Wales, sparking riots at the
Lambing Flat diggings.
With migration pressures centred on New South Wales, Victoria repealed its discriminatory immigration laws. However
despite some initial success at deterring Chinese immigration, NSW Customs officers were soon overwhelmed by the
tide of migrants entering the colony in the mid-1870s.
White working-class NSW citizens voiced strong opposition against "cheap" Chinese labour. In December
1878, a parade deteriorated into a riot in Sydney's Chinese quarter. Rather than inducing sympathy for its Chinese
victims, the riot exacerbated anti-Chinese sentiments which quickly reached high political circles.
In January 1881, at an intercolonial conference, the six colonies acknowledged that a pervasive feeling opposed
the unrestricted entry of Chinese people. A resolution was agreed recommending uniform legislation on the part
of all colonies to restrict the influx of Chinese into these colonies.
However Western Australia was conspicuously uncooperative, even offering to fund the passage of Chinese migrants
to WA where they were to become low-paid labourers, cooks and gardeners on sheep and cattle stations. However,
once gold was discovered in the western colony, low-paid work soon lost its allure and the colony imposed immigration
restrictions similar to those in the eastern colonies.
Colonial Customs officers were often burdened with attempting to unravel legal loopholes which Chinese immigrants
soon began to exploit. This was a difficult task. Naturalised Chinese were not to be subjected to the restrictive
immigration requirements, sparking a trade in naturalisation papers. Customs officers were required to distinguish
forged papers from genuine ones.
Furthermore, Chinese immigrants returning permanently to China would sometimes sell their naturalisation papers
to illegal entrants, thus circumventing the legislation once more. David Day suggests in Smugglers and Sailors that Customs tried to curtail this
trend by appointing "Chinese Inspectors" who were supposed to possess a rare European aptitude - that
of being able to differentiate one Chinese from another.
However colonial immigration restrictions (and their clever evasion) were not confined only to Chinese migrants.
Afghan migrants also successfully evaded colonial immigration laws by landing in Queensland or South Australia
and then journeying overland into New South Wales. At the time, Afghans were respected in outback Australia for
the skill as camel-drivers - but along with Hindus, Syrians and Greek Gypsies, the Afghans were soon also attracting
unfavourable political and social attention.
In 1898, restrictive immigration laws were "strengthened" by the addition of an "educational"
test to exclude unwanted migrants. This was the embryonic version of the later notorious "dictation test".
Officers could administer the "test" in any European language of the officer's choice, including classical
languages like Latin or ancient Greek. This arbitrary power was fundamental to Customs' ability to be able to "legally"
restrict the entrance of immigrants - purely on grounds of race.
On Australia's Centenary of Federation, one can only marvel at the enduring nature of Customs' role in repelling
illegal immigrants. However these days the laws that Australia's public servants are required to administer are
based on grounds far more just and equitable than mere race or skin colour.
Since gold rush days, Australian politics, economics and social attitudes have all experienced profound and on-going
change. However, Customs' vigilance in attempting to thwart illegal immigration has remained constant.
Australian immigration laws may now be far more equitable, Customs detection methods may be more advanced and the
"opponent" may have even grown wiser - but the battle of wits remains the same.
Bibliography
Colonial Secretary's Office Report, 25 January 1881, VPRS 3992 Box 1347, VPRO.
Condon, Karl, et al, "Boat People Chinese Dissidents"," Northern Territory News, 17 January 1992,
pp 1-3.
"Conversation with Chamber of Commerce on Chinese Question," 8 May 1855, VPRS 1095/1/5, VPRO.
Day, David, Contraband and Controversy, AGPS Press, Canberra, 1996.
Day, David, Smugglers and Sailors, AGPS Press, Canberra, 1992.
The Chinese Act 1881 (Victorian Colonial Government), VPRS 3991 Box 1347, VPRO.
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