A History of Asians in Australia

Gold Rush to the present

Facts & Statistics1911, Australia’s population was a little over 4.5 million persons. Of that 4.5 m, 37,730 were of “Asiatic decent” (“Chinese, Hindus, Japanese, Javanese, Malays, Filipinos”, etc.) That’s a total of 0.838% of the total Australian population in 1911. (There were also 662 “Negroes” and 1 “Gipsie”, “so described”)

Between 1981 and 2000 the Asian-born population of Australia grew steadily, from 276,000 to over a million. In 2011, Australia’s “Asian” population is estimated at about 7% of the population, or 1,700,000. Of these, 4.5% claim Chinese ancestry, followed by Indian (2%), and then Vietnamese, Filipinos, Malays, Thais, etc.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011)

Gold Rush – who they were, why they came.Despite its proximity to Asia, the Australian continent was never settled by Asians. Some Malay and Javanese fishermen were known to have fished in the Gulf of Carpentaria, but that’s about it.

Asian migration to Australia really took off during the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s.

Chinese settlers first rushed to Victoria in large numbers hoping to strike gold. Most were men contracted to agents who sponsored their voyages, and they faced years of difficult repayments. They also sent money back to their families in China. By 1852, there were 40,000 Chinese in Victoria (only 12 of whom were women) and by 1860, 7% of Victoria’s population was Chinese.

On the gold fields, the Chinese worked industriously, often striking gold which the Europeans and Australians had passed over.

There was much resentment against these Asians in Australia. Reasons varied: language; strange appearance and customs; a lack of Christian religious observations (Sabbath on Sunday); inward community and conservative values. Over time, these differences led to tension, which led to violence.

For instance in between 1860-61, a number of riots broke out in NSW known as the Lambing Flat Riots. Though few Chinese were actually killed, their property was destroyed and their persons physically attacked.

Early 20th century

Melbourne’s China Town (Lt. Bourke Street – Springs Street) is the second oldest China town in the Western World, and the home of the dim-sim (1945), an Australian invention!

Legislations against the Chinese were passed in varying minor forms throughout the 19th century, however in 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 ensured that Asian migration to Australia virtually cease.

The Asians who were in Australia congregated in the major cities, such as Melbourne and Sydney. There, they established ‘China Towns’, sections of the cities where they could trade and live.

Asian ANZACsIn 1886, William Edward 'Billy' Sing was born to an English mother and a Chinese father in Clermont, Queensland.

When WW1 broke out, Billy joined the Australian Light Horse of the Australian Imperial Force and was sent off to Gallipoli.

There, he was an expert sniper, with over 150 confirmed kills. One of the ANZACs described Billy as "a little chap, very dark, with a jet black moustache and goatee beard. A picturesque looking mankiller. He is the crack shot of the Anzacs."

Fear of Asia in WW2 Australia

Both before and after WW1, anti-Asian sentiment remained high. There was a perpetual fear that Asia, with it’s large population, would conquer and colonise sparsely-populated Australia. Immigration laws were therefore quite stringent.

This fear reached its zenith during WWII, when news reached Australia that Imperial Japan was marching south to invade the continent. Fortunately, they were halted at Kakoda, in Papua New Guinea.

‘Remember, it’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you’.

The lifting of the White Australia Policy – 1973

With the end of the Second World War and the opening up of Australia to Asian business, social tensions regarding Asians had greatly decreased. Eventually, the Australian Immigration Act (known informally as the ‘White Australia’ Policy) was lifted by Gogh Whitlam’s Labor government, which was followed by the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975.

Although Asians did not immediately being to migrate in droves, there was a slow, trickle of migrants. Most during this time period came from Vietnam, where the war there claimed millions of lives.

1980s/90s/2000sAsian migrants to Australia in the latter decades of the 20th

century didn’t have things easy. Like most peoples, they really were strangers in a strange land, however successive generations of Asians Australians have come to call this country their own.

Today, Australia’s Asian population is much more large and diverse, with people hailing from China, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, among others.

Australia enjoys warm and fruitful economic relations with many of its Asian neighbours, and each year, tens of thousands of Asians migrate to Australia to work, study and sight-see.

In 2014, it is estimated that there are over 2.5 million Australians of Asian heritage; that’s approximately 12% of the population. Of these people, the majority live in cities like Melbourne and Sydney, where they make up close to 20% of each city’s respective population.

Asian Australians are well established with strong cultural and community ties. They were also well represented in the arts, industry, business, education and medicine – 20% of all Australian doctors are of Asian heritage!

Some difficulties facing Asian-AustraliansLike all migrants to new countries, Asians in Australia (usually depending on the generation) face a number of challenges. These include:

*Language – unlike European languages, which at least belong to the same linguistic branches, most Asian languages are quite far-removed from English. Moreover, ‘which language should I speak?’ Or, ‘which one am I better at?’*Cultures – sometimes what you think is normal, isn’t what I think is normal*Cuisine - yummy in my tummy (actually, is my food still moving?)*Longing for homeland – don’t we all?*Identity Crisis – ‘am I Chinese/Vietnamese/Indian, or Australian?’-What does that even mean?-Can I assimilate? Should I assimilate?-Will they accept me? Accept me into what?*Parents – most parents are nuts. Asians parents aren’t any better and can make the Identity-Belonging debate even more beguiling!