Join historian Paul Macgregor as he explores The Chinese Residence Tax Revolt of 1859 in Victoria. More than 33,000 Chinese miners refused to pay the tax, thousands were fined and jailed, and a rebellion was a live possibility for a time. From 1855 the Victorian government had made various attempts to limit the number of Chinese gold miners in the colony: a £10 immigration tax, a Chinese protectorate system of Chinese-only mining camps, and discriminatory mining taxes which charged higher rates for Chinese miners. But, every time, the Chinese miners countered with civil disobedience, protests and petitions, all of which came to a head in June 1859, when the Chinese mining population peaked at 46,000. By 1862, the campaign of mass resistance to discrimination was so effective that all of the government’s racist measures were abandoned. Paul will discuss the idea that the Chinese Residence Tax Revolt was the equal of the Eureka Rebellion, in terms of miners demanding rights and fair treatment, and is deserving of a more prominent place in the Australian public imagination.
Paul Macgregor is a historian and heritage consultant, specialising in Chinese diaspora history and material culture. He is the President of The Uncovered Past Institute, which undertakes archaeological excavations with public participation, and is excavating the 19th century Harrietville Chinese gold mining village in Northeast Victoria. Curator of Melbourne’s Chinese Museum from 1990-2005, he is currently researching Chinese economic activity in Australia, and the material culture heritage of Chinese Australians, as part of a wider investigation of the 19th and early 20th century co-evolution of European and Asian societies in Australasia, China, Southeast Asia, North America and the Pacific/Indian Ocean worlds.
This talk will be followed by a 45-minute panel discussion.
Chair: Anna Kyi, Historian, Sovereign Hill Panel: Paul McGregor, historian and author Charles Zhang, President, Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat.
A Harmony Fest Ballarat event presented by the Eureka Centre.
You can attend this event in person at the Eureka Centre (no booking required) or stream live from home via Facebook.
Image: A C Cooke (illustrator), ‘Chinese Quarter Ballarat’, wood engraving, published in The Illustrated Australian News, 18 July 1868, Melbourne: Ebenezer and David Syme, State Library of Victoria
