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Chinese immigrants in Australia

For over 200 years the Chinese population has been one of the most dynamic in cosmopolitan Australia. Chinese migrants represent the third-biggest part of immigrants in Australia’s population, following New Zealanders and Indians. This is also visible in Australia’s culture, economy and society. Looking back on a long and sometimes hard history, the Chinese shaped Australia and made it to what it is nowadays.

After China opened its ports in 1842, the first big migration movement from China to Australia started. The Chinese mainly worked in the sugar and banana industries, as market gardeners, shopkeepers or in indentured labour. The Chinese population in Australia increased when the Gold Rush started in Victoria in the 1850s and in New South Wales in the 1860s. By 1901, over 30,000 Chinese people were living in Australia. This caused that the Australians felt threatened by the Chinese workforce. They thought the Chinese would take their work away. Australians assumed that non-white workers or immigrants would accept lower living standards as well as lower wages. As a consequence of this resentment towards the Chinese, in 1901, the White Australia Policy came into law after the Immigration Restriction Act was passed by the Victorian parliament. These laws made it difficult for immigrants and non-white migrants to work in Australia. For example, the government imposed an entry tax on all Chinese migrants arriving at Victoria or only allowed them to live in designated areas close to the gold fields. Additionally, ships that brought people from China were only allowed to have one Chinese person per ten tons of the ship’s dead load. The White Australia Policy was withdrawn again in the 1950s and completely abandoned in 1973. From this period on working rights have been applied to all employees throughout Australia, regardless of whether they are Australian citizens or not.

This caused another wave of Chinese immigrants in Australia. It was the first time in over 50 years that it was easy for foreigners to move to Australia and settle there. In 1989, the Australian president Bob Hawke permitted Chinese students to settle permanently in Australia, where educational as well as economic opportunities were better than in China. From that time on, a range of newspapers were printed in Chinese language as well as a Chinese radio channel was broadcasted.

Chinese immigration has had a great impact on Australian culture. During the time of the Gold Rushes there were Chinatowns, as we call them nowadays, built in order to make life easier for Chinese immigrants. They should help the Chinese to get at least a sense of feeling at home by living together with people of the same nationality in a foreign country with

foreign customs and a foreign language. One of the best known as well as oldest was the See Yup Society. To acquire membership one had to pay 25 shillings per year. You can see typical Chinese architecture and cultural characteristics in them. Very often a temple is the central point of those towns. When you walk through the streets you are very likely to see clothes lines fixed between two houses which give Chinatowns that specific Asian flair. Besides, there are many traditional festivals and activities, making Chinatowns a popular destination in the city centre for local and international visitors. They were basically built to give the Chinese at least a sense of home in a foreign country and to be with people of the same nationality, particularly during the time of intolerance towards the Chinese. Before the Immigration Restriction Act had been banned, hardly any marriages between Australians and Chinese took place. However, the number of intercultural marriages has increased because more Chinese have started to settle in Australia permanently and have become part of Australia’s society without discrimination or intolerance. Still, a high number of Chinese people have kept their traditions and have not fully assimilated to Australia’s culture. Over 36% of the Australian-born Chinese are still Buddhists. Still, the Chinese are very closely linked with Australia in terms of work. Nowadays, Australia could not survive without the Chinese workforce. Many Chinese Australians work in white collar middle class jobs. A part of Chinese Australians still works on roadworks. It is mainly the younger generation that starts to seek scientific jobs in subjects such as physics or mathematics.

The Chinese have not only influenced but really shaped Australia. In some way they made this continent to what it represents nowadays – a land of tolerance and multiculturalism. You can find Chinese elements all around Australia regardless if in its architecture or economy. It is simply not possible to imagine Australia without the Chinese.