Page 61 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia
P. 61
THE HIST OR Y OF A USTR ALIA 59
Might versus Right (c.1861)
ST Gill’s painting depicts the riots on the
Lambing Flag gold fields in New South Wales
in 1861. Chinese immigrants, who came to
Australia in search of gold, were met with
violent racism by European settlers who felt
their wealth and position were in jeopardy.
Gold panning was
Tent villages covered the the most popular
Victoria landscape in the 1850s. extraction method.
Prosperity in Bendigo
The buildings of Williamson Street in
Bendigo (see p436) display the prosperity
that resulted from gold finds in Victoria.
Chinese
Miners’ Medal
Racism against
the Chinese
eventually
subsided. This
medal was given
by the Chinese
to the district
of Braidwood,
Victoria, in 1881.
Miners wore hats and
heavyweight trousers to
protect them from the sun.
The sluice was a trough which
trapped gold in its bars as water
was flushed through.
Gold Prospecting Camel Team
Just as the gold finds dried up
in Victoria, gold was discovered in
Western Australia in the 1890s.
Prospectors crossed the continent
to continue their search.
