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The Chinese Influence in Australia's Gold Rush days

Chinese Temple ~ Joss House	Chinese Temple ~ Joss House Whenever enough Chinese people congregated in one area for long enough they would build a Joss House as a place for worshipping Hon Sing. He was the founder of the Ming dynasty, a period that was considered the greatest in Chinese history. The texts in the building reads, "Welcome all who enter ~ Temple of Hon Sing ~ Health, wealth and prosperity". There is a poem on the beauty of the area and a philosophical text on the virtues of doing good and evil. Hon Sing preached the three virtues of Unity, Courage and Honesty.
The Joss House was built as a portal, or window of Heaven, that spirits could descend from. The roof was tilted up at the edges to deflect evil spirits and the creatures near the doorway were there to deter them. The colour red has a special meaning of good fortune.
Life for the Chinese wasn't always easy! The number of Chinese people that came to Australia in the 1800's is open to speculation. It is believed about 7000 Chinese worked in the Araluen Goldfields. The beckoning of gold however often took a personal toll on the individuals. Various Chinese societies (eg the Sze Yap) tried to help these "strangers in a strange land" to be seen to conform with European standards. In spite of this, Chinese were the target of prejudiced and racist attitudes and outright persecution by both European miners and the Government of the time. They were usually regarded as a pagan and inferior race and were often unfairly blamed for many things not of their doing. For example, outbreaks of disease were often blamed on the Chinese. During the Mogo gold rush Chinese lived at Chinaman's Point on the Clyde river for mutual protection, and travelled by boat across the Clyde River to "Latta's Point" and the Mogo Goldfields.	Health, wealth and prosperity.
A very few Europeans were prepared to praise them for their adaptability, dignity, hard work and honesty, but overall, they were resented as much for their hard work and success as their different culture. All too often, this resentment flared into overt violence. The Clarke gang robbed the Chinese as readily as they robbed the Eurpopeans, putting a pistol to the head of Kong Ah on his way from Braidwood to the Chinese settlement at Jembaicumbene. Ah Lamb, Ah Fooh, Cong Hay, John Ah Yoke and Ah Cooee were also held prisoners. The Chinese miners used different mining methods to the Europeans. They are said to have seldom tackled new ground, preferring to go over ground abandoned by the Europeans. It is thought that they found much gold which had been missed by European miners in their haste. On those occasions when the Chinese did dig for gold, it is commonly believed that they constructed round shafts rather than square or rectangular ones. This is both sound engineering and a likely deference to the superstition that evil spirits would hide in corners. In the latter half of the 1800's, the gold discoveries began to dwindle and increasing numbers of Chinese returned to their homeland. Very few chose to stay and run businesses, marry and settle permanently in Australia.

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