Responses to Gold

A great amount of Gold found in Victoria early days(Source: http://136.154.202.7/discoverycentre/infosheets/gold-in-victoria/)

Major goldfields in Vic back to the days of gold-rushes. (Source: http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/industries/minerals/metals/gold)

In the late 19th century, with the irruptive and the overall exploration of Australia, convicts and settlers had gained much better understanding of this vast continent. In the course of development, a growing number of flora and fauna had been continually discovered and recognised. Among all those discoveries, the most exciting and attractive item was gold. It was the New South Walse that had been first found the existence of gold. Later, Victoria became the largest and major goldfield. Historians like Russel Ward argues the discoveries of gold in Victoria has exerted a great influence on the development of Australia in terms of urbanisation, economy, culture, population, labour movement and even the advancement of democracy.

First, due to the reputation of gold discoveries of Victoria, there were numerous immigrants flooding into Victoria. Those immigrants were not only from Western Australia and Tasmania, but also from the overseas such as Europe, America and China. Consequently, by the end of 19th century, an explosive increase in Victoria population took place. Consequently, new cities and towns boomed. People all carries the dreams of gold and wealth landing in Victoria. They dreamed that one day they could bring the wealth back home. However, the probability of finding gold was lowering with the increase of population. Moreover, according to the British law at that time, all properties and discoveries of resources in colonies belonged to the 'crown' or royalty. Thus, there was a fierce conflict between the state-regulated mining and private development of mineral resources. Miners who intended to extract the gold had to purchase mining license from government. Even if one was lucky to gain the gold and tried to sell it, they would have to pay tax in order to conduct transactions. 

Waves of immigrants who longed for the gold and wealth occurred in Victoria. (Source: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~peterpjw/Poor%20Polly/image_sources.html)

The influx of gold diggers lead to the appearance of new towns and cities in Victoria. (Source: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10267866-50)

Moreover, gold rushes provoked abounding anxieties and hostilities. First, with more and more people obtained the gold and wealth, they started to demand more political rights and higher social status. Such demands were easily linked up the intention of subverting the established authority and social hierarchy by ruling elites. However, the desire of being equal laid the foundation for the future egalitarianism. Secondly, the unbalanced growth of population in goldfields triggered by gold-rushes shaped a male-dominated society. Women, again, were largely excluded from gold-rushes. Additionally, the eager for gold led to the movement of anti-immigration and racism. Particularly, Chinese immigrants were the primary victims. In both New South Wales and Victoria, many violent incidents and riots were against Chinese miners since they had depicted as people who plundered treasures of Europeans or whites. Today, historians see this anti-Chinese movement as irrational and cruel. Historians rate at its full value the contribution that Chinese had done to the development of Australia. 

"Selling Miner's Rights on the rush to Myer's Creek, Bendigo, 1868." A series of political unrest happened to respond the hierarchy of colonial society in Victoria. (Source: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~peterpjw/Poor%20Polly/image_sources.html)

Chinese immigrants had been mistreated by Europeans. Later, most Chinese miners left Australia. (Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/finding-their-gold/story-e6frewui-1111115588123)

Thirdly, the significance of Eureka Rebellion occurred in the time of gold-rushes is still the bone of contention among today's historians. Eureka Rebellion happened in Victoria in 1854. A group of miners gathered together to protest the local authority. Eureka Rebellion lasted for 22 minutes and 5 soldiers were killed. In terms of the significance of this political movement, global context should be considered. At that time, a series of political reforming movement happened in Europe to advocate social equality. Especially, the Charist movement derived from Britain profoundly influenced the Eureka Rebellion. Most historians like Dr H.V. Evatt and Geoffrey Searle in the 20th century claims that the Eureka Rebellion marked the beginning of Australian democracy. Miners were fighting against the hierarchical authority to obtain their basic rights. Other historians even rose this event to a higher level. Ross, Gollan, and Mallony asserts that it is since the Eureka Rebellion that Australian national identity began to emerge. And finally, an identity of equalitarianism and anti-authority were shaped through years. 

In the Eureka Rebellion, many protesters were killed. It signifies the birth of Australian democracy and national identity. (Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Rebels-redcoats-and-a-bloody-dawn/2004/12/02/1101923272413.html)

The flag of Southern Cross gave birth by Eureka Rebellion. It represents a brand-new start of Australian history. Later more and more people advocates changing Australian national flag to this one. (Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/18/2986048.htm)

However, some historians such as Macnaughton questions the significance of Eureka event. He argues that before the Eureka Rebellion, Victorian constitution had been sent to England for approval and confirmation. If there was an urgency of political reform, it would occur before the constitution had been sent to England. Portus and Blainey argue Eureka Rebellion did not trigger the emergence of labour movement. Instead, it generated a new generation of ruling elites.

Europeans and the Australian Environment

With the gradual settlement and deepening exploration of Australia by early convicts and European immigrants, Aboriginals' Australia had witnessed a upheaval towards 'White' Australia. European settlement in Australia has dramatically changed Australia's landscape of environment till today. The early generation of European Australians had transformed the local Australian environment to an European version of environment according to their European understanding of nature. Later, this generation of people who shaped the basic landscape of today's Australia are commemorated as the pioneers of Australia. However, some historians today tend to view those pioneers as the destroyers of the local environment as they cut down trees in a large scale and modified the nature in an European way. Especially, concerning today's debates about climate change and global warming, many scientists and historians trace back the origins of environmental transformation and destruction to the early days of colonisation.

In terms of the radical changes Australian environment brought by Europeans, historians like John Hirst, Tom Stannage and Marilyn Lake argue that the formation of the legend of Australian pioneers was at the expense of environment. In order to understand this viewpoint, the distinctive and authentic features of Australian environment will be reviewed. Australia was a rarely explored vast continent at that time. Although Aboriginals' livelihood and exploration such as 'Fire Stick Farming' exerted impact on environment to certain degree, these activities perfectly fitted to the local environment. However, the arrival of Europeans introduced new ways of treating environment. Europeans naively fantasised that Australia would be a fertile and resourceful land. Like W.C Wentworth in 1823 described Australia as 'a new Britannia in another world'. Wentworth is a typical successful example of social elites emerging from a convicts' family. He was educated in England and became a politician and poem back Australia. He imagined Australia as a better version of British society with more resources and better climate. Without doubt, convicts and immigrants started to reform the Australian environment under the ideology of 'new Britain'. Later, they found Australia has much less fertile ground; but irregular rainfall and less water sources. Moreover, there are many natural disasters like droughts, floods and bushfires. 

The distinctive Australian environment: Fertile ground and regular rain-fall areas all scatter along the coast. Vast area in the centre of Australia is dry land. (Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2001/publications/theme-reports/atmosphere/introduction-4.html)

Hirst's book about the chage of Australian ecology brought by Europeans. The front cover: A typical European village was built up along the river (Source: http://fineprintbooks.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?book_keywords=colonial+new+south+wales)

Furthermore, Adrea Gaynor points out the devastating impact of European life style on environment. She argues sheep and rabbits introduced for pastoralism by the First Fleet were the 'shock troops of empire'. Especially, rabbits adapted to new environment quickly and reproduced rapidly. They competed with local animals for food and they destroyed the traditional way Aboriginals obtained food. As a result, some Aboriginals were forced to steal food from British. This caused misunderstanding and led to great massacres of Indigenous people by British. Homas Livingstone Mitchell, explorer, even in 1848 pinpointed the environmental destruction by settlers. He asserts that the local animal, ecology and Aboriginals' life style were wrecked by the introduction of white men's animals

. 

Shocking troops of empire—rabbits: gnawed crops and destroyed Aboriginals' traditional livelihood. (Source: http://www.redreaming.info/DisplayStory.asp?id=95)

Sheep were largely reproduced, which damaged the vast grassland. (Source: http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1758.shtml)

As for the pioneer legend, it is more about Australian national identity. Australian nationality is based on British nationality, borrowing ideas from other European countries. Nowadays, Australians still have all kinds of celebrations to commemorate the brave, hardworking and wise pioneers who shaped today's Australia. In doing so, Australian national identity is reinforced. However, Tom Stannage focuses on who those pioneers were. Women, convicts, and Aorigines were all excluded from this pioneer group. Moreover, some argue that today's natural disasters like floods, droughts and bushfires can all be related to the deforestation and excessive cultivation in the colonial period. 

A great amount of pioneer memorial sites in Australia. However, convicts women and Aboriginals are excluded. A pioneer memorial site in WA. (Source: http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1758.shtml)

Convict Lives

The arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney in 1788. Also the transportation of convicts. (Source: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an7891482)

Accompanied by the arrival of the First Fleet, a group of unwanted British convicts landed on Australia. In 1788, 11 vessels were loaded with convicts arrived the port of Botany Bay. Since then, the first generation of white Australian settled down and ushered in a new age of Australia. Such kind of convicts transportation endured 100 years from 1788 to 1888. At the first place, mainly the eastern continent of Australia and Tasmania demanded a large number of convicts to forge the new-born colonial society. With the exploration and occupation of the western and southern Australia, convicts had been sent to these regions correspondingly. During the later time of transportation, one outstanding feature was more skilled convicts were transported and they all specilised in different industries. This reflects the desire of a new colony to develop a new society. It was also the eastern states that first abolished the transportation of convicts by 1840s. With a duration of 100 years' transportation, around 160,000 convicts set foot on Australia. Most of convicts were male; female accounted for 15%. Since the formation of federation in 1901, Australians and historians have tried to trace back their ancestors in order to redefine the national identity. Therefore, many debates around the origins of convicts have emerged and developed through years. Two major debates are 'who were the convicts' and the small group of 'convict women'. 

In terms of the identity of convicts, in 1956 Manning Clark argues most of them were from a professional criminal class and they enjoyed idleness even when they were serving their sentences in Australia. He points out that most convicts were young workers from towns of England and Ireland. Moreover, the crimes those convicts comitted were causal crimes like theft. A paradox of Clark's persepective is that he says convicts were lazy and not industrious; but he also claims that they all specialised in certain skills. 

Manning Clark (March 1915 – 23 May 1991), "The most famous Australian historian". (Source: http://www.penguin.com.au/contributors/manning-clark)

An evil and t and disordered convict society and the early days of settlement in the Hawkesbury. Just as what Manning Clark described. (Source: http://www.victorking.com.au/index.php?p=1_4)

However, in 1920s, George Arnold Wood—history professor from Sydney University—states that most convicts were 'village Hampdens' who were more sinned than against sinners. Wood promotes liberalism, so he favours and sympathises convicts. The last Governor of New South Wales—Lachlan Maquarie—used to portray those convicts as 'children of misfortune'. Wood also points out that those convicts were just the victims of bad economies, unfair and hierarchical English society. In a society where aristocracy dominated social resources and jurisdiction, people from working class were very often forced to steal food and daily necessities in order to survive and feed family. The real criminals were ruling elites who collaborated with each other to exploit plebs. Some so-called felonies at that time are even considered as misdemeanour today. 

Early Australian convicts were badly whipped as punishment. It was only part of the dark life. (Source: http://www.convictcreations.com/history/larrikin.htm)

Two convicts were locked in chains. (Source: http://museumvictoria.com.au/accessallareas/discoverycentre/?tag=/idc&page=4)

Regarding the convict women, Manning Clark and early historians usually reagard them as evil and whore. This whore stereotype of female took root in early convict generation of Australians. During 1960 and 1970, feminist historians like Anne Summers and Miriam Dixson tried to subvert this traditional impression on convict female by arguing that the vices of females were made by convict males and convict society. Summers says convict women were mainly treated as sexual objects in the colony; and even during the journey of transportation, they were sexually abused by male convicts. Later, female and male convicts were loaded separately. In order to survive and avoide harassments, few lucky women gained protection from colonial officials by marrying or serving them. Furthermore, Summers states that female convicts were not as evil as what people depicted even back the days they were in Britain. They just committed misdemeanour such as theft. When they were transported to Australian colony, most of them did not commit further crimes. However, they were treated terribly by being incarcerated in specific female factories like Cascade Female Factory and Parramatta Female Factory.

Cascade Female Factory, a prison for convict women in Tasmania. Female convicts served sentences by working here. There were different layers of female convicts. Some might be able to get married to get out of the factory. Some were mistreated. (Source: http://www.cascadeview.com.au/location.html)

 

 

Later, female rebellion against the unfair treatment in Tasmania. (Source: http://www.convictcreations.com/history/femalefact.htm)

It was also noticeable that most convicts gained emancipation through good behaviour; and later those people contributed a lot to the development of colony.

Outpost of Empire

The 18th century was a time of colonial expansion of European countries. Specifically, Great Britain applied a barbarous way to extend overseas territory. The establishment of colonies in Asia and Pacific Ocean laid a good foundation for the development of a British Empire of where the sun will never set. Among all the overseas colonies, Australia experienced a dramatic process of being colinised by British Empire. Captain James Cook reached the eastern coast of Australia in 1770. The declaration of colonisation, however, waited for another 16 years till 1786. In 1786, Lord Sydney urged the parliament to found Australia as the convict settlement of British Empire in the southern hemisphere. It was not until 1788 that 'First Fleet' arrived at the Botany Bay; and since then this 'Great Southland' had actually been proclaimed as the coloy of Great Britian. Long-term debate about why Great Britain established Australian colony after 16 years of the first landing of Captain Cook has never been stopped among Australian historians. Fundamentally, there are four ground arguments regarding the foundations of Australia. They are 'Dumping Ground theory' by historians like Manning Clark; 'Trade Theory' by Ken Dallas; 'Flax and Timber Theory' by Geoffrey Blainey; and the later developed 'Empire Theory' respectively. Each of them has own flaws.

"The Founding of Australia (1937)". Jan. 26th 1788, First Fleet arrived.  British flag were raised and Capt. Arthur Phillip proclaimed the colonisation of Australia in Sydney Cove. (Source:http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/firstfleet.html)

Australia as a place to punish unwanted criminals of Britain. (http://www.warrenfahey.com/oz-trad-music2.htm)

Concerning the 'Dumping Ground Theory', it is the most well-known and accepted argument about the foundations of Australia. Most historians tended to attribute Australia's establishment to the original intention of building up a overseas prisons for unwanted convicts by British government. To interpret Australia as a convict settlement, the contemporary global context need to be pinpointed. Within the Britain Isles, Industrial Revolution were taking place prosperously. With the large-scale emergence of factories, more and more people flooded from farms into cities. Subsequently, a growing number of middle class or proletariat sprung up. Inevitably, there was a sharp rise in crime rates. However, there were not enough prisons to incarcerate those so-called criminals as many of them were forced to commit crimes due to the unfair society and bad economy within Britain. Globally, America—Britain's biggest colony and convict settlement—began to resist Britain's inappropriate governance. The independence of America made Great Britain lose an important overseas convict settlement and resources base. Consequently, British government had to transport superfluous convicts to Australia. This theory has been criticised gradually. Some historians argue if it was real that Britain wanted to ease the pressure of overcrowded local prisons, those convicts would be sent to Africa or other islands in Europe or America. Why did Britain took such a distant and high-cost journey to Australia across oceans? Some argues because Australia has similar climate with Europe and tropical environment in America and Africa is not suitable for convicts' health. The problem is, even so, there were still many other better options for Georgian government.

In terms of the 'Trade Theory', Ken Dalla in his Trading Post or Penal Colony argues it was the motivation of opening more trade with Asia that pushed British government to select Australia as a ground of transit station. Since the industralisation rapidly developed inside England, the whole country had a great demand to export and import products globally. Ken Dalla later identified Britian's specific interest in the trade with China. Based on these reasons, Australia had been settled down by convicts. Such a synoptic plan must have had to be long-term planned. However, convict settlement in Australia was more like a tentatively decision made by British government due to the loss of American.

 

Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930), prominent Australian historian, and his controversial book: The Tyranny of Distance (Sources:http://www.scouts.com.au/main.asp?iStoryID=10674 & http://www.seekbooks.com.au/book/The-Tyranny-of-Distance/isbn/9780732911171.htm).

Then there comes Geoffrey Blainey's 'Flax and Timber Theory' in his 1966's book—The Tyranny of Distance. He argues that Australia was selected as the naval base for British Empire to support Empire's colonisation in Asia. During that time, naval strength was the most important force of a country. The establishment of British Empire was greatly relied on the strong British navy. Obviously, the basic resources like flax for canvas sails and pine trees for ship's masts were as valuable as oil for today's life. He asserts that British was attracted to Australian's rich resources of raw naval materials. By gaining these raw materials, Britain could navigate to far East and conduct more trade with flourishing Asia and better control Asian colonies. Especially, during that time, there was a radical competition between France and England both in Europe and overseas. As a result, it was of great significance to occupy Australia—the new port to Asia and China. This is why British soldiers were even sent to western continent of Australia to warn French troops' landing in order to secure British benefits. Even in the wartime, Australia could be the staging post for British soldiers. Blainey's book has provoked abounding debates. It is controversial because it challenged the widely accepted theory of 'Dumping Ground'. Blainey is inclined to depict the convicts' transportation as a conspiracy by British government and the true goal was to gain resources. There are also limited evidence to support his 'Flax and Timber Theory'. Especially, British soldiers later found that raw materials in Australia were not good quality. The time and context of Blainey's writing might need to be considered as well. In 1966, Australia strove for slipping from the control of UK and struggled to rebuild national identity.

Furthermore, there is 'Empire Theory'. It argues that British felt the urgency to build Australia as the colony in far East because of the fierce economic and the military competition with France. Moreover, Settlement in Australia was easy to defend British Empire's Asian colonies like British India.

Perhaps, there was no single reason that could lead to the foundations of Australia. Instead, a variety of reasons and a combination of each theory contributed to the foundations of Australia. British comprehended the strategic importance of Australia of being the naval base and transit station for both trade and Asian colony defence. Certainly, a group of unwanted convicts were the most suitable candidates to conduct such exploratory activities.

Australia and the Enlightenment

Except for Aboriginals, the earliest explorations of Australia were conducted by powerful European naval countries such as Spain and Portugal since 16th century. Later, in 17th century, Netherlands and Great Britain became the major explorers of Australia. Among a variety of different explorations and discoveries of Australia, there were two conspicuous crews in history. One was led by Abel Tasman who took the mandate from Dutch East India Company to discover the 'unknown and known Southland' in 1642. The other one was conducted by James Cook under the order of Lord Morton of the Royal Society in 1768. Although these two journeys were separate in the point of time of more than one hundred years, they shared something in common. The aspiration of discovering Australia were both motivated by the widely circulated mythology of the existence of a 'Great Southland'. 

A world map without the "Great Southland" in the early 16th century. The aspiration of discovering the unknown land and mapping the new land drove people to explore the world. (Source: http://ancientworldmaps.blogspot.com/2010/08/world-map-16th-century.html)

However, there are more differences between two journeys. Abel Tasman was originally instructed to find the fantastical treasure of Australia. This can also explains why Dutch did not take over Australia later as they found nothing valuable on the new continent. Later, Van Diemen's Land was renamed as Tasmania to commemorate Abel Tasman. More than 100 years later, during the time in which the philosophy of Enlightenment gained great popularity, James Cook carried the mission of scientific exploration arrived Botany Bay. In 1770, New South Wales was claimed by Britain and served the overseas colony of British Empire since then. The idea of Enlightenment was the mainstream philosophy in the west in 18th century.

Enlightenment philosophy greatly transformed Europeans' opinion regarding their action of conquering the world. Enlightenment attached great importance to the science, reason and the 'language of rights'. It argues all human and natural phenomena can be explained by science and careful reasoning eventually, instead of religion.

The commemorative stamp of Captain Cook recording the transit of Venus issued in the Bicentenary of Australia (Source:http://www.ianridpath.com/stamps/cook.htm)

Captain Cook's journey reflected the basic thoughts of Enlightenment by focusing on scientific research. His crew well recorded the movement of Venus in the South Pacific; and Joseph Banks investigated new flora and fauna. Manning Clark, 'Australia's most famous historian', claims that the foundations and development of later Australia was based on the victory of Enlightenment over other two great faiths of Catholicism and Protestantism in his six-volume A History of Australia. Catholicism was introduced into Australia by Spanish and Portuguese. Spanish and Portuguese originally longed for the mysterious treasure, but the desolation of Australia and their biased perspective on local Aboriginals discouraged their interest and then they navigated to Asia where trade and cities were more prosperous. Even in Captain Cook's diary, Indigenous people were depicted as savages. It was taken for granted that European civilisation was more advanced than Aboriginals. Such shallow understanding of 'savage' about Indigenous people made Europeans directly take over this vast continent without negotiation with local inhabitants. Meanwhile, the faith of Protestantism was discarded as the notorious reputation of early Protestants in Australia. Distinctively, Enlightenment theory which embraces objective truth, promotes science, and emphasises reasoning research has gained more popularity and exerted great influence on the foundations of Australia. 

"An Encyclopedy of the Age of Enlightenment" reflects the pluralism of different philosophies in different areas in the 18th-19th centuries. It began in Europe, spread to America, Australia and Asia. It profoundly influenced the foundations and culture of Australia. (Source:http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/Precision/precision.htm)

John Gascoigne, gave a closer look at the impact of Enlightenment philosophy on the foundations of Australia. He pinpoints the global context of the settlement of Australia by Europeans. It was a time that social systems underwent tremendous changes under the influence of freedom and rights of Enlightenment philosophy in America and France. This also explains the reason why French did not occupy Australia as colony though they also arrived the western coast of Australia in the early time. France so obsessed with the European war waged by Napoleon; and the following political reform and revolution all hindered France from implementing effective governance in Australia. Meanwhile, Industrial Revolution started to be fully launched in England. All in all, science became more respectful and convincing compared with the traditional thinking of religion. In the context of such a changing and developing world, the early Australian colonial ruling elites applied Enlightenment philosophy to govern and develop Australia society. As Christianity and aristocracy faltered gradually in European continent, Australian society was luckily incapable of following such mossy fashion. Instead, a more likely democratic and free society laid ahead. Even today, federal government underlines the significance of reasonable planing on the development of society, which is the legacy of Enlightenment philosophy.