Gold and the Chinese: Racism, Riots and Protest on the Australian Goldfields

Gold! Hidden Stories of Australia’s Past, Book 3

Gold and the Chinese is the story of the Chinese on the Australian goldfields: the abuse, misunderstanding, and discrimination against them and how these anti-Chinese sentiments led to institutionalised racism. Marji Hill, author of more than 70 publications, tells:

• about the Asian visitors to Australia who were part of a great north-south trade route stretching from China to Australia and back.
• about the arrival of the Chinese, who contributed greatly to the Australian story, but whose migration to the goldfields gave birth to racist, anti-Chinese sentiment.
• why there was this ill-feeling towards the Chinese.
• how the White Australia Policy was shaped by decades of anti-Chinese sentiment extending back to the goldfields.
• about the stories of violence against the Chinese in Victoria’s Buckland Valley and at Lambing Flat in New South Wales.

If you relish the uncovering of hidden stories, iconic episodes or truth-telling to do with Australia’s past, then this beautifully illustrated book and the others in the series are for you.

Marji Hill, artist and author, is a highly respected international author as well as a seasoned business executive, researcher, and coach. She fostered the spirit of reconciliation in all her writings since she was Research Fellow in Education at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Marji has produced more than seventy (70) books mostly on Australia's First Nations people. Her publications include the bibliography Black Australia and in 1989 she was Project Coordinator for Australian Aboriginal Culture the official Australian Government publication on First Nations people. In 1988 Six Australian Battlefields, which she co-authored with Al Grassby, was published by Angus and Robertson and a decade later with Allen & Unwin. Her nine-volume encyclopaedia, Macmillan Encyclopaedia of Australia's Aboriginal Peoples was published in 2000. In 2009 she published The Apology: Saying Sorry To The Stolen Generations. Marji's publications extend to self-improvement and self-help with publications like Staying Young Growing Old and Inspired by Country, an art book. Painting has been a lifetime passion for Marji. Her formal art training took place in the 1980s at the ANU School of Art & Design. She has had eight solo exhibitions and she has participated in various group shows. One of her paintings was included in the 2004-2005 Art Gallery of Ballarat's Travelling Exhibition Eureka Revisited: the Contest of Memories. Other paintings were commissioned by the Citigold Corporation. Jupiter's Lucky Strike celebrates the discovery of gold by First Nations boy, Jupiter Mosman in 1871 at Charters Towers in North Queensland. Another, a portrait of Jupiter Mosman, resides in the World Theatre in Charters Towers. Marji's paintings are held in many private collections both in Australia and overseas and she is represented in the Art Gallery of Ballarat and the Australian Catholic University collections. Marji has travelled extensively both within Australia and internationally, working as a consultant, doing speaking engagements, motivating people, and developing her art career. She resides on Queensland's Gold Coast where she pursues her interests in writing, painting, mentoring, publishing, and internet marketing.