The History of Chinese Immigration in Melbourne

The History of Chinese Immigration in Melbourne
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The History of Chinese Immigration in Melbourne
China is one of the world’s most populous countries and over the years, a lot of Chinese men and women have migrated from China to other countries due to one reason or another. One of the countries that Chinese people have migrated to is Australia, giving rise to Chinese Australians who have a deep history and experiences living in Australia. This paper focuses on the history of Chinese immigration in Melbourne.
Immigration: An Overview
People have been moving from one place to another for years. The movement of people, characterized by long-distance and long timescales, is what is referred to as migration. Further, the movement of people to a given country is called immigration. Over the years, immigration has been associated with positive and negative consequences. Positive consequences include economic empowerment of individuals who move to a different country in search of greener pastures, as well as economic growth and development of the receiving country which often gains access to a wider workforce. Negative consequences include discrimination of migrants which can be characterised by emotional and sometimes, physical harm. In crossing the borders into a foreign country, individuals are often given documents that make them legal residents in a foreign country. However, as Mavroudi and Nagel reveal, not all migrants are documented and the undocumented ones are considered illegal migrants because they lack the legal rights given by a foreign country’s government. The aspects of immigration discussed in this paper focus on Chinese migrants in Australia before and after the White Australia Policy.[. Elizabeth Mavroudi and Caroline Nagel, Global Migration: Patterns, Processes, and Politics. (Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2016), 4.] [. Mavroudi and Nagel, Global Migration, 7.]
Chinese Migrants: An Overview
Chinese immigration to Australia can be traced back to the 1800s. According to Siqin and Thomas, the Chinese were driven to migrate by socio-political and economic factors. The most significant Chinese immigration to Australia happened in the 1850s during the gold rush. At the time of the Australian gold rush, the majority of Chinese migrants were men who came in as gold miners. They came in as temporary sojourners with no intention of settling down in Australia. However, some few men came with their wives and children and some married in Australia. As a result, more children were born in Australia, either by parents who were both Chinese or by a Chinese and an Australian parent.[. “Wang, Siqin and Sigler Thomas,” Shifting Dynamics of Chinese Settlement in Australia: An Urban Geographic Perspective. accessed November 4, 2021, https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_d13ea4c/UQd13ea4c_OA.pdf] [. “Culture Victoria,” Chinese Australian Families, accessed November 4, 2021, https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/immigrants-and-emigrants/chinese-australian-families/]
The number of Chinese migrants rose considerably and by 1855, there were about 15,000 Chinese migrants in Victoria. Even after Victoria placed restrictio...