C. War
1870-1875
Glass photonegative
This may be Chun War, a Chinese miner who was naturalised in 1883. Large numbers of Chinese people worked at Hill End, mostly as alluvial miners, but they kept very much to themselves and were reluctant to pay for miner’s rights. They were regarded as industrious and well-behaved, although it was noted that ‘not one ounce of gold in a hundred ever goes by escort, being sent directly to China’.
From the Australian Town and Country Journal, 21 June 1879
HILLEND. THE CHINESE QUESTION.—On Saturday, 4th instant, a public meeting was held here ...to consider the advisability of petitioning Parliament to take measures to prevent the further influx of Chinese into the colony. The meeting was presided over by the Mayor, and unanimously passed resolutions... recognising the necessity for restrictive enactments against Chinese immigration. One speaker gave it as his opinion that the surest and most legitimate remedy for the Chinese nuisance was, to a great extent, in the hands of the European population themselves. If they would have no dealings with Chinamen, the latter would soon find out that it would not pay to come here. But he held that the storekeeper or capitalist has as much right to employ Chinese labour as the working classes have to buy their goods at Chinesestores. There has been a large Chinese population here for many years. We, therefore, know a little about their habits. There are no doubt decent men amongst them, and as a body they are industrious and frugal. But among Europeans there is an instinctive repugnance to mix with them on equal terms. The races, if not exactly antagonistic, have no affinity to each other. [Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907) Saturday 21 June 1879, p 23]
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