The bloody anti-Chinese riots on the goldfields at Lambing Flat in Australia

Edward Hargraves, who claimed to have found gold at Ophir in 1851, had ignited the first major rush, prompting a wave of prospectors to flood the area surrounding Bathurst.

As tents and makeshift stores rapidly turned the area into busy camps, colonial officials had found themselves overwhelmed.

Government efforts to provide basic services failed to keep pace with the demands of the growing population, and violence over mining claims became increasingly common. 

Among the new arrivals were large numbers of Chinese miners, who often travelled in groups from Guangdong Province and worked together in teams.

Unlike many of their European counterparts, who operated as individuals or in small informal partnerships, Chinese miners employed careful methods such as sluicing and puddling, which allowed them to recover gold from claims that others had abandoned as worthless.

They also organised their labour in teams that rotated based on clan or village ties, which improved their effectiveness.

As food supplies dwindled and surface gold became harder to find, resentment among European diggers had increased, especially as rumours had circulated that Chinese miners had sent gold back to China and had refused to contribute to the colonial economy. 

Across the colony, newspapers such as the Yass Courier and the Goulburn Herald had published sensational articles that warned of a coming "Chinese invasion," which had fed growing racial anger that soon spread to the fields at Lambing Flat.

Public meetings were often filled with aggressive rhetoric and threats of violence as European miners demanded the removal of Chinese diggers from the region.

Political leaders and local authorities rarely intervened, which allowed tensions to grow and eventually break out into large-scale violence. 

The Lambing Flat goldfields, located near present-day Young in southern New South Wales, became the site of the most violent anti-Chinese riots in Australian colonial history.

By 1860, thousands of European miners and more than 2,500 Chinese workers had been operating on the same diggings, although their methods and living arrangements had differed significantly.

With European miners working scattered claims and Chinese groups working more systematically in shared areas, misunderstandings and accusations became more frequent. 

On 12 December 1860, a group of European diggers launched a planned attack on the Chinese camps, destroying tents, looting belongings, and beating several miners.

The Chinese community was unprepared and unwilling to retaliate, so scattered into the bush.

Authorities had failed to arrest those responsible, which had encouraged the attackers and had contributed to a pattern of planned harassment.

Flyers had circulated and meetings had been held where speakers demanded that all Chinese workers be forcibly removed from the Lambing Flat diggings, although references to a formal group known as the "Miners' Protective League" were not supported by surviving contemporary evidence. 

Through the first half of 1861, tensions increased as threats became more violent and crowds more aggressive.

On 30 June 1861, the largest and most destructive attack took place when more than 2,000 European miners marched and carried flags and banners with chants such as "Roll Up - No Chinese", as they moved into the Chinese camps.

Armed with clubs, axes, and picks, they tore through the camp, smashing structures, burning belongings, and chasing frightened miners from the area.

Witnesses later reported that more than 700 tents had been destroyed and dozens of Chinese workers had been injured, and many had escaped into the surrounding bushland, where they had hidden for days without food or shelter. 

Some diggers later boasted of their actions and claimed that they had defended the rights of Europeans against foreign competition.

Reports of the riot had reached colonial authorities within days, which had caused concern in Sydney.

However, the slow arrival of extra forces allowed rioters to continue their activities, and when police arrested several of the ringleaders in early July, a large mob attacked the police camp to try to free the prisoners. 

During this clash on 14 July 1861, police under the command of Captain Francis Zouch fired into the crowd, killing one rioter and wounding several others.

This was the only occasion during the Lambing Flat riots when colonial forces used deadly force to stop the violence.

The shooting shocked many in the local European community and finally prompted a more serious government response. 

News of the Lambing Flat riots reached Sydney at a time when the colonial government feared unrest on the goldfields could spread to other parts of the colony.

Governor Sir John Young ordered the sending of military and police reinforcements under the command of Captain Zouch (mentioned above), who arrived with troops from the New South Wales Mounted Police and set up a permanent garrison in the area.

His orders were clear: restore order, protect the Chinese miners, and prevent further violence through a clear show of force. 

Once stationed in Lambing Flat, Captain Zouch began to arrest those involved in the attacks, although many people involved had already left the area or received shelter from sympathetic locals.

Courts had convicted several individuals for their participation in the riots, but most had received only brief sentences or small fines.

The unwillingness of European juries to convict fellow miners limited the punishments for those involved in the violence, and many rioters returned to the fields with their reputations enhanced rather than damaged. 

The government also passed new immigration rules to reduce Chinese arrivals. In late 1861, the New South Wales parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Regulation Act, which set a £10 poll tax on Chinese immigrants and limited the number of Chinese passengers allowed per ship.

Although it did not expel those already in the colony, the legislation effectively reduced the number of new arrivals.

Some shipping companies attempted to get around the restrictions by sending vessels to South Australian ports. 

Chinese community leaders had asked the government for protection and had received promises that the authorities would uphold their legal right to mine.

However, the pattern of organised raids on Chinese camps, the passing and enforcement of laws that treated Chinese residents unfairly, and widespread local hostility had created situations that had forced many Chinese workers to leave Lambing Flat and seek opportunities elsewhere.

Those who stayed often lived in fear and took greater precautions to avoid conflict.

In later years, Chinese community figures such as Cheong Ah Moy, a merchant and advocate, cited Lambing Flat as a turning point in calls for better treatment of Chinese subjects abroad. 

Over time, the Lambing Flat riots had become a rallying point for supporters of racially exclusive policies in Australia.

Politicians and community leaders who supported the 'White Australia' movement frequently cited the events as evidence that multiculturalism threatened social order.

Later laws, such as the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, drew directly on the sentiments first expressed in the anti-Chinese campaign of the 1860s.

The riots also appeared in political arguments that warned against increased Asian immigration, although there is little evidence that figures like William Higgs and Billy Hughes specifically referenced Lambing Flat by name in major speeches. 

Although the colonial government restored control through a mixture of military presence and legal reform, it failed to challenge the common racial prejudice that had driven the violence.

The events at Lambing Flat showed how insecure local economies that had left miners exposed, organised hostility among sections of the settler population that had erupted into violence, and the failure of political institutions to enforce order had produced violent outcomes on the Australian frontier.

Today, the Lambing Flat Folk Museum in Young keeps artefacts and banners from the riots, and the town hosts an annual Chinese Festival to commemorate and consider its difficult history.