An Australian city founded by Hakkas and Cantonese

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

   An Australian city founded by Hakkas and Cantonese

Ararat, a small city with a population of about 12,500, is situated 203km
west of Melbourne, Australia. The area around Ararat city produces
first-class wool, wheat and wine. Textiles are manufactured in the city,
along with readymix concrete timber milling. Important local industries 
include light engineering, printing and a local abattoir. 
   
Ararat, the only city or town founded by the Chinese in Australia, was
established by Hakkas and Cantonese in March 1855, due to desperation. 

Gold was discovered in 1848 in California. Thousands of Chinese joined in
the gold rush starting from 1849 to California (Jiu4 Jin Shan or Old Gold
Mountain). A few years later, gold was also discovered in Melbourne
Australia in 1851 (Xin Jin Shan or New Gold Mountain). Hoping to make a
fortune, many Hakka and Cantonese from Guangdong province went to
Australia to dig for gold. 

An English contractor signed on about seven hundred Chinese peasants of
Hakka and Cantonese descent from Dongguan county. He promised to lead them
to the new gold fields not far from Melbourne. They sailed through Hong
Kong for more than two months and finally arrived at Port Melbourne. 
  
With a pole swinging with two puddles of clothes and foodstuffs, on each
man's shoulder, they began the journey by walking to the gold fields,
following their English contractor. They were walking towards the Great
Dividing Range. For days, all along the way they encountered nothing
except desolate wilderness and kangaroos. After non-stop walking for more
than 200km they were very tired and decided to rest for a day. They
thought that their destination should not be far away. 

When the sun rose next day they could not find their contractor who had
disappeared during the night, heading back to Melbourne alone. They were
poor and stranded in the bush, with nowhere to go. Fortunately, they had
brought along with them enough provisions to last them for sometime. 
However, they were without water and they would die of thirst if they did
not find a waterhole quickly. Luckily they found found a little river
which was later named the Hopskin River. They decided to rest for a few
days to recuperate before they walked back to Melbourne. They cooked their
rice near the river and did their washing in the river. 

   "I found gold! I found gold!", a man screemed.

A man, who was bathing in the river, was so happy and excited that he
laughed like a Kookaburra (An Australian native bird, nicknamed the
laughing bird). In no time the 700 odd pairs of hands were panning in the
river. They panned day and night. They stopped only because they were
exhausted. Thousands of grams of gold was produced by these men. They
called the gold they produced Canton Lead. They built makeshift huts with
the intention to settle down there. They took them to Melbourne to sell
and news of their new discovery spread like wild fire. 

Within a short period thousands of European and Chinese swarmed into this
new Chinese settlement. It started one of Australia's greatest gold
rushes. During a peak period ninety-three kilograms of gold was taken in
three weeks. Sixty thousand people were squatting in a settlement, with
one in six were either Hakka or Cantonese, eight kilometers south-east
from a little hill called Mount Ararat, which meant Ark (as in Noah's
Ark). Later this Hakkas and Cantonese founded settlement was named Ararat. 

One hundred and forty years later in 1998 there are only forty Chinese
living in Ararat. They are the fifth generation Chinese in Australia.
Peter O'Rorke, a gentleman of about 45 years old, is the present mayor of
Ararat. The city of Ararat is planning to build a memorial museum to be
called "Chinese Golden Pagoda" to commemorate the seven hundred odd Hakkas
and Cantonese who founded the city. So far they have raised over six
hundred thousand dollars. Within a year or two the Chinese Golden Pagoda
museum will be ready. 
 
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.     chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au