Gold_Rush_of_Australia_and_New_Zealand

Compare and contrast the major impacts of the gold rushes on Australian and New Zealand society and environment Both the gold rushes in Australia and New Zealand in the 1850-60s resulted in the dramatic change in society and the environment of both countries. There are many comparisons between the impacts on Australian and New Zealand society and environment. However, there are a few contrasting factors, which largely contribute to the formation of both Australian, and New Zealand’s society and environment. Prior to the Australian and New Zealand gold rushes both countries heavily relied on their pastoral industries as a source of income for the economy. In Australia in the 1800-1830s the growth of the pastoral (sheep and cattle farming) industry saw the Australian population expand and push into the interior of the continent . The pastoral industry produced a farming based society and environment. By the 1840s, Australia was a more attractive destination for migrants, eventually leading to the greater increase in immigration to the colony . Although, prosperity was peaking, problems within the Australian economy due to low wool prices and credit crunching heavily threatened Australia’s success for continuing settlement. The Australian Government needed access to more money in order to prevent its downfall. For New Zealand, the situation was much the same. It relied heavily on the pastoral industry for its main source of wealth. In 1847, the Orders in Council established a new legal structure for colonial pastoral industries. The Orders provided a clear guide to rights and expectations for sheep farmers in New Zealand. Local pastoralism consciously developed in a more orderly way than in Australia. This was mainly due to New Zealand’s resource rich agriculture. Early New Zealand officials were wary of Australian style-pastoralism. Unlike Australia, New Zealand developed as a network of modest towns. This system and the ‘rich, fruitful ’ land added to New Zealand’s success as a pastoral industry exporter. Leaders were soon convinced that 'sheep farming is a real, and in truth the only, source of the Colony's prosperity ’. However, despite the profitability of sheep farming, suspicion of large landholders spectacle of the Australian model this ultimately led to the lack in investments . New Zealand, much alike to its counterpart Australia, was soon in search of an alternative source of income to support its economy. In Australia and New Zealand the discovery of gold resulted in a major impact of the society and environment. The Australian gold rush begun in 1851 when gold was discovered in Victoria. Victorian goldfields attracted hundreds of thousands of ‘diggers’ from around the world, ultimately leading to a population increase of 700%. Between 1851 and 1860, Victoria produced roughly 1/3 of the world's gold output . The Australian gold rush brought mass immigration to gold mining areas, in particular Victoria. Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, grew from 29,000 in 1851 to 130,000 persons by 1861 and 473,000 by 1891 . Such a dramatic increase in settlement patterns had major impacts on Australian society and environments. A city whose society was dramatically changed was Melbourne, deemed, 'Marvelous Melbourne ’. Graeme Davison describes Melbourne as a new world city created by capitalistic enterprises in the new world, 'instant cities’ . The New Zealand discovery of gold proved to be much alike to Australia’s. In 1842 small amounts of gold found on Coromandel Peninsula, and near Collingwood in 1856 . The major find came in 1861 at Gabriel's Gully, central Otago. On 8 June 1861, the Witness published a letter from Reade to the superintendent of Otago announcing the prospects of gold discovery. Reade's report of the prominent finding triggered a rush to central Otago from Dunedin, the south Island, New Zealand, Australia, and across the world . The letter also predicted the changes that would soon alter New Zealand society and environment greatly; "We cannot resume our Arcadian simplicity, greatness is forced on us ”. New Zealand cities soon thrived much alike to Australia. The rush transformed Dunedin into an important post of the pacific economy. Dunedin, ’the Edinburgh of the South ', population multiplied from 2,000 in 1860 to 20,000 in 1869. In 1864, it became New Zealand's largest city, a dramatic change in both the society and environment of New Zealand. The arrival of gold to both Australia and New Zealand heavily impacted its economy and working environment. Historiography has initially been to cast Gold as bringing overnight riches but the Gold Rush of Australia initially increased public hardship. The gold rush of Australia led to the spiral of wage-price inflation and the mass desertion of wage earners from jobs. In Australia many men who worked on the farms, sheep and cattle stations simply left with prospects of riches. Often women and children were left to tend the stations their husbands left behind. A direct consequence of this in Australia was that Aboriginal labour became more popular. The gold rushes saw the rise of Aboriginal labour within Australian society, Aborigines’ were asked to work hard hours for little pay. New Zealand however, was reaping the successes of the gold mining industry. Land prices in New Zealand spiralled, bringing yet more prosperity to the country. The markets soon opened up to more diverse goods and services. Otago, the main source of gold discovery, developed particularly close links with Victoria. Both colonies actively exchanged goods, money and people between the two gold colonies. Gold discovery soon advanced architecture within gold rich cities, such as the grand civic buildings that decorated Dunedin city. The gold rich economy continued to impact the countries society and environment though the development of institutions such as New Zealand's first University, the University of Otago, opened in 1869 . Not only was immigration and the economy a large impact of the gold rushes on the society and environment of Australia and New Zealand, great demographic changed soon ensued due to the gold rushes on both countries. The discovery of gold led to extensive male immigration, mostly single men, somewhat different from previous settlers. The men flocked to the goldfields with prospects of newfound riches. The culture of young single males seemed to the rest of respectable society to lead to drinking, immorality and general ‘larrikinism ’, which ultimately lead to the prohibition movement in New Zealand. However, New Zealand behavior somewhat differed from that in Australia, the diggings were less corrupt and crime ridden than in Victoria. There was no lynching, vigilantes or revolts like that in Eureka and very few murders. The demographic change in Australia and New Zealand was not just subject to the increase in male immigration. It also led to the process multiculturalism. In Australia 1853 the first Chinese gold seekers arrive in Victoria, a sum of 40,000 in total. The presence of thousands of Chinese on the goldfields led to overt racism The Chinese formed a significant minority group, very different from the other miners and settlers. The white miners resented competition and also feared for safety of white women. They viewed the differing Chinese as ‘alien ’. In Australia the resentment against the Asian nationalities was a contributing factor to the introduction of the White Australia Policy and Chinese Immigration Restriction Act in the twentieth century. This discrimination was also reflected in New Zealand. New Zealand authorities afraid of stagnation of the gold fields turned to the hard working Chinese to solve their problems. The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce in 1865 invited Chinese labourers from Victoria to come and rework the fields in Otago. By 1871, 4,000 Chinese were on the Otago fields, they worked hard and in teams to extract gold from fields considered exhausted. Such hard working efforts proved only to create more problems among New Zealand society who further excluded the Chinese race. The resentment of Chinese was constant among European miners in New Zealand, but serious conflict surfaced in the 1880s on the fields of the West Coast. Such prejudice was soon reflected into general New Zealand society, the opposition to the Chinese grew as they left mining and entered other industries like market gardening. Such resentment soon eventuated to John Hall's government passing the Anti-Chinese Immigration Act 1881. The legislation charged a 10-pound poll tax per to every Chinese immigrant and restricted the number of Chinese allowed on incoming ships. Such efforts by the Government heavily impacted the New Zealand environment and society in the twentieth century. The displacement of the Chinese race was not the only exclusion of race, in Australia the indigenous people as more and more of them were forced off their land. This resulted in significant problems for the aboriginal people of Australia as they sought to reclaim what they had lost, their culture, children and language. Perhaps the most prominent contrasting factor to New Zealand was Australia’s Eureka stockade. The battle of Eureka, occurred on 3 December 1854 in Ballarat, Victoria. The battle was sparked over license fees and method of collection enforces by the Government. In August 1853, 5000 diggers signed petition highlighting poor conditions on goldfields. When no action was provided many miners continued to dig illegally without paying taxes . In June 1854 Sir Charles Hotham was appointed governor. With his induction he introduced weekly licence inspections, this actively increased diggers resentment towards the Government. Conflict was to ensue. On the 30 Nov another license hunt occurred. Pete Lalor led the rebels to the Eureka goldfield where they swore by the ‘Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties ’. They built the stockade, hence the prominent name ‘Eureka Stockade’’. On the 3 Dec, 300 soldiers stormed the Eureka Stockade in addition 30 miners and 5 police were killed . In Australia more violence and corruption was apparent, in New Zealand many conflicts were avoided, thus improving the New Zealand society and environment as a whole. However, another contrasting factor in Australia and New Zealand was Australia’s push for federation and democracy. Gold brought extreme wealth to Australia in particular. With this newfound wealth came a sense of national identity and the confidence to push for independence. This resulted in the push for Federation and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Australia sick of being ‘piggybacked’ by England, felt they had enough independent resources to become a federation. Such a dramatic event was yet to be seen within New Zealand, who did not share this same sense of national identity and independence. In conclusion, there are many comparison and contrasting factors between Australia and New in relation to the gold rushes. Many of these factors have dramatic influences on the society and environment of that in both Australia and New Zealand today.