The Celestials Trek

Artist Bern Emmerichs

Date2019

Object number00055465

NameCeramic Tile

MediumCeramic, paint

DimensionsOverall (with frame): 234 × 534 × 35 mm, 2829 g
Overall (ceramic): 199 × 502 × 8 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionFramed ceramic tile by Bern Emmerichs titled 'The Celestials Trek'. It is one in a series of three works (00055464 and 00055466) that addresses the arrival of Chinese miners to the Australian goldfields in the 1850s. The tile depicts the long and difficult journey through the Australian bush of prospective Chinese miners after their arrival at Robe, South Australia. To avoid the Victorian restrictions and high taxes, Chinese arrivals chose to trek overland from South Australia to the Victorian goldfields. They were sometimes referred to as ‘celestials’, in reference to the Chinese Celestial Empire or for locals, the 'otherness' of these new arrivals. HistoryIn these related works, Emmmerichs reflects on an important period when social and immigration policy were designed to control Chinese migration to the Australian colonies. Acts were passed to restrict arrivals in Victoria in 1855 and in 1857 in South Australia. In 1855 The Victorian Act was passed to specifically limit Chinese migration to the goldfields via Victorian ports with the application of prohibitive passenger limits, a poll tax of 10 pounds per Chinese passenger and a heavy import duty on opium. To avoid these restrictions and payments, ship owners began to sail to free ports in South Australia with Chinese passengers then faced with the trek overland and life on the goldfields camps. The first arrival was THE LAND OF CAKES (or LAND 'O CAKES). It carried 264 Chinese men directly from China and sailed to Guichen Bay, Robe, South Australia. On disembarkation the prospective Chinese miners walked the 500-700 km overland to the Victorian diggings, (treks from Robe to Ballarat took between three to five-and-a-half weeks). They were assisted by paid guides, not always honest, and many took to leaving Chinese markers to assist those travelling behind. In the five years to 1863, approximately 16,500 people made the trek via Robe - most of those between 1855 and 1857. In June 1857, the South Australian Government Restriction Bill was passed. It introduced similar restrictions on Chinese immigration that existed in Victoria, including a poll tax. This Act and news that gold was 'running out', saw the number of Chinese immigrants drop dramatically. Hostilities towards Chinese miners had been widespread with excessive fees and the constant threat of violence against them. It is estimated that of the 62,990 Chinese who came to the Victorian goldfields, 48,000 left Australia returning to China. However, the arrival of the LAND OF CAKES is still widely celebrated by the Chinese community who in January 2017 re-enacted the walk from Robe to Ballarat. SignificanceThese works by Victorian artist Bern Emmerichs are significant contemporary imaginings of events that are not widely documented in historic imagery, in this case the Victorian and South Australian colonial government's legislation to restrict the arrival of Chinese miners to the goldfields in the 1850s. This legislation saw the brief rise of Robe in South Australia as an alternative entry-point for the trek overland to Victoria - the 'new gold mountain'.

This series allows reflection on this important period, its immediate aftermath, and its place in the history of Chinese immigration and government policy in Australia.