Blackguard Gully

Within six months roughly 1200 Europeans and 500 Chinese were working in the area. The large influx of miners from all parts of the world saw the establishment of Young as a township.[4] The poor returns experienced by many European miners led to increasing resentment of the Chinese. On 13 November 1860 five hundred Chinese were forced out of their camp, their tents burnt and their sites/titles taken over.[1][5]

On 12 December 1860 the miners tried to drive off the Chinese, but were reported to have killed two in the action of cutting off their pigtails, detaching part of their scalps in doing so.[6] Sydney was disturbed. The Sydney Morning Herald asserted that the Government should foresee and provide against such emergencies. International relations between the British and Chinese Governments threatened to become strained. Captain Zouch, commandant of the Southern Police Patrol, was rushed to the diggings with a contingent of troopers. Captain Zouch reported that he could find no trace of any Chinese said to have been injured. Although their arrival brought the police force to eight mounted police and two detectives, riots broke afresh on the last Friday in January 1861 when the Europeans assembled and with threat of arms drove off the Chinese and threatened the police barracks if the police interfered. The European miners formed up in marching order and headed by a banner and a band for music they marched to Blackguard Gully and drove off some 200 Chinese.[1][7]

Following this march, Captain Zouch, Chief Commissioner Cloete, Commissioner Dickson and Police Inspector Singleton accompanied with six foot police arrested 11 men who they placed in the lockup charged with setting fire to the tents of the Chinese. Scouts brought in men from Stoney Creek until 4000 assembled and demanded the release of the prisoners. The next morning the prisoners appeared before the court, the evidence was said to be unsatisfactory, and the 11 men were cautioned and discharged.[7] This was followed by European shop owners driving off their Chinese servants. The police kept the Chinese out of town for fear of further violence.[1][8]

By February 1861 new finds meant that there were over 12,000 Europeans and 2000 Chinese working on the goldfields. On 25 February 1861 the New South Wales Government dispatched a contingent of troopers consisting of cavalry, 20 mounted police escort for artillery with three 12 pounder field guns and 130 men of the 12th Regiment of Foot under Captain Atkinson. The troops arrived on 11 May 1861 and set up quarters on Camp Hill, erecting buildings and digging trenches and fortifications at the corner of Campbell and Berthong Streets from which their guns were trained over the town.[1][7]

On 2 March 1861 Premier Charles Cowper arrived in Young.[9] Following his visit, Chinese miners on the Burrangong goldfields were restricted to Blackguard Gully.[10] This was due to the Legislative Council not passing Cowper's laws to protect Chinese miners.[11] On 31 January 1861 a meeting of miners founded the Miners' Protective League; its aims were the expulsion of the Chinese. The League's leaders claimed that the Chinese wasted water which was very precious on the field and cost sixpence per bucket when the creek was dry. The leaders offered an address to the Premier but permission was refused after he had examined its contents. The Premier moved freely without escort among the miners, addressing meetings but refused to recognise their leaders. He said that his Government favoured restriction of the Chinese, but affirmed they must not be injured in person or property. He explained that the Government was bound both by the decisions of the Legislative Council and Britain's treaty with China which admitted Chinese to British territories "with secured privileges".[1][7]

The troopers were a familiar sight on the dusty streets and roads of Lambing Flat.[11] However, without warning, the artillery left for Sydney on 24 May 1861, and newspapers reported of fears of more riots. The Chinese miners started to return to the goldfields. In mid-June a report was issued in Sydney stating 1500 Chinese were bound for the Burrangong goldfields, which again stirred up the European miners. With no troops stationed on Lambing Flat, trouble increased.[1]

The "Roll-Up" Banner

On 30 June 1861 there was a general call among the European miner to band together and expel the Chinese from the goldfields. Some 3000 men assembled at Allandale at Tipperary Gully and marched to Blackguard Gully carrying a flag with a white cross on a blue background, five stars and the words "Roll-up, Roll-up, No Chinese" worked around the border. At Blackguard Gully and later at Back Creek they burned the tents and possessions of the Chinese, slashed off pigtails and forced the Chinese miners out of their encampment. The local newspaper "The Miner" reported that:

"Men or rather monsters on horseback armed with bludgeons and whips with field-like fury cutting or rather sawing them [pigtails] off. The atrocities would fill a volume".[12]

The Chinese took refuge in the camp of the Gold Commissioner. They later made 1568 claims totalling A£40,623 92shillings 6d for their losses, but he Government accepted only 706 claims for A£4,240.[1] Following the Lambing Flat riots in 1861, several public meetings were held at Araluen. The aim of the meetings was to petition the government against allowing Chinese miners to work on goldfields on Crown lands. At one meeting the local member of the Legislative Assembly, Dr Wilson, condemned the actions of European miners at the Lambing Flat riots.[13] In addition to public meetings additional troops arrived at Lambing Flat on 31 July after two weeks marching. Several men were arrested and trialled, and all but one was acquitted due to lack of evidence.[1][14]

The Official Riot Act was read on miners on 14 July 1861. It was the only official reading in New South Wales history. The area known as "Burrangong Goldfields" covered an area of 20 miles (32 km) by 10 miles (16.5 km). It was regarded as the richest and most populous in the state with 470,000 ounces of gold sent by escort from the fields.[1][3]

The violence of these riots resulted in the government responding to community concern by passing a Chinese Immigration Restriction Act and at an Intercolonial Conference held in 1880 and 1881 uniform restrictive immigration laws were adopted.[1]

In 1861 Lambing Flat had its name changed to Young, in honour of Sir John Young, at the time the Governor of New South Wales.[3][15] With the exhaustion of the gold fields the majority of miners moved on and were replaced by farmers and commercial businesses. The small number of Chinese migrants who stayed in Young after the gold rush contributed to these new activities.[1][16]

Young cherishes its unique and colourful history today. During the Lambing Flat Festival in April there is a re-enactment of the "Roll Up" and reading of the Riot Act.[3] A painting of the Lambing Flat miners waving the "Roll Up" flag, along with the flag itself and other mining artefacts, are on display at the Lambing Flat Folk Museum.[1][17]

As at 20 November 2006, there had been no apparent attempt to preserve any indicators of the Chinese occupation of the site. Archaeological potential was assessed as low due to the extensive mine workings that cover the site, but some archaeological deposits may be located in some of the less disturbed areas located towards the edges of the site.[1]

The preservation of Blackguard Gully as a reserve has meant it is possible to gain an understanding of the use of this site as a Chinese camp, its relation to the European camp at Tipperary and the distance covered by those who marched on 30 June 1861.[1]

• ACT Government (2001). "The Koori Community". Archived from the original on 23 June 2015.
• Bayley, William Alan (1977). Rich earth : history of Young, New South Wales (Rev. and enl. ed.). Young Municipal Council. ISBN 978-0-9598328-0-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bennett, J. M (2006). Colonial Law Lords (The Judiciary and the beginning of Responsible Government in NSW).
• Holland, Lyster. An Historical Walking Tour: Blackguard Gully: An Old Mining Area.
• McGowan, Barry (2004). The Chinese Experience on the Goldfields.
• Migration Heritage Centre (2003). Real Stories: Migrating for Work.
• Young Shire Council (2005). "History". Archived from the original on 28 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
• Young Visitor Information Centre (2005). History and Heritage: From Lambing Flat to Young.

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Blackguard Gully, entry number 01775 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 18 May 2018.