Chinese Miners Chinese|
Chinese Miners Chinese |
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| ----But in 1865, the population plummeted as miners
left in their thousands for the newly found Westland goldfields. Not surprisingly, this greatly concerned the Otago business community, and led ultimately to the Otago Provincial Council inviting Chinese miners from Victoria, Australia to come to the goldfields. Their hope was simple. An influx of Chinese miners would considerably bolster a flagging provincial economy. This invitation occurred after more than 10 years British experience of Chinese miners in Australia. The first group of immigrants reached Dunedin in February 1866 and went to the Tuapeka goldfield. Later in the same year another party arrived in the Cromwell district. Within two years there were 1200 Chinese in Otago and this total quadrupled in the 1870s. The Chinese immigrants were also a valuable source of cheap labour. In the Arrowtown region the 'Celestiais' earned 5/- day carrying out street repairs for the borough or working for builders. The Presbyterian Church was erected with a great deal of Chinese labour. Their reputation as workers was it seems excellent although remuneration was considerably less than the £3 a week paid for European labour. Most of the immigrants set forth from the Kwangtung province in Southern China a region of farmers and artisans. Numbers further increased as they in turn sponsored relatives from the homeland, the process of chain migration. As was the case on the world's other goldfields, European miners were fearful of the Chinese. Initially there was fear of competition for claims, but in the main the Chinese were content to work over claims already abandoned by Europeans. Nevertheless, there was continuing prejudice for the Chinese offered an economic threat, especially during the depression of the 1880s. To dissuade further immigration a poll tax was introduced but by this time (1881) mining was on the decline. Those Chinese who remained drifted off to market gardening or commerce, forming the basis of the present Chinese community.
The Arrowtown Settlement It was not until 1869 that large numbers of Chinese began to reside in the Arrow district. Most were working in the Shotover and Arrow Gorges, although wherever Chinese stores opened communities began to develop. At least 2 such stores were established in Arrowtown by late 1869, and within a year the local newspaper recorded: "The Chinese element is beginning to be largely predominant here and a stranger entering the town during the usual dinner hour at noon, or at "knocking-off time" in the evening, would almost imagine that he was in a sort of miniature Hong Kong." Initially most were associated with a Chinese mining company working the Arrow Flat. Up to 45 were employed in this venture in the early 1870s. The stores were sited at the western end of Buckingham Street. For this reason, and because of the availability of a vacant crown land, by nearby Bush Creek, the small Chinese settlement grew at this end of the town. There was much prejudice in the district and this no doubt prompted the immigrant Chinese to settle outside rather than inside the town amongst the bigoted Europeans. Indeed public malignment of the Chinese was prevalent in Arrowtown with anti-Chinese agitation and petitions launched in 1871. Oddly enough, the local papers of the time described the Chinese in more pleasant terms. "I consider the Chinese population are a great benefit to the district. They exhibit an amount of energy and perseverance most creditable to themselves and benefit to the community of which they form a portion. Their business transactions as a rule appear to be upright and straightforward, while they are most orderly and sober in their general habits." The stores of Wong Yow and Su Sing were focal points for the Chinese community, for socialising and learning what was happening locally and in China. As storekeepers these men were held in high regard by the miners, and often also by the European settlers. Note The names used in this article to refer to specific New Zealand Chinese are those names commonly used by the authorities and Europeans when dealing with or discussing these people. Almost invariably they bear little or no resemblance to the persons true name or for that matter their literal translation. As a rule the New Zealand Chinese when amongst themselves used their true names. Regrettably in the case of the Arrow Chinese the true names have been lost. They often grubstaked miners, and provided Chinese foods and medicines, mail and letter writing facilities, links with the European community, and even unofficial banking facilities. Lodging was also provided in at least two of the Arrowtown stores, along with facilities for gambling and opium smoking. Wong Yow's store was situated at the junction of the main street and Villiers Street, while Su Sing's was by the banks of Bush Creek. Nothing remains of either. Only the store and timber store operated in later years by Ah Lumb still stands.
This was built in 1883 for Wong Hop Lee a local market gardener, and only became a Chinese store when leased to Ah Chung Bung in about 1893. It is of a design typical of many such buildings in the Canton delta region of China, with the two lofts either side of the entrance. Wong Hop later took over the store before moving to Auckland and leasing the building to Loo Lee in the first instance then Ah Lumb. It continued to serve the increasingly infirm elderly Chinese who resided in the settlement until their deaths. Su Sing's store appears to have been the hub of the settlement at least during its heyday between 1870-90. It was operating as early as 1870 and only closed at the turn of the century when Chung Kee its last owner died. The weatherboard and iron building was of unusual dimensions, being very long and narrow and several times bigger than any other buildings in the settlement. Referred to by some writers as the Long House, it is likely the title is of European origin, used simply to describe the buildings physical shape. It apparently served as Sing's home, store, restaurant and also as a social hall. It is possible a fourth store belonging to one Ah Wak may have existed in front of Ah Lumbs. It was burnt down in about 1905. Conflicting recollections list Ah Wak as a long-time Macetown resident living in a stone dwelling near the entrance of the town and when not mining, assisting William Smith in his Macetown general store. When this closed in about 1914 Ah Wak supposedly shifted to work at the Royal Oak Hotel where he lived until his death in the 1920s. The stores sold a wide variety of items of both European and Chinese origin. Chinese products were initially imported by Chinese merchants in Dunedin, distributed and resold by the storekeepers throughout the province. The range of products was extensive and included: tea (in packets), rice (in sacks), soya oil, preserved ginger, dried vegetables and products such as salted garlic, salted radish, pickled lemon and shrimp sauce, all in ceramic containers. A wide range of Chinese cooking implements, medicines, cloth, gambling pieces and smoking accessories were also imported. Just how many lived permanently in the huts surrounding Su Sing's store is unknown. In 1870 "a row of twenty comfortable sod huts, all with windows and doors, fit for any European to dwell in" were recorded. Census details show between 16 and 20 lived in Arrowtown in the two decades to 1900. However the New Zealand Chinese miners were very mobile, and even those remembered by long time Europeans in Arrowtown were active all over the Wakatipu. Many had mining claims at Macetown, Bracken's Gully, and Eight Mile (Coronet) Creek. Due to harsh winters in the Arrow Gorge it is probable the huts by Bush Creek served more as a retreat from frost and snow, a retreat that was increasingly frequented with the onset of old age. Comments made by a newspaper correspondent in 1871 tend to support the widespread settlement typical of the Arrow Valley. "The fastest move in the district is that the Chinese storekeepers pack out goods to their customers, and thus lessen the necessity of their resorting to town." At Macetown the concentration of Chinese miners was considerable during the early 1870s. They numbered approximately 300, primarily in Scanians and Eight Mile Creeks, a total which eclipsed the European mining population twice over. There were of course New Zealand Chinese who practised trades other than mining. Wong Hop Lee and Ah Sip were well known market gardeners in the district, while in the 1870s a number were employed as labourers by the Arrowtown Borough Council, and others were in demand as builder's assistants. Whether permanent or transient residents the Chinese formed a closely knit community, and were usually very supportive of fellow clansmen. In China family life was central to the society. Individuals kept closely to families, clans and county groups. Only males emigrated in the first years, so in the absence of family life in early New Zealand, clans and county of origin became the supportive group. Generally New Zealand Chinese mixed freely only with those from their own county until later in the mining era. The close community groups helped individual miners sustain the commonplace European bigotry and abuse. It also imposed a form of discipline, for its collective memory and purpose reminded the individual of his responsibility to his family in China, and encouraged frugality and honourable living. They were however voluntary as was illustrated by the presence of gambling in the form of fantan, lotteries and dominoes, and opium smoking. Fortunately alcohol was not a major problem amongst New Zealand Chinese. The single sex nature of the immigrant Chinese no doubt, in part, accounted for such pastimes amongst the Chinese community. Young men had left their home provinces to escape poverty with the hope of one day returning to their villages with wealth and honour. Many returned home after amassing £100 or so, possibly the equivalent in China to 20 years wages. Of the estimated 1200 plus Chinese miners on the Wakatipu goldfield the majority may have returned home successful either on this or the other Otago goldfields. Less than 100 were buried in the district. By the turn of the century most of those remaining were the less successful Chinese. The passing years had not been kind to them and most were forced through economic circumstances to live out their lives in New Zealand, never achieving their goal of returning home. Thus views of Chinese goldmining settlements in their later years give distinct misconceptions about the New Zealand Chinese group as a whole. It is likely a large percentage were energetic and successful in their ventures and subsequently returned home. Many more were repatriated home by kin or clansmen or by the Chung Shin Tong Benevolent Society. Undoubtedly there were those, who for one reason or another could, but chose not to return home. A few were less fortunate and lived out their years in settlements such as Arrowtown. For the latter, the passing years were cruel. Eager young men became aged, gold became scarce, and fortunes changed for the worse. There is no reason to consider the Arrow Chinese were any different to the Cromwell Chinese, who the Rev Alexander Don (the Chinese missionary) described so vividly. "How they continue in life year after year in those miserable little huts is a marvel to me. The atmosphere must be just "thick" with disease germs, so clearly that one might imagine the microbes killing one another! Most of the men are very old and infirm, and they just live on from day to day, doing nothing, eating little, and sleeping much, without God and without hope." A despondent picture. Yet the spirit of many was not broken. Many longtime Arrowtown residents remember the elderly Chinese having plenty of spirit and a sense of humour. Most held a great deal of respect for them. The Dwellings Typically the New Zealand Chinese used local materials to build their huts. Most only intended to stay a few years so they wasted little unnecessary expense or effort on their homes. Thus they tended to be simple and rudimentary. The Arrowtown huts were perhaps as varied as those in any Chinese settlement in Otago. Timber, mudbrick, stone, and iron were all used in hut construction. All the huts had low walls, were saddle-roofed and generally had chimney and door at one end. The majority were built of schist slabs held together with mud mortar. A number were of mixed stone and mud-brick construction while at least one weatherboard and one iron hut is recorded. Corrugated iron or tussock thatching along with scrim lining constituted the roof. A photograph of 'Tin Pan', a late resident in the settlement is annotated to the effect that he lived beneath a roof of 4 flattened kerosine tins. |
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