Chitchat Lai leow: angmoh apology to the Chinese......

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

On 25 May 2017 the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews and the opposition leader Matthew Guy both apologised to the Chinese for the discriminatory laws enacted against the Chinese by the government of Victoria during the Goldrush era.

The government of colonial Victoria was the first to enact such legislation in 1855 by restricting the number of Chinese a ship could carry and placing a head tax of £10 on Chinese arriving at Victorian ports. In order to avoid this head tax, which was roughly equivalent to the fare from China to Australia, the boats sailed to South Australia and the Chinese then walked hundreds of kilometres to the Victorian goldfields.

In 1857, nearly 15,000 Chinese disembarked at the small South Australian township of Robe and walked more than 400 kilometres from there to the Victorian goldfield at Ballarat and beyond.

One hundred and sixty years later in 2017, to commemorate this epic walk, the Victorian Chapter of the Chinese Community Council of Australia organised a re-enactment of this walk from Robe to Melbourne, a distance of 552 km. I was there at Robe to see them off on 6 May and some 20 days later on 25 May was there for their final destination at Parliament House Melbourne.

At the Walk from Robe reception, Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the unfair legislation and apologised to the Chinese – this apology was endorsed by the opposition leader Matthew Guy. After many years of working and hoping that this would happen in my lifetime, I was moved to tears when I heard the acknowledgement and the words “We are Sorry” said in English and Chinese by Premier Daniel Andrews, Opposition leader Matthew Guy and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs Robin Scott. Thanks must go Erin Chew, Kingsley Liu and especially to Hong Lim MP Clarinda who worked closely with us and assisted in this historic outcome.

We now look forward to the governments of New South Wales and the Federal Government following suit.


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