Chinese gold miners in Aotearoa New Zealand: 1865 onwards
A DigitalNZ Story by National Library Services to Schools
The first Chinese New Zealander was Wong Appo Hocton who arrived in Nelson in 1842. But it wasn’t until the end of 1865 that Chinese came in larger numbers to the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast.
BACKGROUND
The first Chinese New Zealander was Wong Appo Hocton (王鶴庭) who arrived in Nelson in 1842. But it wasn’t until the end of 1865 that Chinese came in larger numbers to the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast.
CONTENTS
- The first Chinese New Zealander
- The Aotearoa New Zealand gold rushes
- Chinese miners
- Early Chinese on the goldfields
- Chinese mining settlements
- Papers Past articles relating to Chinese gold miners
- Supporting resources
- Glossary
THE FIRST CHINESE NEW ZEALANDER
Appo Hocton was born in China, the son of Fook Ting and his wife, Pae See. According to family tradition, his birth name was Wong Ahpoo Hock Ting (王鶴庭) and he was born on 18 August 1819. But declarations he made in New Zealand mean he could have been born as late as 1823...
Source: Hocton, Appo — Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. CC BY-NC 3.0 NZ. Information added.
Appo Hocton
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
THE AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND GOLD RUSHES
The gold rushes attracted for the first time to New Zealand a significant group of non-European immigrants – the Chinese.
Source: History of immigration — Miners, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Back row: Chan Choi, Chan Sum, Chan Foon; Front row: Chan Shek, Chan Kwan Jeong, Chan Yeung, Lai Wei Shi.
Chinese gold miners at Orepuki
Alexander Turnbull Library
This is Yu Wing Chung at Elbow Creek, near Roxburgh on the Clutha River in 1901.
Chinese gold miner, Clutha River
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
From left: Law Shun Fay, Lai Sun, Law Kee (seated in barrow), Tsou Chi Young, Lai Huk.
Chinese gold miners at Muddy Creek, Waikaia
Alexander Turnbull Library
This is Joe Tie, aged 62. He arrived NZ in 1869. He is outside his home which was between Rutherglen and Marsden.
West Coast gold miner
Alexander Turnbull Library
CHINESE MINERS
Chinese miners were first invited to Otago in 1865 when Pākehā miners left in large numbers for the new West Coast goldfields. The first Chinese scouting parties arrived in December of that year and a larger number of migrants started coming from 1866. By the end of the 1860s, some 2,000 Chinese were in Otago. They worked over fields thoroughly and some kept mining for many years.
Source: Otago region — Gold and development, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Left to right: Chau Leung Tai, Juell Shing Wai, Chau Soong Tai. They are hydraulic sluicing in 1901.
Chinese miners at Upper Kyeburn
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Chinese gold miners
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
The Tchun Fong Hotel, owned by Lai Chong (who may be on the left) at the Chinese mining town of Canton, Southland, 1880s
Chinese miners in front of a stone cottage, Central Otago
Alexander Turnbull Library
EARLY CHINESE ON THE GOLDFIELDS
By 1869 there were about 2,000 Chinese people in New Zealand. Almost all were men who came to work the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast. Most of them probably intended to make their fortunes and return to China. An 1871 report dismissed popular allegations against the Chinese, but pressure mounted to exclude further arrivals. Formal restrictions on Chinese immigrants were imposed in 1881.
Source: Immigration regulation — 1881–1914 restrictions on Chinese and others, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
On the goldfields, the early Chinese spent a lot of energy making sure they had positive engagements with white settlers. However, sometimes they were excluded from living within town boundaries. The Lawrence Chinese camp was an example of this.
The Chinese script on this building at Round Hill in Southland set it apart as a Chinese temple.
Chinese temple, Round Hill
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
CHINESE MINING SETTLEMENTS
Chinese miners mostly worked the ground that Europeans had abandoned as unprofitable. They worked hard and established more permanent settlements than Europeans. Many constructed sod and schist cottages, dry stone walls, and planted gardens.
Source: Gold and gold mining — Māori and Chinese miners, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
The biggest Chinese centres
The Lawrence Chinese camp in Central Otago was the largest of the two Chinese mining settlements with around 500 residents at its height, while Round Hill in Southland had at least 300 residents. Each settlement had its own hotel, shops and places of worship.
The Lawrence site is registered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero as an important cultural and historic place. Two buildings still stand; the Poon Fah Joss House the last of its kind in the country, and the old Chinese Empire Hotel which is now a visitor centre.
The Poon-Fah Joss House at the Lawrence Chinese settlement in 1904.
A. CHINESE JOSS HOUSE, (Otago Witness, 06 April 1904)
National Library of New Zealand
Houses lived in by Chinese gold miners, at Round Hill, Otago
Alexander Turnbull Library
Chinese gold miners
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Chinese settlement, Arrowtown
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Chinese Miners Cottage
Central Otago Memory Bank
Arrowtown Chinese Huts
Central Otago Memory Bank
Pakapoo ticket
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Chinese ginger jar, herbs and spices
Teviot District Museum
Travel Chinese dominoes, game
Teviot District Museum
PAPERS PAST ARTICLES RELATING TO CHINESE GOLD MINERS
The Bruce Herald TOKOMAIRIRO, SEPTEMBER 28, 1865. (Bruce Herald, 28 September 1865)
National Library of New Zealand
THE HEATHEN CHINEE IN OTAGO. (Colonist, 07 July 1871)
National Library of New Zealand
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
The Arrowtown Chinese settlement — Central Otago had several Chinese settlements. Arrowtown was studied extensively by archaeologists in the early 1980s and is the best memorial to these settlers.
Chinaman's gold — this current affairs programme follows the work of archaeologist Neville Ritchie, who in 1981 led one of Aotearoa's "biggest archaeological operations" yet — an excavation of Cromwell's Chinatown.
Chinese gold miner keepsakes — Chinese gold miners used many Chinese-made objects here in Aotearoa NZ. The majority of these were ceramics associated with the packaging, transport, storage, preparation, cooking or consumption of food.
The Chinese New Year — an account from the Lake Wakatip Mail newspaper about the 1873 February Chinese New Year celebrations that were enjoyed by both Chinese and Europeans at Big Beach, Shotover.
Honouring the dead — sinking of SS Ventnor in 1902 creates a unique bond between Chinese and Māori.
Into the light — the Dunedin Alloo family whakapapa back to Guangdong, China.
Journey to Lan Yuan — why is there a Chinese garden in Dunedin? In 1865 the Otago Provincial Government make a formal request for Chinese from Victoria to fill a worker shortage in Otago.
New gold mountain — descendants of the first marriages between Chinese and Europeans in New Zealand faced discrimination and hid their ancestry.
The remarkable journeys of NZ's Chinese goldminers — information about a documentary on the lives of New Zealand's Chinese goldminers and immigrants.
The story of the SS Ventnor— in 1902 the SS Ventnor sank off Hokianga harbour, carrying the bones of 499 Chinese miners with it. Their descendants tell the story of finally recognising the Chinese miners.
The sunken coffins of 499 Chinese gold miners — this video explores the SS Ventnor, a tomb ship from NZ bound for China that was shipwrecked and sank off Hokianga harbour.
Window on a harsh existence — between 1880 and 1900, the Arrowtown settlement was home to 16-20 men, who built a row of simple sod huts separate from the township in one of the coldest locations in the area.
Early Chinese funeral, Cromwell
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
GLOSSARY
Definitions below have been taken from the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary and Te Aka, the Māori dictionary.
articulate — to express or explain your thoughts or feelings clearly in words.
allegations — public statements made without giving proof, accusing somebody of doing something that is wrong or illegal.
archaeologist — a person who studies the cultures of the past, and of periods of history by examining the parts of buildings and objects found in the ground.
ceramics — a pot or other object made of clay that has been made permanently hard by heat.
declaration — an official or formal statement, especially about the plans of a government or an organization.
schist — a type of rock formed of layers of different minerals, that breaks naturally into thin flat pieces.
scouting — an act of getting information by looking around an area.
whakapapa — genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent - reciting whakapapa was, and is an important skill and reflected the importance of genealogies in Māori society.
This story was curated and compiled by Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | National Library of New Zealand, Services to Schools staff, 2023. We acknowledge the content, research, guidance, and review provided by Kirsten Wong for the New Zealand Chinese Association, Lynette Shum, and Emeritus Professor Dr Manying Ip.