Riots at Lambing Flat

After Cootamundra we travelled a short distance in a sort of north-ish direction to the town of Young, in Wiradjuri country. Even though it was only 40-odd kms up the road, we found a bit of relief from the searing temperatures we'd had in the past couple of weeks. But with the drop in temperature came two days of fairly relentless rain. Can't have it all, I guess.

In between downpours we paid a short visit to Lambing Flat, just outside Young, where there is a beautiful, peaceful Chinese garden. The Labs' ears pricked up at the word "Lambing", but they were disappointed not to find a gourmet selection of fresh lamb chops. Instead there were black swans on the lookout for scraps of bread being flung in their direction. They were also disappointed - if there was any bread to be had, it would have been gobbled by the Labs before it got anywhere near the water.

The gardens are a tribute to the riots that took place at Lambing Flat on the night of 30 June 1861. The riots followed months of unrest and tension between Australian, European and North American miners and the Chinese miners who had set up camp (along with everyone else) when gold had been discovered in the area.

The riot was sparked by the rejection of an "anti-Chinese" bill by the Legislative Council in Sydney, and a false rumour spread among the camps that a further 1500 Chinese miners were on their way to the gold fields. A mob of up to 3000 white miners attacked around 2000 Chinese miners and drove them off Lambing Flat before moving on to the Black Creek diggings, where a further 150 Chinese miners were camped. They burnt and looted the camp and many Chinese miners were beaten.

The Lambing Flat Chinese Tribute Gardens were established to recognise the contribution of the Chinese community to the settlement of Young in the 1860s, and to the Australian community as a whole.

Perhaps we'd have done better if we'd gone out for Chinese in Young instead of Jerilderie...