Flowers and the wide sea. Pt. 1: The Sojourners

Based on the book by Eric Rolls, this is the story of one of Australia’s oldest immigrant communities. The Chinese came to Australia as shepherds in the 19th century, driven from their villages by famine, was and poverty. In the 1850s thousands more arrived to seek their fortunes on the goldfields. After the goldrush some stayed in Australia to establish businesses and market gardens. By the 1870s the Chinese were growing almost three quarters of the country’s vegetable supply. In spite of the Chinese contribution to the emerging nation, anti-Chinese feeling ran high in Australia’s predominantly European community. Race riots subsided with the goldrush, but politicians and trade unionists waged campaigns aimed at blicking further Chinese immigration. After Australia’s federation in 1901, the first Act of the new Australian Parliament (the white Australia Policy) prevented the entry of more Chinese.