![Painting of men using various tools to dig for gold. In the background, dozens of white tents are pitched on the grassy slopes on either side](/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/media/images/2024-07/collection-painting-gold-diggings-1855-stocqueler-nla.obj-134299327.png?h=72f2151d&itok=jlMCi3xg)
Edwin Stocqueler, Australian gold diggings, ca.1855, nla.obj-134299327
![Silhouettes of men chasing and fighting each other](/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/media/images/2024-07/collection-illustration-aboriginal-chinese-conflict-mcrae-1881-nla.obj-153002898.png?h=72f2151d&itok=xJ4dJQrJ)
Tommy McRaem, Aboriginal man chasing Chinese man and Aboriginal men fighting, Wahgunyah Region, Victoria, 1881, nla.obj-153002898
![Detail of old handwritten letter that starts with 'My Dear Brother'. At the top of the page is a panoramic-illustration of a city labelled 'Melbourne 1854'](/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/media/images/2024-07/collection-correspondence-samuel-valentine-gold-1860-nla.cat-vn125634.png?h=72f2151d&itok=JNiWX3s6)
Samuel Valentine, Letter from Samuel Valentine to his brother (detail), 1860, nla.cat-vn125634
![Black and white photo of three men standing near a line of camels loaded with sacks of supplies](/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/media/images/2024-07/collection-photo-camels-driver-1912-flynn-nla.obj-142345446.png?h=72f2151d&itok=ol3vgm2_)
John Flynn, hree unidentified men, one an Afghan camel driver, standing next to a camel train part of a mixed selection of lantern slides and negatives from John Flynn's teaching days in Gippsland, and early AIM [Australian Inland Mission] activities, 1912, nla.obj-142345446
The discovery of gold at Ophir, New South Wales, and at Clunes, Victoria, in 1851 marked the beginning of Australia’s goldrushes. Migrants from all over the world brought new skills and professions, changing convict colonies into progressive cities. In response to racial conflict, colonial governments implemented the first wave of anti-Chinese legislation in Victoria (1855), South Australia (1857) and New South Wales (1861). These laws were repealed by 1867 after sustained resistance from Chinese people and their European allies.
European explorers made their way across the continent in the 1860s, opening up land for pastoral and agricultural industries. However, in doing so, they hastened Indigenous dispossession and environmental change.