Chinese Merchants in the Northern Territory, 1880-1950: A translocal case study

Abstract

This thesis examines a leading group of Chinese merchants (those engaged in overseas trade) and their families who operated businesses in the Northern Territory (‘the Territory’) during the period 1880-1950. This study emphasises the benefits of a translocal approach to understanding the interrelationships of race, class, and gender in this history. But it also provides a framework for investigating the interrelationships of Chinese people in Darwin, of Chinese and Aboriginal people, and of Chinese people in different locations in Australia and overseas. I argue that Chinese merchants and their families based in particular locations should be studied in relation to each other and thus comparatively and transnationally to better understand their various contributions to local, national and international histories. Darwin is one such illuminating example. The Chinese merchants in the Territory are a dynamic and underinvestigated case study in this regard due to several compelling factors. The ongoing presence of Chinese in the Territory spanned a tumultuous era in the Territory and Australia’s path to nationhood: the discovery of gold in the Territory in the 1870s; the advent of the telegraph line, railway and international steamship companies; anti-Chinese sentiment in Australian colonies and overseas in the 1880s; Federation and the infamous Immigration Restriction Act in 1901; the passing of the Territory from South Australian to Commonwealth administration in 1911, and World Wars One and Two. Darwin occupied a pivotal position in Australia’s battle with Japan during World War Two. Moreover, the Territory, together with the northern regions of Western Australia and Queensland, featured in race debates and anti- Chinese rhetoric surrounding Federation. These regions posed a dilemma for Australian colonial then federal governments regarding the need for labour to develop the north without compromising the vision of a ‘White Australia’. Until 1888, the Territory was an ‘open door’ to Chinese immigration. Furthermore, the Territory’s dominant Chinese population affords a manageable but revealing in-depth historical analysis of a microcosm of Chinese of various dialect groups, classes, and occupations. As will be shown, this microcosm was organised and directed by a group of Darwin-based merchants. Darwin was a key node for European and Chinese merchants in the circulation of goods and people, aided by steamships and the telegraph. The tropical climate and challenging terrain prompted authorities to work with Chinese merchants to import labour. Chinese merchants established businesses in the Territory; some had transnational business networks, sometimes in conjunction with Chinese merchants in other parts of Australia, that contributed to economies beyond Australia to the Asia-Pacific. In contrast to mainstream assumptions about the marginalisation of Asians in ‘White Australia’, I demonstrate that in the Territory, Chinese merchants and their families experienced a degree of respect and acceptance from European political and business elites as leaders and representatives of the Chinese. They were also part of the Territory’s complication of global histories of race through the triangulation of European-Chinese-Aboriginal relations. These relations were policed by government regulations but afforded Chinese merchants elevated social status over other Chinese and over Aboriginal people, some of whom were employed by Chinese merchants, a practice later prohibited by law. The considerable political activism of the Territory Chinese leaders on behalf of the Territory Chinese against anti-Asian discrimination is also highlighted in this case study. The economic competitiveness of the Chinese merchants in the Territory was a major factor in the formation of an anti- Chinese faction of European businessmen in the Territory. This faction campaigned for national immigration restrictions in the lead-up to the passing of similar Chinese immigration restrictions by Australian colonies in 1888 and during the formulation of the 1901 federal Immigration Restriction Act. Territory Chinese merchants actively protested these and other ‘White Australia’ policies, producing valuable records of Chinese voices. These records also provide evidence of European support for the Chinese, an aspect of history rarely discussed then or since. My investigation of this aspect of European-Chinese relations places it in critical relationship to the interplay of issues such as the politics of citizenship, the economic agendas of governments and interpersonal exchanges ‘on the ground’. Finally, this case study contributes to another important and developing field of research – the history of Chinese women in Australia. Underused archival sources disclose numerous examples of Territory Chinese women from merchant families who became involved in business despite Australian and Chinese gender norms that restricted women’s activity. Two women who will be profiled in this study even self-identified as merchants. This translocal study of the Chinese merchants of the Territory adds considerably to our understanding of the history of the Territory, of the development of Australian nationhood, and of transnational political, economic and social histories. It is also a study of personal significance in exploring the experiences of my ancestors as the first generation to migrate to Australia. Additionally, being a descendant of one of the merchants and one of the remarkable merchants’ wives presented in this study has given me access to family archives which have been invaluable to my research.