Year 5: Chinese migrants and the gold rush

Level 1: Look to Learn    ·   Level 2: Knowledge Building

Knowledge building

Now that you have experienced Look to Learn, it's time to dig a little deeper and learn more about Australian attitudes toward Chinese migrants and the gold rush.

Access to Scootle digital content

Digital content has been incorporated into these learning sequences to support student learning.

Key inquiry question: What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies?

Your close look at gallery images probably gave you some insights about what life was like for Chinese immigrants who travelled to Australia in search of gold. To get an even better understanding, this activity will build on your knowledge by comparing and contrasting two images. This is called "juxtaposition," which means placing together two objects, which often leads to seeing each in better detail.

Instructions

Below are sets of matched images. Each set lets you view a larger version of the image and also get more information about what is shown. Click the image to see a larger version. Click the title of the work to find out more about it.

Because you will be comparing the two images, you should use a Venn diagram tool. Select one of the tools listed below that will  provide you with a framework to compare and contrast.

Venn diagram tools

• Exploratree - from Futurelab
• Compare and contrast - after free log-in
• ClassTools.net
• Read-Write-Think

One thinking routine follows each pair of images. The See–Think–Wonder routine was chosen, but you can choose others from the "Reading" Images resources.

Two views of success

Not all who joined the rush came back with gold. Some who did, found their gold away from the fields and mines.

If you don't see any images below, log-in to Scootle or your school's access to National Digital Learning Resources Network.

View the two pictures and the links to additional information as you compare the images using the thinking routine below.

Question: How could these two images, taken together, suggest a reason for the racism some miners felt toward Chinese immigrants?

'Gold digging in Australia 1852: bad results' TLF ID R3385

'John Alloo's Chinese Restaurant, Main Road, Ballarat, 1853 TLF ID R11182

Living in a hut

Sometimes paintings and photographs on similar subjects highlight different things. View the two pictures and the links to additional information as you compare the images using the thinking routine below.

Question: Even though the huts below are similar, how do the two works tell different stories?

Miners outside a hut in the bush at Gympie, c1870 TLF ID R3176

Chinese miner at wattle-and-daub hut, c1900 TLF ID R3912

Travelling for gold

Men came from all over the world, lured by Australia's gold. View the two pictures and the links to additional information as you compare the images using the thinking routine below.

Question: How are the Chinese depicted in these two images? What does this tell us about attitudes toward them?

'Flemington Melbourne', c1856 TLF ID R11179

Chinese people on the way to the Ravenswood gold fields, 1870 TLF ID R9204

Digging beneath the surface

Sometimes images are similar in their use of colour and composition, but send a different message when you look a little deeper. View the two pictures and the links to additional information as you compare the images using the thinking routine below.

Question: How do the titles and depiction of the people suggest bias or racism against Chinese?

'Chow Chow (Chinamen on Ballarat)', 1854 TLF ID R11264

'Diggers of high degree', 1853 TLF ID R4952

Making it work: teamwork and technology

Sometimes images seem very different, especially when one is a painting and another a photograph. View the two pictures and the links to additional information as you compare the images using the thinking routine below.

Questions:

• What do you think is the intent or reason for the painter and the photographer to capture the images as they did?
• What story do you think each was trying to tell in their work?

Washing tailings, c1870s TLF ID R11181

Horsedrawn whim on a gold field at Gympie, 1870-80 TLF ID R7996

Reading images

• Artful Thinking - from Harvard's Project Zero
• 5 Steps for Analyzing an Image - from Pearson
• Formal Visual Analysis - from ArtsEdge
• Strategies for Analyzing Visual Images - from Frank W Baker
   

Level 2—Conclusion

This is the end of Level 2 for Chinese migrants and the gold rush. If you are ready to get creative and take on a challenge, try the Level 3: WebQuest where you will be guided to explore a different kind of gold rush in 21st Century Australia and China.

Level 1: Look to Learn    ·   Level 2: Knowledge Building