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A gold rush doubled Australia
For most of Australia's history, nearly all immigrants came from a single source, the British Isles. The gold rush was a massive surge in that flow, packed into a single decade.
Afterward, Australia struggled to attract large numbers of Europeans. It was competing for them with more attractive countries in the Americas, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. Those countries were much closer to Europe geographically, so they were generally cheaper and quicker for Europeans to reach.
How did one discovery reshape Victoria so fast?
Edward Hargraves announced a gold find near Bathurst in New South Wales in 1851, and within months far richer fields turned up in Victoria, at Ballarat and Bendigo. Ships brought diggers from Britain, Ireland, China, and the United States. Melbourne grew from a modest port into a boomtown. Colonial censuses show Victoria's population rising from roughly 80,000 in 1851 to more than 500,000 by 1861.
Why was the voyage from Europe so slow?
In the 1850s, ships bound for Australia sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, a trip that took roughly three to four months. Steamships were already crossing the Atlantic to North America in about two weeks. The Suez Canal did not open until 1869, long after the gold rush.
How did gold unrest change Victoria's politics?
Miners at Ballarat protested the cost of mining licenses and their lack of political representation. In December 1854, troops stormed the stockade the miners had built at Eureka. Within a year, the license was replaced by an inexpensive miner's right that also carried the right to vote.