The Premier at St. Leonards
Important Speech
The Chinese Question

Sir Henry Parkes State Library of New South Wales

... (The Government) had at present a bill before Parliament in which he did not doubt those present, in common with their fellow countrymen throughout the land, took a great interest. He meant the bill for practically stopping the entrance of the Chinese into this colony. (Applause)

He did not for single moment fear that he would be misunderstood by any considerable body of his fellow countrymen on this measure. As they well knew from his expressions of opinion, he had never sided with those who could find no good word to say for the Chinese, and he had always treated them with consideration, and had endeavoured to justly estimate their qualities. He repeated now what he had said on other occasions, that he regarded the Chinese settled in this country as a sober, industrious law-abiding set of people. No doubt there were scamps amongst them, but he would like to know where they would find a community of Englishmen free from scamps. (Applause)

These Chinese had also, he freely admitted, in many instances, rendered important services to our countrymen. They certainly, as market gardeners, had supplied poor families with the necessary articles of food, vegetables, where they otherwise would never have obtained them and in many other respects the Chinese had rendered good services. He did not oppose the Chinese on the ground of their inferiority as compared with other nations - he opposed them because they came amongst us without any power sympathising in any of our pursuits, aliens to our religion, aliens to our system of jurisprudence, aliens to our customs and aliens to our objects as a free people, and not only so but they came amongst us without their natural companions; and even if the Chinese did bring their ladies with them, he thought he should oppose them on that ground also. (Laughter)

Still the fact remained that the Chinese did not bring their women, for we had in these colonies some 60,000 Chinese, and he supposed there were not sixty Chinese ladies for the 60,000; at any rate, there were very few indeed. He opposed the settlement of the Chinese in the Australian colonies, and in speaking for this colony he spoke for all, because he maintained that it was a sacred obligation on every citizen to preserve the British type in the nation which they were seeking to found here. (Applause)

In the first place they wanted no admixture of Asiatic blood, for although they might very freely admit the admixture of the blood of European peoples, they did not want any Asiatic infusion. (Applause)

In the next place the Chinese could not come here without creating what in his judgment would be calamity to every one of these colonies - an essentially inferior class. He did not want to see any class in this country composed of men who could not stand up in the daylight and look their fellows in the face as friendly an as independently as any of them. He wanted no class to come here whom we would not be prepared to admit to all our privileges. It might suit some men to have Chinese servants, because they were so pliant, so unresisting, and so economical that at the same time they lightened their pockets and never ruffled their sense of dignity. He, however, wanted no such colonists as these, for the Chinamen could not colonise, could not mingle with us in any way, and so far as he entered upon our principal callings, mining for instance, was a nuisance wherever he went, because of his unmethodical and disturbed way of carrying on his calling, and probably there was no cause of discontent and no nuisance on our mining fields greater than the presence of the Chinese. (Applause)

Even in other handicrafts - and in saying this he was not reflecting on the general character of the Chinaman - he carried then on in a manner so unlike the ways of Englishmen, and so unsuited to the habits of life which our fellow-countrymen followed, that he was still a nuisance ... It was, therefore, because he thought that the Chinese were undesirable colonists, or in other words, persons who could never become colonists in the true sense, and because they represented a population of some 400,000,000 other Chinese, that he did not wish to see them here. (Applause)

... It might be that a few of the Chinamen would be allowed to land under the writs of the Supreme Court. The Government were not prepared to create a revolution in the country themselves, but whether that took place or not, he ventured to say that through the vigorous and determined action of the Government the influx of Chinese to this country had already terminated and for ever. (Applause)

... He could not believe it was constitutional law that the Government of a free country responsible for the preservation of peace and good order, the maintenance of justice, and everything held dear, could not refuse foreigners to land on the soil. How did they know that there were not amongst these Chinese spies come to prepare the way for thousands of others? And they knew that within less than a mouth thousands of others could arrive on receipt of a telegram from those who were here. There was good reason to believe that these Chinamen did not arrive here as free men, but were bound to a kind of slavery which we could know nothing of. If they could not prevent a few score of Chinamen on board these ships ... on the same principle they could not prevent 10,000 from landing. (Hear, hear) ...

(Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 1888)