<P> The discovery of the Victorian Goldfields has converted a remote dependency into a country of world wide fame; it has attracted a population, extraordinary in number, with unprecedented rapidity; it has enhanced the value of property to an enormous extent; it has made this the richest country in the world; and, in less than three years, it has done for this colony the work of an age, and made its impulses felt in the most distant regions of the earth . </P> <P> When the rush began at Ballarat, diggers discovered it was a prosperous goldfield . Lieutenant - Governor, Charles La Trobe visited the site and watched five men uncover 136 ounces of gold in one day . Mount Alexander was even richer than Ballarat . With gold sitting just under the surface, the shallowness allowed diggers to easily unearth gold nuggets . In 7 months, 2.4 million pounds of gold was transported from Mount Alexander to nearby capital cities . </P> <P> The gold rushes caused a huge influx of people from overseas . Australia's total population more than tripled from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871 . Australia first became a multicultural society during the gold rush period . Between 1852 and 1860, 290,000 people migrated to Victoria from the British Isles, 15,000 came from other European countries, and 18,000 emigrated from the United States . Non-European immigrants, however, were unwelcome, especially the Chinese . </P> <P> The Chinese were particularly industrious, with techniques that differed widely from the Europeans . This and their physical appearance and fear of the unknown led to them to being persecuted in a racist way that would be regarded as untenable today . </P>

Where did immigrants come from during the australian gold rush