By Juanita Kwok 18 November 2025 After landing taxes were introduced in Victoria in 1855 and South Australia in 1856 to deter Chinese arrivals, gold seekers from the Pearl River Delta area began landing in Sydney and making their way to the New South Wales goldfields. There were already small numbers of Amoy men on the goldfields.[1] In 1867, clear reference was made to the existence of Chinese Freemasons in Braidwood on the Southern Goldfields of New South Wales. The Braidwood Dispatch reported “members of the craft muster in great force in the Braidwood district” and that there were no less than 400 Chinese members present at an initiation held at Jembaicumbene, where English gentlemen along with fifty Chinese men, were initiated into the Lodge. The report differentiated the Chinese Lodge from European Freemasonry, which it said, was also well-established on the goldfields.[2] The Yee Hing were also active on the Western Goldfields of New South Wales. John Fitzgerald argued...Read More