A few weeks after the discovery of gold in north Queensland in 1873, Chinese began arriving from the played-out Victorian goldfields. New Chinese immigrants arrived at the port of Cooktown at a rate of one thousand a month, most from the Pearl River region of Canton. By the end of 1874, almost one-half the population of Palmer River, inland from Cooktown, was Chinese; by 1875 the Chinese population of Palmer River swelled to more than 15,000; by 1877 Chinese outnumbered … Continue reading