Samuel Charles Brees, Chinese diggers on Mount Alexander Road, Flemington, on their way to the goldfields, c 1856, watercolour, Gift of Miss Webb, 1954, H17071

By 1859 there were over 40,000 Chinese migrants in Victoria, an estimated equivalent of one in five of the male population on the goldfields. The journey for Chinese immigrants began in Canton or Hong Kong and included several months at sea before arriving in Victoria. Whether destined for Ballarat, Mt Alexander or the Bendigo goldfields, men disembarked in Geelong or Melbourne and began the arduous excursion to the goldfields. As seen in Brees' painting, the men undertook the journey with little more than a basket of food, clothing and some money.