China in the 1850s was a poverty-stricken, violent place. Political rebellions, drought, over-population and opium addiction had transformed this cultured and dignified land into a famine-ridden wasteland. Family loyalty was the strongest cultural value, and many people looked abroad for opportunities to earn and send money home to their families, rather than leaving their homeland permanently. When news arrived of the gold rush in Australia, many families and villages sent their men and boys in a desperate bid to end their poverty. From 1857, after the Victorian Government had imposed a poll tax on Chinese arrivals, more than 16,500 people landed at Robe in south-east South Australia before setting out to walk over 400 kilometres to the goldfields of central Victoria.

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