MELBOURNE, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The premier of Australia's Victoria has formally apologized to the state's Chinese population for racist policies their ancestors endured during the Australian gold rush.
Daniel Andrews, leader of the Victorian government, issued the apology on the steps of parliament house on Friday morning surrounded by Chinese community leaders.
During the Victorian gold rush from 1851 to the late 1860s, Chinese migrants who came to Victoria were charged 10 pounds each when they arrived.
In an attempt to avoid the large tax, thousands of migrants instead landed in South Australia (SA) and walked hundreds of kilometers through the wilderness to Victorian goldfields.
Many died from starvation and exhaustion while those who completed the journey were subjected to rampant racism on the fields.
"It is never too late to say sorry," Andrews said on Friday.
"To every Chinese Victorian, on behalf of the Victorian Parliament, on behalf of the Victorian government, I express our deepest sorrow and I say to you we are profoundly sorry."
To commemorate 160 years since those dangerous pilgrimages took place, a group of Chinese-Australians did the same walk from SA to Melbourne, arriving at parliament shorty before Andrews apologized.
Adrian Hem, who was one of those who walked the 511 kms over 20 days, said that at the time 10 pounds was a large amount of money.
"They were... very much like slaves, they had to work off the amount of money they were loaned to come to Australia," Hem told reporters on Friday.
"It gives us a great sense of pride, in what our forebears did," he said.
"History is a great teacher. The present teaches us what a great country we have and the future will show, hopefully, that we can all live together in harmony."
People flocked to Victoria from all over the world during the gold rush, with the state's population booming from 75,000 in 1851 to more than 500,000 in 1861.
China was the second largest source of migration to the state during the period, with approximately 42,000 Chinese people migrating in the hope of striking gold.
Andrews praised the resilience of the Chinese migrants, saying they went on to form a rich and culturally significant community within Victoria even after the gold rush had ended.
"It was a very shameful act," he said.
"But with such a dedicated focus on hard work, family, on giving back... I don't think anyone has made a bigger contribution... to the modern multiculturalism that we cherish and value so very much.
"Our multiculturalism and our diversity is what sets us apart. It makes us stronger, it makes us safer."
Hong Lim, a Chinese Australian who serves as the Victorian Member of Parliament (MP) for the southeastern electorate of Clarinda, said that the apology meant that Chinese-Australians could now make peace with that period of history.
He said that he had been planning the form that the apology would take with Andrews for over two years.
