Camp, Bendigo

A CHINESE CAMP AFTER DARK. THE Bendigo Advertiser says,—Not satisfied with the bald appearance of the camp by day, and, being desirous of giving both sides of the picture, our reporter visited the camp at night. It was shortly after ten o'clock. The narrow crooked lanes were almost deserted, and but for the lights that streamed forth from the shanties at wide intervals, and the fitful glimmer of the lamps in the shops and houses, it would have been extremely difficult to pilot one's way through the tortuous windings of the camp. As it was, collisions with the Celestial wayfarers were inevitable; and the yah-hooings that followed awoke the echoes more than once. Every hotel and place of entertainment was entered. Large numbers of Chinese were found in most of them, but, contrary to expectation, comparatively few women. In some cribs, the dim lights of lamps were enveloped in dense halos of opium smoke, the atmosphere being almost suffocating. One inveterate lay on a board at one place, obvious to all objective realities. The features of his parchment face were drawn in and fixed, the hands half clenched, and the whole appearance of the man indicated complete subjection to the opium spell. At another place, a girl, of about eighteen years of age, was seen in bed sipping some tea preparatory to indulging in the pleasures of the pipe, which lay on the counterpane beside her. Occasionally in the street a white object, indistinctly seen in the darkness which prevailed, was descried. A few paces would bring the visitor near enough to distinguish that it was a woman out of her rounds. These unfortunates it was observed, usually made tracks for the hotels, where they assuaged their thirst, or gratified their taste for "Chinee brandy." Only a few fan-tan shops were open, but these were crowded by excited mobs of gamblers. All the grades of camp society were to be found there, from the poor rag gatherer with his two or three "sissepennies" to the sleek well-fed storekeepers and "shintlemen" possessed of long purses. Throughout the night's peregrinations not one person was seen under the influence of drink, nor were any very young girls visible anywhere near the neighbourhood; but opium smoking, gambling, and dallying with women were freely indulged in. One thing, however, was remarkably striking—the perfect orderliness that prevailed. There were none of the boisterous evidences of debauchery, which too frequently characterise the orgies enacted in more pretentious localities in and near Sandhurst. Altogether, the aspect of Chinese life, seen under lamplight, was widely different from that in the light of open day. Under the cloak of darkness, the hideous spectre of immorality stalked forth, and held high carnival; and the old opinion of the social evil which is nurtured and strengthened in the camp was more than confirmed.

 Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser, Saturday 18 December 1875, p.3.