Legal recourse

Chinese people were used to using a legal system and made much use of the British one from the first.

Within Chinese culture, the use of the legal system was long established, and so when Chinese people arrived in Australia, they appeared to have little hesitation in engaging with the British legal system. The Amoy men, for instance, frequently appeared before the courts—sometimes by choice, sometimes out of necessity—but they argued their cases firmly and demanded that contractual obligations be upheld. Cantonese gold miners likewise made regular appearances in court, suing one another or non-Chinese parties, hiring lawyers, and submitting petitions drafted both in Chinese and in the formal legal English required by colonial parliaments.

During various incidents they also pursued compensation claims. After the attack at Lambing Flat, for example, Chinese residents petitioned for damages to property. In Shark Bay, when new government regulations threatened to drive them out of the pearling industry, Chinese operators protested, seeking compensation for the boats and investments they had already made—and, notably, they succeeded in securing some redress.

This readiness to use the law reflected a familiarity with legal recourse as a social practice. Although the colonial legal system could be paternalistic, many Chinese found it offered genuine avenues for justice. Police observers even noted that Chinese complainants were among the most persistent in pursuing assault cases to prosecution—where others might have abandoned the effort altogether.

I've just come across a reference from 1899 to the Chinese in Darwin being "naturally litigious" and having kept a number of European lawyers "in clover" for a number of years. The sort of evidence of Chinese use of the British legal system that I thought you would like.

Here's the link: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234907204

Case of discipline - officers fined - Ching Awang

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60126787/6008756