Dominion of Queensland

Li Fushou is the founder of the ***"Dominion of Queensland"***, an autonomous dominion within the British Empire, which becomes the first nucleus of Chinese Australia...

From here, overlooking the magnificent Red River Valley City, row upon row of buildings in the city extend far to the skyline, showing the majestic posture of a world-class prosperous metropolis.

He looked at all this greedily, and his heart was filled with pride and speechless touch. .

As much as the heart is, the dream is as big as possible!

This prosperous city where Li Fushou devoted his great efforts has risen from scratch on the banks of the Brisbane River. It has recorded the great achievements along the way. It will be remembered by history and become a beautiful landscape at the end of the 19th century.

Millions of people of all ethnicities live in this metropolis. Of course, there are still many shortcomings, but they cannot conceal its brilliance.

According to population statistics;

The entire Queensland Earlsland area (approximately 228,000 square kilometers, excluding Brisbane) is home to nearly 4.9 million Chinese immigrants in dozens of new towns, and the population agglomeration effect is very obvious. The region has developed industries, has a high level of development in agriculture and animal husbandry, trade, culture, education and medical care, and generally has a relatively high income of residents. It is the best local area.

The total population of Queensland is 5.86 million, of which 69.4% of the urban population, 27.7% of the agricultural and pastoral population, and 2.9% of the population engaged in fishing and fisheries, belong to a fully industrialized economic structure.

With the rapid development of the industrial economy, agriculture and animal husbandry are in the ascendant, and the per capita income level of the entire Queensland state continues to grow rapidly.

In 1885, the per capita income in Queensland was 11 pounds 3 shillings 6 pence, an increase of 96.3% compared to 1876, almost doubled.

Looking back at the course of the past 10 years, it is embarrassing.

In 1876, the income of 6 pounds was the average level of ordinary white people, and young and strong Chinese workers could only get half or even less, which was between 2 and 3 pounds.

In 1876, Queensland adopted a discriminatory and suppressive policy against Chinese immigrants, restricting entry, restricting naturalization, restricting business and property, and restricting marriages with white women. It needs to pay much more taxes than ordinary whites, and often has to endure rude exploitation and open robbery. , Often died in the wild in gold mines or in the wild.

It was Li Fushou’s arrival that broke all of this. Through his efforts to win the voice for Chinese, he overturned the restrictive bill imposed on Chinese immigrants, so that naturalized Chinese can get the same treatment as whites, vigorously promote equal pay for equal work, and oppose discrimination...

10 years later, 1885

Chinese immigrants have become the mainstream ethnic group in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. They have mastered the state government and parliament. They have become the main force for social progress and economic development, playing an irreplaceable and important role, and they have also grown into the wealthiest state.

The average annual income of Chinese workers has increased by 4 to 5 times. While obtaining equal pay for equal work, their social and political status has greatly improved, and they have become the masters of Queensland society.

Queensland's population occupies three-quarters of the entire Australia. With a per capita annual income of 11 pounds, 3 shillings and 6 pence, it surpasses the richest state of Victoria and ranks first.

Victoria's per capita annual income is 9 pounds 17 shillings 5 ​​pence in second place.

New South Wales has a per capita annual income of £7 and 9 shillings in third place.

South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania have no more than £6 per capita annual income, ranking fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Due to the small population base and low income, they seem to have no sense of existence. Be able to follow behind the most populous and wealthy states, and be a fanciful little brother.

Outside of Australia

Shangri-La Island (Papua New Guinea), Borneo, Sulawesi and Somalia ruled in the name of earldom, the per capita annual income level is much lower than that of Australia.

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On the contrary, the per capita income level of the Somali colonies is higher. The town of Xi’an (excluding the indigenous black tribes in the area) has developed rapidly through smuggling and port transit trade. The per capita income has reached the level of 4 pounds 17 shillings 11 pence, which is relatively high. Affluent area.

At the end of 1885, Xi’an Town counted 79,200 people, Mogadishu 5,600 people,

In the vast land of Somalia with a total area of ​​660,000 square kilometers (including Kyrgyzstan), the number of Chinese immigrants imported so far is more than 80,000 people, and the progress seems to be relatively slow. .

Firstly, because the area is too far away, it is costly to organize immigrants across the Indian Ocean to reach the Gulf of Aden. Secondly, Hongbao invests less resources, and its development priority is not high. The third reason is that it is limited by the limitations of the times and does not have the conditions for direct immigration from the mainland to Africa, and a transition is needed.

I need to mention the population of the black indigenous tribes. When Lei Xiaopeng led the African Expeditionary Task Force arrived in Somalia, it was roughly estimated that there were nearly 300,000 black nomadic tribes. After these two years of misfortune, it plummeted to less than 200,000.

This is because the local indigenous black tribes, under the lure of high salaries in Xi'an, resorted to cruel methods to attack nearby tribes and arrested black slave laborers, causing great panic in the neighbouring Jibuti area, and small and medium black tribes fled the area one after another.

Some black tribes crossed the border of the Kingdom of Ethiopia to the west and fled into the highlands.

(Chapter 461)

Shangri-La and Borneo have similar resource conditions, similar climates, and the average annual income level is not much different. More than 90% of the population are agricultural population, and the average annual income per capita is around 2 to 3 pounds. This is the characteristic of the agricultural economy. In the fertile South Pacific, the upper limit of per capita annual income is generally low, and it is difficult to raise it. .

If you want to live a worry-free life, you only need to work hard to achieve it.

If you want to rely on farmland and plantations to get rich, only veterans and soldiers who have won a lot of merits can do it, but that is after all a minority and not universal.

Compared with Shangri-La, which is in full swing, the situation in Borneo is more complicated. There are still a few indigenous resistance forces, and development activities are relatively slow. At present, the main focus is on social stability and both suppression.

According to estimates

There are still 30,000 to 40,000 indigenous rebels in Borneo. Most of them are composed of young local men and women, scattered in the depths of the dense forest. However, as the Chinese organized the colonization of villages, their activity space has been greatly compressed.

Indigenous rebels mostly use spears and broadswords and earthen bows and arrows, and a small number of them hold old-fashioned earthen guns. Faced with the encirclement and suppression of organized militias equipped with rifles in Chinese immigrant villages, the number is shrinking sharply.

On the one hand, because there is no food and clothing in the tropical jungle, there is no clean and unpolluted water source, people are prone to diarrhea and infection after drinking, and mosquito bites cause many tropical diseases, and the living environment is worrying.

On the other hand, because the Borneo Military Command issued a new order, all rebels in the jungle are regarded as war criminals, and the villagers are allowed to dispose of them freely without reporting.

This regulation greatly aroused the enthusiasm of Chinese immigrants, and they took up arms and took the initiative to go into the mountains to encircle and suppress those who were killed or injured. Women captured alive can be brought home to have babies, and men demoted to serfs are all allowed. .

It won’t be long before the rebels will silently disappear into the tropical jungle...

In the occupied areas of East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan of Borneo, the total number of Chinese immigrants in recent years has reached 789,000, mainly agricultural population.

Red Fort is continuing to move forward to emigrate to Borneo. It is estimated that it will break through the one million immigration mark in 1886. By the end of the year, the number of immigrants will be between 1.08 and 1.15 million, depending on the local security situation and the smoothness of the reclamation work.

As long as the conditions are met, the entire Borneo is about to face a stage of explosive growth in the immigrant population, and this day is not far away.

The entire Borneo allowed two reservations for the indigenous population, and more than 80,000 old, young, women and children have gradually moved into these populations. There are basically no young women in these populations. After the death of the older generation, the population size will decline sharply. .

Looking at Shangri-La, the situation is much simpler and clearer.

There is no conflict between the indigenous population and the development project of Qixing Town in the Qingshui River Basin is entering the climax stage. It has the ability to further expand the acceptance of Chinese immigrants and advance the development work in depth.

Beginning of the beginning of the year

The long-prepared "Golden Water River Development Plan" was officially launched, playing the banner of "recreating brilliance." Commander-in-chief Nangong Yunfei personally took command and led tens of thousands of builders into the front line of development. The development of the two cities and towns proceeded at the same time. In, a scene of fiery construction.

In the Chinese immigration boom ushered in in 1885

The Shangri-La region is a key immigration area. The entire region, including Jayapura, Moresby, Longmen Town, Tianshu City and Qixing Town, has 341,100 immigrants throughout the year, which is about one-fifth of the immigrant population in 1885. The population of the district exceeded 1 million, reaching 1.2174 million.

With the gradual deepening of development, Shangri-La has a stronger ability to accept immigrants. In 1886, it will further increase immigration to the region and strive to reach a quarter of the total number of immigrants.

Among the newly acquired sites, as the trusteeship of Sulawesi Islands, the development of immigrants is obviously lagging behind other regions. 13,400 immigrants and a total population of 37,500 moved in throughout the year, mainly engaged in agriculture and fishing. The self-sufficient small farmer social system is relatively low in development priority.

Inventory of development over the past 10 years

Li Fushou was delighted to discover that if the territories of the East Indies and Somalia are added, the people under the rule have unknowingly exceeded the population of 8 million (excluding the southern states), and it is like a powerful force that cannot be underestimated.

Except for Australia, other regions are based on agriculture. The only strange thing is the town of Xi’an in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. It turns out to be a trade transit and smuggling as its main business, which has forcibly opened up a new world.

(Chapter 461)