John Augustus Hux (1826–1864): A colonial goldfields reporter

Abstract

Affairs are in such a state at the Flat that it is dangerous for any one to give their opinions with respect to the proceedings that have taken place: but I will state my opinions, without fear or favour, let the result be what it may. So wrote John Augustus Hux in response to death threats he received as a consequence of his reporting of the anti-Chinese riots at Lambing Flat on 30 June 1861. 2 The statement provides an indication of the character of a man who came to Australia in the early 1850s and then spent most of the rest of his short life on the colonial goldfields in the 1850s and 1860s. Gold, newspapers and reporters The discovery of gold in the mid nineteenth century changed the face of colonial society in Australia dramatically and in countless ways, not least through the massive migration and population growth it spurred. Covering the goldrushes and the many changes that occurred were major tasks for contemporary newspapers, as the public's appetite for information about gold was insatiable. The main sources for this information were the newspapers and, for them, gold was 'gold', not least for the capital city dailies, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Empire (Sydney) and The Argus (Melbourne). Gold took up a significant proportion of their pages, with just about everything imaginable associated with the precious metal: editorials, specific reports, short reports in the 'Domestic Intelligence' columns, the 'Gold Circulars', reports from other colonies and overseas (for example, California, New Zealand), 'Original Correspondence' (letters to the editor), personal messages and countless advertisements for everything connected with gold and its mining, such as the necessary clothing and equipment, and even 'how-to' books. Much of the 1 Much appreciation is extended to Dr Alexis Antonia, Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing, University of Newcastle, for textual analysis in helping to confirm the attribution of some of Hux's articles, and for confirming the presence of another so-far anonymous 'Special Commissioner' reporting for the Sydney Morning Herald from Lambing Flat. Her comments on an earlier version of this article are also appreciated. Thanks are also due to Malcolm Allbrook and Brendan Dalton for numerous discussions, to Clive Hilliker for his cartography and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.