The Gold Rush, 1850s

The gold rush in the 1850s brought a dramatic increase in trade and a constant flow of immigrants to Victoria. When Victoria was proclaimed a separate colony in 1850 there had been concern whether the new government could raise sufficient revenue.

The Customs department was the government's own gold mine. Duties were levied on all the imported luxuries brought into the wealthy colony, while a tax was levied on the export of gold. Customs revenue in 1850 totalled 84,000. In 1854 the customs officers collected the same amount in a month.

Not everybody appreciated this success. The Melbourne Morning Herald fumed that customs officers were 'engaged in nothing more than in so disguising the medicine of taxation that the patient shall take it without being aware of the precise moment when he does so'.