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Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son
“Yong,” my father said one night as I sat on the earthen floor, stroking my pet cricket and determined to save it from being eaten. “You will come with me to Australia.” Yong doesn’t want to leave Guangdong to travel to the goldfields of Ballarat. But as the firstborn son, he has no choice. On the long and treacherous journey, Yong strives to be an honourable son, while he and his father face many hardships and dangers. But in his heart he knows the shameful truth – that his honour is a lie. Can a journey change lives? Has Yong the courage to face what lies ahead?
Poignant, gripping and beautifully written by award-winning South Australian author Janeen Brian.
While set in the 1850s, the story has strong parallels with recent world events and the plight of refugees and asylum seekers.
Meticulously researched, Janeen Brian has vividly and realistically brought to life 1850s' Chinese and Australian culture, and themes of prejudice, racism, exploitation, desperation and coping with change are explored.
Poignant, gripping and beautifully written by award-winning South Australian author Janeen Brian.
While set in the 1850s, the story has strong parallels with recent world events and the plight of refugees and asylum seekers.
Meticulously researched, Janeen Brian has vividly and realistically brought to life 1850s' Chinese and Australian culture, and themes of prejudice, racism, exploitation, desperation and coping with change are explored.
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 9, 2016
This would be a fantastic book for Australian children to read so that they can understand the trials that Chinese miners undertook in getting to the Australian goldfields in the 1850's. They can experience the hardships through the eyes of Yong, a young boy who has reluctantly accompanied his father to Australia from Canton in China to find gold in Ballarat.The book is rich in historical details and really brings the Chinese story alive. Readers will sympathise with Yong's story and begin to understand the difficulties Chinese miners faced at this time. A few niggles, the author mentions the grandmother's bound feet but I feel this was practised in wealthy Chinese families which Yong's is not. The other thing that irked me a bit was that the Australian characters are almost universally horrible - bullies, cheaters and extremely racist. There is one sympathetic woman who serves them in a shop but everyone else is awful. Maybe that's the way is was I don't know, certainly makes me feel ashamed of Australians of the time. Excellent book
February 18, 2017
I think this is a very important book for Australian children in particular. Again this is a story I didn't know - the story of hundreds of Chinese immigrants who were headed for the Victorian goldfields but were blown off course to the coast near Robe and were forced to walk all the way to Ballarat. Yong and his father are among this group. Yong is a likeable character that readers will connect with and has demons to exorcise: he wants to be an honourable son and there is plenty of strife and danger along the way to test his resolve. This is a story I have never seen in a children's book. It will fit the Australian National Curriculum on a number of levels: immigrants and what they contributed to Australia; settling in to Australia; Chinese history of Australia, Asian Studies and cultural diversity. Suitable for mid primary and upper primary.
November 19, 2020
Historical records show that before gold was discovered in Victoria in 1851, European colonists had already introduced about 3,000 Chinese labourers to work in Australia. By 1855, tens of thousands of Chinese peasants had joined other fortune-seekers from all corners of the globe to dig for gold in the Great Southern Land. The number of Chinese miners in Victoria alone increased from approximately 11,000 in 1855 to 35,000 in 1857. This caused grave concern to European miners and the Anglo-Celtic mainstream society in general.
In the late 1850s, a series of large-scale anti-Chinese riots took place in goldfields across the Grampians, such as Bendigo, Daylesford, Castlemaine, Ararat, Ballarat and the Buckland Valley. Meanwhile, Victoria’s restrictions on Chinese entry, including a landing tax of £10 per person (more than the cost of their voyage from China to Australia), prompted more than 16,000 Chinese diggers to land in Robe, South Australia, and then walk more than 320 kilometres overland to Ballarat and Bendigo. New South Wales also felt the impact of Chinese arrival. Violent demonstrations occurred in goldfields across the Burrangong region between 1857 and 1861, including the notorious Lambing Flat Riots, in which up to 2,000 European miners attacked their Chinese counterparts, destroying their tents and looting their possessions.
By the time the population in Victoria reached approximately 538,630 in 1861 (from 77,000 only a decade before), there were just about 13,000 Chinese left in that state. This accounted for 43 percent of the total Chinese population in Australia, which was approximately 30,000 in that year. Many of them worked as market-gardeners and provided agricultural produce to cities and towns. Others set up grocery stores, restaurants, laundries, butcheries and furniture shops, while still others worked as domestic servants, tailors, herbalists, labourers, street hawkers and even night soil collectors. As a result of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, the Chinese population in Australia further reduced to only about 9,000 by 1947. Among them, 3,700 were born and raised locally and made a considerable contribution to the development of Australia as a new nation.
These background details are useful in one’s attempt to understand why a thirteen-year-old Chinese youth named Yong feels obliged to travel to Australia with his father in Janeen Brian’s refreshing young adult fiction Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son (Walker Books Australia, 2016). As a boy, Yong loves nothing more than flying kites and playing cricket-fighting with his best friend. However, as a son – and the oldest son in his family – Yong has to do as his father commands as the latter leads a group of villagers to the other side of the world.
“The truth was, though, that no one in our village had ever been to a goldfield, and they knew little of it. Not even my father. How could he be so sure that leaving our farms in China and digging for gold in Australia would change our fortunes for the better?” (p.10)
This question haunts Yong during the weeks it takes him to walk from his home village in China’s Guangdong Province to the seaport, leaving behind his frail grandmother and younger brothers and sister. It lingers throughout the following months he spends on a British ship that sails from Hong Kong to Australia, crowded with hundreds of seasick men in a dark, humid and ill-smelling cabin like agitated ants buried alive. It continues to trouble him as he embarks on the long journey by foot to Ballarat from the South Australian coastal town of Robe, risking being arrested by soldiers, attacked by wild animals, robbed by the so-called guide and/or discriminated against by the local White People. His unlikely salvation: “At this moment, I only have one thought. And that is, if I die now, I will have died as a dutiful son. I will have honoured the wishes of my father and that will please our ancestors.” (p.13)
As author, Brian does a brilliant job portraying a teenager troubled by an uncertain future full of conflicting mental and emotional challenges. While Yong desperately wants to win his father’s approval by being capable and brave, he constantly fears his unworthiness, as he cannot easily comprehend the reasons behind some of the things that adults say and do. Tossed onto a foreign land where nothing is familiar and all behavioural and moral norms appear to have lost, he is forced to become a man overnight, but still sees things black and white from a child’s perspective. Such constant inner battle is universal as all teenagers have to experience the struggle between their desire to conform and a fierce need to break free.
While it is unlikely that a farming household in mid-19th century rural China would send their oldest son – who is expected to continue the precious family line – on a treacherous overseas journey such as the one depicted in Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son, this somehow helps readers to comprehend the sense of urgent responsibility that Yong acutely feels as a young man. Particularly after the tragedy that Yong encounters near the end of the book, how he survives in the Australian goldfields while supporting his family back in China becomes critical. It remains this reviewer’s hope that the author will provide some satisfying answers in a sequel.
This review was originally published on "Voices under the Sun" blog (https://christinesunflower.com/2017/0...).
In the late 1850s, a series of large-scale anti-Chinese riots took place in goldfields across the Grampians, such as Bendigo, Daylesford, Castlemaine, Ararat, Ballarat and the Buckland Valley. Meanwhile, Victoria’s restrictions on Chinese entry, including a landing tax of £10 per person (more than the cost of their voyage from China to Australia), prompted more than 16,000 Chinese diggers to land in Robe, South Australia, and then walk more than 320 kilometres overland to Ballarat and Bendigo. New South Wales also felt the impact of Chinese arrival. Violent demonstrations occurred in goldfields across the Burrangong region between 1857 and 1861, including the notorious Lambing Flat Riots, in which up to 2,000 European miners attacked their Chinese counterparts, destroying their tents and looting their possessions.
By the time the population in Victoria reached approximately 538,630 in 1861 (from 77,000 only a decade before), there were just about 13,000 Chinese left in that state. This accounted for 43 percent of the total Chinese population in Australia, which was approximately 30,000 in that year. Many of them worked as market-gardeners and provided agricultural produce to cities and towns. Others set up grocery stores, restaurants, laundries, butcheries and furniture shops, while still others worked as domestic servants, tailors, herbalists, labourers, street hawkers and even night soil collectors. As a result of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, the Chinese population in Australia further reduced to only about 9,000 by 1947. Among them, 3,700 were born and raised locally and made a considerable contribution to the development of Australia as a new nation.
These background details are useful in one’s attempt to understand why a thirteen-year-old Chinese youth named Yong feels obliged to travel to Australia with his father in Janeen Brian’s refreshing young adult fiction Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son (Walker Books Australia, 2016). As a boy, Yong loves nothing more than flying kites and playing cricket-fighting with his best friend. However, as a son – and the oldest son in his family – Yong has to do as his father commands as the latter leads a group of villagers to the other side of the world.
“The truth was, though, that no one in our village had ever been to a goldfield, and they knew little of it. Not even my father. How could he be so sure that leaving our farms in China and digging for gold in Australia would change our fortunes for the better?” (p.10)
This question haunts Yong during the weeks it takes him to walk from his home village in China’s Guangdong Province to the seaport, leaving behind his frail grandmother and younger brothers and sister. It lingers throughout the following months he spends on a British ship that sails from Hong Kong to Australia, crowded with hundreds of seasick men in a dark, humid and ill-smelling cabin like agitated ants buried alive. It continues to trouble him as he embarks on the long journey by foot to Ballarat from the South Australian coastal town of Robe, risking being arrested by soldiers, attacked by wild animals, robbed by the so-called guide and/or discriminated against by the local White People. His unlikely salvation: “At this moment, I only have one thought. And that is, if I die now, I will have died as a dutiful son. I will have honoured the wishes of my father and that will please our ancestors.” (p.13)
As author, Brian does a brilliant job portraying a teenager troubled by an uncertain future full of conflicting mental and emotional challenges. While Yong desperately wants to win his father’s approval by being capable and brave, he constantly fears his unworthiness, as he cannot easily comprehend the reasons behind some of the things that adults say and do. Tossed onto a foreign land where nothing is familiar and all behavioural and moral norms appear to have lost, he is forced to become a man overnight, but still sees things black and white from a child’s perspective. Such constant inner battle is universal as all teenagers have to experience the struggle between their desire to conform and a fierce need to break free.
While it is unlikely that a farming household in mid-19th century rural China would send their oldest son – who is expected to continue the precious family line – on a treacherous overseas journey such as the one depicted in Yong: The Journey of an Unworthy Son, this somehow helps readers to comprehend the sense of urgent responsibility that Yong acutely feels as a young man. Particularly after the tragedy that Yong encounters near the end of the book, how he survives in the Australian goldfields while supporting his family back in China becomes critical. It remains this reviewer’s hope that the author will provide some satisfying answers in a sequel.
This review was originally published on "Voices under the Sun" blog (https://christinesunflower.com/2017/0...).
May 27, 2020
I didn’t actually finish this book😐
July 10, 2017
The author gives children an insight into how brave and difficult a journey Chinese miners made to the Australian goldfields in Victoria in the mid nineteenth century. They were not well received, and this narrative gives a snapshot, albeit fictional, in an accessible format. Yong is forced to grow up, against his will, as his father takes him on a journey to the other side of the world. Yet he takes with him the values of his culture, as well as persistence, bravery and dignity, all of which he retains respectfully and with integrity. A good read for children who like history, family and adventure.
April 2, 2017
A wonderful story about a young Chinese boy travelling to the Ballarat goldfields with his father. A story of courage, hope and loyalty. Terrific connections to the Australian history curriculum; a must read (would also be a good read aloud) for Year 5 students.
March 31, 2018
Yong and his father travel from China at great risk to make their fortune in the Victorian goldfields, but find themselves in South Australia, not Victoria. They set out on the journey to Victoria on foot with an Australian guide. Of their group, only Yong and his father speak some English, which makes the group targets of deception . However Yong's father forbids Yong to speak English as this will disrespect the older Chinese men who cannot speak English. The sometimes harrowing story unfolds with Yong's observations and his emotions of being an unworthy son of his strict father.
I really enjoyed this perspective and it gave me insight into the struggles of all migrants of this era, and migrants who do not speak the language of their new country. I think it would be an excellent book for Australian children in Stage 3 to read.
I really enjoyed this perspective and it gave me insight into the struggles of all migrants of this era, and migrants who do not speak the language of their new country. I think it would be an excellent book for Australian children in Stage 3 to read.
October 15, 2023
This story is set in the Australia goldrush of 1850s. While the author emphasized this is a work of fiction, the plot and circumstances are based on the experience of Chinese migrants landing in the southeast part of South Australia and trekking over 400 km to Victoria to avoid the tax levied on ships carrying Chinese passengers.
While the book ends on a hopeful note, we know that the atrocities committed against the Chinese at the goldmine sites were horrifying. I worry about how Yong would have coped (perhaps the author should do a sequel).
https://msaag.aag.org/wp-content/uplo...
While the book ends on a hopeful note, we know that the atrocities committed against the Chinese at the goldmine sites were horrifying. I worry about how Yong would have coped (perhaps the author should do a sequel).
https://msaag.aag.org/wp-content/uplo...
September 14, 2021
I really enjoyed reading Yong's journey. Before this, I had given far too little thought to the plight of Chinese immigrants who came to the gold fields in Ballarat. I think most Australians are aware that they came, but we hear very little about their lives. I'm interested to read more of their stories now, so I'm glad I read Yong.
August 2, 2025
An interesting look at some of Australia/Chinese history from the point of view of young Yong as he makes his way to the Ballarat Goldfields. I wanted to read this book before I saw the play adaptation of it.
(If you are in Australia and get a chance to see Monkey Baa’s production it was amazing - performed by one actor)
(If you are in Australia and get a chance to see Monkey Baa’s production it was amazing - performed by one actor)
July 16, 2025
Read this for work lol
February 20, 2017
Little known story about the Chinese gold miners who walked from SA to the Victorian goldfields. I felt Yong's father got a raw deal. He seemed so mean, then at the end we see a softer side. I wished he'd been a more complex character throughout. He just wasn't for me. Nevertheless, a good look at a part of history I knew little about.
September 1, 2016
Excellent novel about a young Chinese boy journeying to the Victorian goldfields with his father and men from his village. Gives an alternative narrative to the one often taught in history.
Suitable for Year 5 - 7
Suitable for Year 5 - 7
January 3, 2017
Perfect for primary schools . This should be on the CBCA winners 2017 list as well , fantastic insight into the Australian goldmine harshness, the cold hard realities of racism with new Asian settlers joining in the search for the elusive gold.....
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews