during the victorian gold rush there was a rush to the nearby buckland river. as the gold deposits gradually diminished, chinese miners arrived in the area to sift the abandoned claims. tensions over chinese success from anglo-irish miners caused the violent buckland riot in 1857, resulting in deaths of chinese miners and the fleeing of 2,000 chinese. the riot was eventually quelled by the beechworth police under the command of robert o'hara burke from 80 kilometres away.