Chinese Museum
A living part of Melbourne's modern Chinatown, the Chinese Museum is a national museum, brought into being in 1985 to document, preserve and display the history of Australians of Chinese descent who have helped shape and develop what it means to be Australian today. A range of changing exhibitions, heritage tours and public seminars are some of the ways by which the Chinese Museum shares the past, culture, and values of Australia's Chinese community with the wider public.Location: 22 Cohen Place, Chinatown, Melbourne.
Contact (02) 9662 2888.
The Chinese Museum is located in Melbourne's Chinatown, which is centred at the eastern end of Little Bourke Street, and extends between the corners of Swanston and Spring Streets. It is notable for being the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western World and one of the oldest Chinatowns in the Southern Hemisphere. Since its inception in 1854 and the arrival of Chinese immigrants to Melbourne, the city Chinatown has played an important role in establishing the history and culture of the ethnic Chinese immigrants in Australia.
Melbourne's Chinatown has a long and illustrious history. It was established during the Victorian gold rush in 1851 when Chinese prospectors came to Australia for the gold rush in search of gold. In late 1854, the first Chinese lodging houses were created in Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue (off Little Bourke Street). This particular location was considered convenient for the immigrants, as it was a staging post for new Chinese immigrants as well as supplies en route to the goldfields.
It is notable for being the oldest Chinatown in Australia, the oldest continuous Chinese settlement in Australia, and the second longest continuous Chinese settlement in the western world, only because San Francisco's Chinatown was nearly, but not completely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. The gold rush eventually waned, causing a shift from rural living and an influx of people migrating into metropolitan Melbourne, particularly Little Bourke Street, which already had a predominantly Chinese population.
The Chinese established themselves as storekeepers, importers, furniture-makers, herbalists and in the wholesale fruit and vegetable and restaurant industries. Christian churches were built and Chinese political groups and newspapers were subsequently formed. Other members of the Chinese community who lived and worked elsewhere used Chinatown to congregate with friends. The area also provided further support to new Chinese immigrants. Early in its history, during a thriving period in the 1850s, Chinatown housed "salubrious" enterprises including opium dens, brothels and boarding houses, but maintained a distinctly 'entrepreneurial air'.
From 1900 1920, the Chinatown peaked in terms of population and activity, which was hampered by the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act and a general shift of businesses and residents from the Melbourne's central business district. The Dim Sim was invented in Chinatown, by William Wing Young, in 1945, at his restaurant Wing Lee, and has become a major snack food in takeaway outlets and Chinese restaurants throughout the entire country. European residents of Melbourne and university students of the city began frequenting Chinatown eateries in the 1930s, leading to gradual mainstream Australian popularity which boomed in the 1960s 70s. This boom was further enlarged by the re-development, at the request of Chinatown entrepreneur David Neng-Hsiang Wang, of Little Bourke Street leading to the archways of today.
The 1970s and 80's also saw the eradication of the controversial discriminatory immigration regulations, which saw immigration from Indochina, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China. In 2010, the ground floor of the Chinese Museum was remodeled as a visitor centre for Melbourne's Chinatown. In 2011, a Memorial statue of Dr Sun Yat-sen was unveiled outside the Museum's entrance in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China. The traditional Chinese New Year Lion Dance has always ended at this spot, but will now end with a blessing of the statue.
