Chinese Australian
Encyclopedia
Chinese Australian is an Australian of Chinese
heritage. In the 2006 Australian Census, 669,890 Australian
residents identified themselves as having Chinese
ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.
The early history of Chinese Australians had involved significant immigration
from villages
of the Pearl River Delta
in Southern China. Less well known are the kind of society Chinese Australians came from, the families they left behind and what their intentions were in coming. Many Chinese were lured to Australia by the gold rush
. (Since the mid-19th century, Australia
was dubbed the New Gold Mountain after the Gold Mountain of California
in North America
.) They sent money to their families in the villages, and regularly visited their families and retired to the village after many years, working as a market garden
er, shopkeeper
or cabinet
maker. As with many overseas Chinese groups the world over, early Chinese immigrants to Australia established Chinatown
s in several major cities, such as Sydney
(Chinatown, Sydney
), Brisbane
(Chinatown, Brisbane
) and Melbourne
(Chinatown, Melbourne
).
The White Australia Policy
of the early 20th Century severely curtailed the development of the Chinese communities in Australia. However, since the advent of Multiculturalism
as a government policy in the 1970s, many ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong
, Mainland China
, Taiwan
, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia
, Malaysia, Singapore
, Vietnam
, Cambodia
) have immigrated to Australia
.
In 2005-6 China (not including Hong Kong or Macau) was the third major source of permanent migrants to Australia
behind the United Kingdom and New Zealand but with more migrants than from India. Between 2000–01 and 2005–06, the number of skilled migrants coming to Australia from China more than tripled, from 3,800 to 12,500 people.
, links with China were established when several ships of the First Fleet
, after dropping off their convict
load, sailed for Canton
to pick up goods for the return to England
. The Bigge Report attributed the high level of tea drinking to 'the existence of an intercourse with China from the foundation of the Colony …' That the ships carrying such cargo had Chinese crew members is likely and that some of the crew and possibly passengers embarked at the port of Sydney is probable. Certainly by 1818, Mak Sai Ying
(also known as John Shying) had arrived and after a period of farming became, in 1829, the publican
of The Lion in Parramatta
. John Macarthur
, a prominent pastoralist, employed three Chinese people on his properties in the 1820s and records may well have neglected others.
s and irrigation
experts for private landowners and the Australian Agricultural Company
. These workers seemingly all came from Fujian
via the port then known as Amoy (Xiamen
) and some may have been brought involuntarily, as kidnapping
or the 'sale of pigs', as it was called, was common.
Between 1848 and 1853, over 3,000 Chinese workers on contracts arrived via the Port of Sydney for employment in the NSW countryside. Resistance to this cheap labour occurred as soon as it arrived, and, like such protests later in the century, was heavily mixed with racism
. Little is known of the habits of such men or their relations with other NSW residents except for those that appear in the records of the courts and mental asylums. Some stayed for the term of their contracts and then left for home, but there is evidence that others spent the rest of their lives in NSW. A Gulgong resident who died at age 105 in 1911 had been in NSW since 1841 while in 1871 the Keeper of Lunacy still required the Amoy dialect from his interpreters.
, soon developed to support the miners on the fields as well as those on their way to the diggings or back to China. The presence of numerous Chinese on the diggings led to anti-Chinese agitation, including violent clashes such as the Lambing Flat riots
, the immediate result of which was the passing of an Act in 1861 designed to reduce the number of Chinese people entering the colony.
Colonies of Australia occurred in 1873 in the far north of Queensland
at the Palmer River
, and by 1877 there were 20,000 Chinese there. After the ending of this Queensland rush, people either returned to China or dispersed, including a significant number coming into NSW either immediately or in subsequent years. This openness of the land borders and the rise in Chinese numbers after a period of decline again raised anti-Chinese fears in NSW, resulting in restrictive Acts in 1881 and 1888.
Mining was a risky endeavour and very soon after arrival Chinese people began trying other ways of earning a living. People opened stores and became merchant
s and hawker
s, while a fishing
and fish curing industry operating north and south of Sydney supplied dried fish in the 1860s and 1870s to Chinese people throughout NSW as well as Melbourne. By the 1890s Chinese people were represented in a wide variety of occupations including scrub
cutters, interpreters
, cook
s, tobacco
farmer
s, market gardeners, cabinet-makers, storekeeper
s and draper
s, though by this time the fishing industry seemed to have disappeared. At the same time, Sydney’s proportion of the Chinese residents of NSW had steadily increased. One prominent Chinese Australian at this time was Mei Quong Tart
, who ran a popular tea house in the Queen Victoria Building
in Sydney.The Chinese were not very popular with the British-population as they found more gold from mining.
By the time of Australian Federation, there were around 29,000 ethnic Chinese in Australia: Chinese people in NSW were a significant group, running numerous stores, an import trade, societies and several Chinese language
newspapers. They were also part of an international community involved in political events in China such as sending delegates to a Peking Parliament or making donations at times of natural disaster. The NSW immigration restrictions of 1888 had not had a great impact on total numbers and a continued inflow of Chinese from Queensland mitigated even this. The passing of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901
, however, froze the Chinese communities of the late 19th century into a slow decline.
Continued discrimination
, both legal and social, reduced the occupational range of Chinese people until market gardening, always a major occupation, became far and away the representative role of 'John Chinaman'. It was as gardeners that most pre-1901 now granted status as ‘domiciles’ under the 1901 Act, visited their villages and established families throughout the first 30 years or so of the 20th century, relying on the minority of merchants to assist them to negotiate with the Immigration Restriction Act bureaucracy. Only the rise of a new generation of Australian-born Chinese people, combined with new migrants that the merchants and others sponsored, both legally and illegally, prevented the Chinese population of NSW disappearing entirely.
. Some were Chinese crew members who refused to return to Japanese-held areas and others were residents of the many Pacific islands evacuated in the face of the Japanese advance. Still others included those with Australian birth who were able to leave Hong Kong
and the villages on the approach of the Japanese. At the same time the anti-Japanese War helped inspire the development of organisations focused on China rather than the districts and villages of people's origin only, and aimed at making Australia aware of the danger of Japan and the need to assist China. A few of these organizations, such as the Chinese Youth League, survive to this day.
The final end of the White Australia Policy saw new arrivals from the Chinese diaspora and for the first time significant numbers from non-Cantonese speaking parts of China. The first wave of arrivals were ethnic Chinese refugee
s from Vietnam
and Cambodia
during the 1970s; this was followed by economic migrants from Hong Kong
in the 1980s and 1990s, whose families often settled in Sydney
while the breadwinner returned to Hong Kong to continue earning an income – a significant reversal of the traditional migration pattern.
After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
, the Australian Prime Minister of the day, Bob Hawke
, allowed students from mainland China to settle in Australia permanently. Since then, immigrants from mainland China
and Taiwan
have arrived in increasing numbers.
New institutions were established for these arrivals and old ones such as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce revived; Chinese language newspapers were once again published. The equality of citizenship laws and family reunion immigration after 1972 meant that an imbalance of the sexes, once a dominant feature of the Chinese communities in Australia, was not an issue in these later migrations.
Chinese newspaper
s are published in Australia and three shortwave and longwave radio channels broadcast in Cantonese
and Mandarin
. The Australian public broadcaster SBS
also provides television
and radiprate on weekends. Chinese Australian social websites like 新足迹 (www.oursteps.com.au), FREEOZ (www.freeoz.org) also blossomed. Several Chinese Australians have received the Order of Australia
award and there are current representatives in both State and Federal parliaments.
In the late 1990s, many of the suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne have turned to Satellite Chinatowns, such as the Chatswood
area, Hurstville
area, Carlingford
/Eastwood
/Epping
area, Box Hill
,
Auburn
, Burwood
, Springvale
, Beverly Hills
, Glen Waverley
, Campsie
and Parramatta
.
According to the 2006 Australian Census, 206,591 Australians declared they were born in China (excludes SARs and Republic of China (Taiwan)). A further 71,803 declared they were born in the Hong Kong SAR, 2,013 in the Macau SAR and 24,368 in Taiwan: a total of 304,775 or 1.5% of those counted by the Census. Chinese ancestry was claimed by 669,896, either alone or with another ancestry, and Taiwanese ancestry was claimed by 5,837 persons. The 2001 Australian Census reported that Chinese was the sixth most common self-reported ancestry. Just under 40% of those claiming Chinese ancestry were born in mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan; 26% were born in Australia with other notable birth places being Malaysia (10%) and Vietnam (8%).
Chinese Australians have historically been of predominately Cantonese
descent from Hong Kong and Canton province. Due to recent immigration from other regions of mainland China and Taiwan, Mandarin
and other Chinese languages are increasingly spoken as well. The Australian Bureau of Statistics
lists 225,300 speakers of Cantonese (40.4% of Chinese Australians), followed by Mandarin at 139,300 (25.0%) and other Chinese languages at 36,700. Second or higher generation Chinese Australians are either monolingual in English
or bilingual to varying degrees with Chinese.
According to the 2006 Census, Sydney was home to over half (53%) of the Chinese population. Melbourne had just over one-quarter of the Chinese born population (26%). Together, the other Australian capitals had 15% of the Chinese populations.
In Sydney
there were 292,338 persons, or approximately 7% of the population, who identified themselves as having Chinese ancestry (either exclusively or with another ancestry). Other Australian cities with large Chinese populations include Melbourne
(182,550 or 5.1%), Perth
(53,390 or 3.7%) and Brisbane
(50,908 or 2.9%).
53% of mainland China-born and 51% of Hong Kong born residents were enumerated in Sydney, while the largest portion of Taiwanese-born residents are in Brisbane (34%).
Chinese migrants are drawn from the Chinese diaspora. The 2001 Australian Census
lists the main source countries and regions for overseas born ethnic Chinese
as:
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
heritage. In the 2006 Australian Census, 669,890 Australian
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
residents identified themselves as having Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.
The early history of Chinese Australians had involved significant immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
from villages
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of the Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta , Zhujiang Delta or Zhusanjiao in Guangdong province, People's Republic of China is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea...
in Southern China. Less well known are the kind of society Chinese Australians came from, the families they left behind and what their intentions were in coming. Many Chinese were lured to Australia by the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
. (Since the mid-19th century, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
was dubbed the New Gold Mountain after the Gold Mountain of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.) They sent money to their families in the villages, and regularly visited their families and retired to the village after many years, working as a market garden
Market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
er, shopkeeper
Shopkeeper
A shopkeeper is an individual who owns a shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as shopkeepers. Today, a shopkeeper is usually referred to as a manager, though this term could apply to larger firms .*In many south asian languages like Hindi, Urdu,...
or cabinet
Cabinet (furniture)
A cabinet is usually a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors or drawers for storing miscellaneous items. Some cabinets stand alone while others are built into a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood or, now increasingly, of synthetic...
maker. As with many overseas Chinese groups the world over, early Chinese immigrants to Australia established Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
s in several major cities, such as Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
(Chinatown, Sydney
Chinatown, Sydney
Sydney's Chinatown is an urban locality in the southern part of the Sydney central business district, in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Haymarket, between Central Station and Darling Harbour...
), Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(Chinatown, Brisbane
Chinatown, Brisbane
Chinatown is a precinct in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Chinatown mall is a major destination for Brisbane residents and tourists. Since opening, it has become a significant landmark in Brisbane and a recognizable focus for Chinese social and commercial activity....
) and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(Chinatown, Melbourne
Chinatown, Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia's Chinatown is located within the Melbourne Central Business District and is centred near around the eastern end of Little Bourke St. It extends between the corners of Swanston and Spring Streets.-History:...
).
The White Australia Policy
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
of the early 20th Century severely curtailed the development of the Chinese communities in Australia. However, since the advent of Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
as a government policy in the 1970s, many ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
) have immigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
In 2005-6 China (not including Hong Kong or Macau) was the third major source of permanent migrants to Australia
Immigration to Australia
Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...
behind the United Kingdom and New Zealand but with more migrants than from India. Between 2000–01 and 2005–06, the number of skilled migrants coming to Australia from China more than tripled, from 3,800 to 12,500 people.
Earliest arrivals: 1788 to 1848
From the very beginning of the colony of New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, links with China were established when several ships of the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
, after dropping off their convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
load, sailed for Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
to pick up goods for the return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The Bigge Report attributed the high level of tea drinking to 'the existence of an intercourse with China from the foundation of the Colony …' That the ships carrying such cargo had Chinese crew members is likely and that some of the crew and possibly passengers embarked at the port of Sydney is probable. Certainly by 1818, Mak Sai Ying
Mak Sai Ying
Mak Sai Ying was the first known Chinese born settler to Australia, arriving in 1818...
(also known as John Shying) had arrived and after a period of farming became, in 1829, the publican
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
of The Lion in Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
. John Macarthur
John MacArthur
John MacArthur may refer to:* John Macarthur , Australian wool industry pioneer and Rum Rebel* John McArthur, Jr. , American architect* John McArthur , Union general during the American Civil War...
, a prominent pastoralist, employed three Chinese people on his properties in the 1820s and records may well have neglected others.
Indentured labour: 1848 to 1853
Individuals such as Macarthur’s employees were part of the varied mix that was early Sydney Town. It was the increasing demand for labour after convict transportation ceased in the 1840s that led to much larger numbers of Chinese men arriving as indentured labourers, to work as shepherdShepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
s and irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
experts for private landowners and the Australian Agricultural Company
Australian Agricultural Company
The Australian Agricultural Company is a company which serves to improve beef cattle production through responsible natural resource and land use...
. These workers seemingly all came from Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
via the port then known as Amoy (Xiamen
Xiamen
Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
) and some may have been brought involuntarily, as kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
or the 'sale of pigs', as it was called, was common.
Between 1848 and 1853, over 3,000 Chinese workers on contracts arrived via the Port of Sydney for employment in the NSW countryside. Resistance to this cheap labour occurred as soon as it arrived, and, like such protests later in the century, was heavily mixed with racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. Little is known of the habits of such men or their relations with other NSW residents except for those that appear in the records of the courts and mental asylums. Some stayed for the term of their contracts and then left for home, but there is evidence that others spent the rest of their lives in NSW. A Gulgong resident who died at age 105 in 1911 had been in NSW since 1841 while in 1871 the Keeper of Lunacy still required the Amoy dialect from his interpreters.
Gold rushes: 1853 to 1877
Large numbers of Chinese people were working on the Victorian goldfields and fewer on the smaller NSW fields in the mid 1850s, when major gold finds in NSW and the passing of more restrictive anti-Chinese legislation in Victoria resulted in thousands of miners moving across the border in 1859. Many more Chinese goldseekers came by ship through Twofold Bay and Sydney and onto the various diggings. Fish curing, stores and dormitories in places such as The RocksThe Rocks, New South Wales
The Rocks is an urban locality, tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney's city centre, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, immediately north-west of the Sydney central business district...
, soon developed to support the miners on the fields as well as those on their way to the diggings or back to China. The presence of numerous Chinese on the diggings led to anti-Chinese agitation, including violent clashes such as the Lambing Flat riots
Lambing Flat riots
The Lambing Flat riots were a series of violent anti-Chinese demonstrations that took place in the Burrangong region, in New South Wales, Australia...
, the immediate result of which was the passing of an Act in 1861 designed to reduce the number of Chinese people entering the colony.
From miners to artisans: 1877 to 1901
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
at the Palmer River
Palmer River
The Palmer River is a river southwest of Cooktown in northeastern Australia. It was the site of a gold rush in the late 19th century which started in 1872. The Palmer River flows west across Cape York to the Gulf of Carpentaria, via the Mitchell River...
, and by 1877 there were 20,000 Chinese there. After the ending of this Queensland rush, people either returned to China or dispersed, including a significant number coming into NSW either immediately or in subsequent years. This openness of the land borders and the rise in Chinese numbers after a period of decline again raised anti-Chinese fears in NSW, resulting in restrictive Acts in 1881 and 1888.
Mining was a risky endeavour and very soon after arrival Chinese people began trying other ways of earning a living. People opened stores and became merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s and hawker
Hawker (trade)
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area...
s, while a fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and fish curing industry operating north and south of Sydney supplied dried fish in the 1860s and 1870s to Chinese people throughout NSW as well as Melbourne. By the 1890s Chinese people were represented in a wide variety of occupations including scrub
Scrub
Scrub or Scrubber may refer to:* Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland* Scrubs , worn by medical staff* Scrubs , an American television program...
cutters, interpreters
Interpreting
Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
, cook
Cook (profession)
A cook is a person who prepares food for consumption. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Canada this profession requires government approval ....
s, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s, market gardeners, cabinet-makers, storekeeper
Storekeeper
Storekeeper is an enlisted rating in the United States Coast Guard; until 2009 it was also a United States Navy rating, the most common supply rate in US Navy vs. CS and SH and very much equivalent to the MOS 92 of the US Army...
s and draper
Draper
Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...
s, though by this time the fishing industry seemed to have disappeared. At the same time, Sydney’s proportion of the Chinese residents of NSW had steadily increased. One prominent Chinese Australian at this time was Mei Quong Tart
Mei Quong Tart
Mei Quong Tart was a leading nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment in Australia...
, who ran a popular tea house in the Queen Victoria Building
Queen Victoria Building
The Queen Victoria Building, or QVB, is a late nineteenth century building by the architect George McRae in the central business district of Sydney, Australia. The Romanesque Revival building is 30 metres wide by 190 metres long, and fills a city block, bounded by George, Market, York and Druitt...
in Sydney.The Chinese were not very popular with the British-population as they found more gold from mining.
Domiciles and Australian-born Chinese: 1901 to 1936
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
newspapers. They were also part of an international community involved in political events in China such as sending delegates to a Peking Parliament or making donations at times of natural disaster. The NSW immigration restrictions of 1888 had not had a great impact on total numbers and a continued inflow of Chinese from Queensland mitigated even this. The passing of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
, however, froze the Chinese communities of the late 19th century into a slow decline.
Continued discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
, both legal and social, reduced the occupational range of Chinese people until market gardening, always a major occupation, became far and away the representative role of 'John Chinaman'. It was as gardeners that most pre-1901 now granted status as ‘domiciles’ under the 1901 Act, visited their villages and established families throughout the first 30 years or so of the 20th century, relying on the minority of merchants to assist them to negotiate with the Immigration Restriction Act bureaucracy. Only the rise of a new generation of Australian-born Chinese people, combined with new migrants that the merchants and others sponsored, both legally and illegally, prevented the Chinese population of NSW disappearing entirely.
War and refugees: 1936 to 1949
By the war period numbers had nevertheless fallen greatly and Australian-born people of Chinese background began to predominate over Chinese-born people for the first time. Numbers increased rapidly again when refugees began to enter Australia as the result of Japan’s war in China and the PacificPacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
. Some were Chinese crew members who refused to return to Japanese-held areas and others were residents of the many Pacific islands evacuated in the face of the Japanese advance. Still others included those with Australian birth who were able to leave Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and the villages on the approach of the Japanese. At the same time the anti-Japanese War helped inspire the development of organisations focused on China rather than the districts and villages of people's origin only, and aimed at making Australia aware of the danger of Japan and the need to assist China. A few of these organizations, such as the Chinese Youth League, survive to this day.
Cafes to Citizens: 1949 to 1973
In the post-war period, assimilation became the dominant policy and this led to some extension of rights with gradual changes to citizenship laws. At the same time cafes began to replace market gardens as the major source of employment and avenue for bringing in new migrants, both legal and illegal. These changes, combined with the increased number of Australian-born Chinese, the final return of the last of the domiciles who still wished to do so and the arrival of Chinese background students under the Colombo Plan from various parts of Asia, brought about the end of the dominance of south China in the link between China and Australia that had existed for nearly 100 years.Re-migration and multiculturalism: 1973 to the present
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
during the 1970s; this was followed by economic migrants from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
in the 1980s and 1990s, whose families often settled in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
while the breadwinner returned to Hong Kong to continue earning an income – a significant reversal of the traditional migration pattern.
After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
, the Australian Prime Minister of the day, Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
, allowed students from mainland China to settle in Australia permanently. Since then, immigrants from mainland China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
have arrived in increasing numbers.
New institutions were established for these arrivals and old ones such as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce revived; Chinese language newspapers were once again published. The equality of citizenship laws and family reunion immigration after 1972 meant that an imbalance of the sexes, once a dominant feature of the Chinese communities in Australia, was not an issue in these later migrations.
Chinese newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s are published in Australia and three shortwave and longwave radio channels broadcast in Cantonese
Standard Cantonese
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
and Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
. The Australian public broadcaster SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
also provides television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and radiprate on weekends. Chinese Australian social websites like 新足迹 (www.oursteps.com.au), FREEOZ (www.freeoz.org) also blossomed. Several Chinese Australians have received the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
award and there are current representatives in both State and Federal parliaments.
In the late 1990s, many of the suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne have turned to Satellite Chinatowns, such as the Chatswood
Chatswood, New South Wales
Chatswood is a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Chatswood is located 10 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Willoughby. Chatswood West is a separate suburb...
area, Hurstville
Hurstville, New South Wales
Hurstville is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hurstville is located 16 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of...
area, Carlingford
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the The Hills Shire, Hornsby Shire and the City of Parramatta...
/Eastwood
Eastwood, New South Wales
Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta...
/Epping
Epping, New South Wales
Epping is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Epping is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde, the City of Parramatta and Hornsby Shire and is located in the Northern...
area, Box Hill
Box Hill, Victoria
Box Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whitehorse. At the 2006 Census, Box Hill had a population of 8,616....
,
Auburn
Auburn, New South Wales
Auburn is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Auburn is located 19 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Auburn Council.-History:...
, Burwood
Burwood, New South Wales
Burwood is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burwood is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of Burwood Council....
, Springvale
Springvale, Victoria
Springvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 20 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Greater Dandenong...
, Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, New South Wales
Beverly Hills is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Beverly Hills is located 17 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Beverly Hills lies across two local government areas, the City of Hurstville and the...
, Glen Waverley
Glen Waverley, Victoria
Glen Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 19 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Monash...
, Campsie
Campsie, New South Wales
Campsie is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campsie is located 13 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, on the southern bank of the Cooks River. Campsie is the commercial and administrative centre of the City of...
and Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
.
Demographics
Chinese Australians have historically been of predominately Cantonese
Cantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
descent from Hong Kong and Canton province. Due to recent immigration from other regions of mainland China and Taiwan, Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
and other Chinese languages are increasingly spoken as well. The Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
lists 225,300 speakers of Cantonese (40.4% of Chinese Australians), followed by Mandarin at 139,300 (25.0%) and other Chinese languages at 36,700. Second or higher generation Chinese Australians are either monolingual in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
or bilingual to varying degrees with Chinese.
According to the 2006 Census, Sydney was home to over half (53%) of the Chinese population. Melbourne had just over one-quarter of the Chinese born population (26%). Together, the other Australian capitals had 15% of the Chinese populations.
In Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
there were 292,338 persons, or approximately 7% of the population, who identified themselves as having Chinese ancestry (either exclusively or with another ancestry). Other Australian cities with large Chinese populations include Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(182,550 or 5.1%), Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
(53,390 or 3.7%) and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(50,908 or 2.9%).
53% of mainland China-born and 51% of Hong Kong born residents were enumerated in Sydney, while the largest portion of Taiwanese-born residents are in Brisbane (34%).
Chinese migrants are drawn from the Chinese diaspora. The 2001 Australian Census
Demographics of Australia
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Australia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religions, and other aspects of the population....
lists the main source countries and regions for overseas born ethnic Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
as:
| Country/Region | Population | Country/Region | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... |
132,020 | East Timor East Timor The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor... |
4,880 |
| Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour... |
59,810 | Philippines Philippines The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam... |
2,230 |
| Malaysia | 51,910 | Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... |
2,210 |
| Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... |
41,230 | Laos Laos Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west... |
1,450 |
| Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following... |
21,520 | Burma | 1,030 |
| Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an... |
19,620 | Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar... |
820 |
| Singapore Singapore Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the... |
19,120 | South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
190 |
| Cambodia Cambodia Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia... |
9,500 | Ghana Ghana Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south... |
110 |
Religion
In the 2006 Census, among persons born in Mainland China, the religious breakdown was as follows: 57.8% declared no religion or atheism, 17.6% declared Buddhism, 15.1% declared Christianity, 0.6% declared other religions and 8.6% did not answer the question.Academic
- Victor ChangVictor ChangVictor Peter Chang, AC , was a Chinese Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation. Born in Shanghai to Australian-born Chinese parents, he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Australia...
: heart surgeon - Jane Hutcheon: journalist
- Kelvin Kong : first Australian surgeon of Indigenous descent.
- Mabel LeeMabel LeeMabel Lee is a translator of the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian. She has taught Asian studies at the University of Sydney and is one of Australia's leading authorities on Chinese cultural affairs...
: linguist - Helene Chung MartinHelene Chung MartinHelene Chung Martin, journalist and author, is a former Beijing correspondent, the first female posted abroad by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
: former ABC correspondent, author of Shouting from China and Lazy Man in China - Terence TaoTerence TaoTerence Chi-Shen Tao FRS is an Australian mathematician working primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, analytic number theory and representation theory...
: mathematician - Charles TeoCharles TeoCharles "Charlie" Teo AM is a high profile Australian neurosurgeon.- Neurosurgery :Teo trained in Sydney, but worked for a decade in the United States, where he still teaches. His sub-speciality is paediatric neurosurgery. He is the director of the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at...
: neurosurgeon - Karen TsoKaren TsoKaren Tso is an Australian television journalist and anchor at CNBC Asia.Tso began her career as a general news reporter for the AAP after graduating with a commerce degree from Griffith University in Queensland. She also studied for a Masters In Journalism at both the University of Westminster in...
: finance reporter - Vanessa WoodsVanessa WoodsVanessa Woods is an internationally published Australian scientist, author and journalist, and is the main Australian/New Zealand feature writer for the Discovery Channel...
: scientist, author and feature writer for the Discovery ChannelDiscovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav... - John YuJohn YuJohn Samuel Yu AC is a distinguished paediatrics doctor. Born in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, he attended Fort Street High School and the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia....
: paediatrician and 1996 Australian of the YearAustralian of the YearSince 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual... - Ouyang YuOuyang YuOuyang Yu is a contemporary Chinese-Australian author, translator and academic.Ouyang Yu was born in the People's Republic of China, arriving in Australia in 1991 to study for a Ph. D. at La Trobe University which he completed in 1995. Since then his literary output has been prodigious...
: poet, novelist and author of The Eastern Slope Chronicle - Liangchi ZhangLiangchi ZhangProf. Liangchi Zhang is an Australian mechanical engineer and scientist. Zhang is formerly Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Graduate School of Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia...
: scientist - Yang HengjunYang HengjunYang Hengjun is an Australian novelist, born in Hubei Province, central China in 1965. After graduating from Fudan University in 1987, he worked in the Foreign Affairs Department in Beijing. From 1992 to 1997, he worked in Hong Kong as the manager of a mainland Chinese company. He then went to the...
: political blogger, author of "Fatal Weakness" series.
Business and finance
- Kwong Sue DukKwong Sue DukKwong Sue Duk, also known as Kwong See Tek, was a Chinese Australian herbalist and merchant.Kwong Sue Duk was born in Guangdong Province, China, in 1853. In his teens, he travelled to the Californian gold rush where he made a modest fortune mining for gold...
: pioneer herbalist and merchant - Neale FongNeale FongDr. Neale Fong is a doctor, Australian rules football administrator, Churches of Christ chaplain and former public servant and amateur football player in Perth, Western Australia.-Career:Dr...
: doctor and sports administrator - Sir Leslie Joseph HookerLeslie Joseph HookerSir Leslie Joseph Hooker was an Australian real estate agent who established the firm L. J. Hooker. Born of Chinese Australian parents in the Sydney suburb of Canterbury, his surname was originally Tingyou but he changed it to Hooker by deed poll in 1925.After an earlier failed real estate...
: real estate magnate, founder of L.J. HookerL.J. HookerLJ Hooker is an Australian real estate franchise, founded in 1928, currently owned by Janusz Hooker, the grandson of founder Sir Leslie Hooker and was established in 1928.-History:... - Stern HuStern HuStern Hu is an Australian businessman of Chinese origin. He was formerly an executive of Rio Tinto mining group in Shanghai, China prior to his trial. He graduated from Peking University before obtaining Australian citizenship in 1994.- Arrest in China :...
: businessman - Bing LeeBing LeeBing Lee is an Australian retailing company, a chain of superstores specializing in consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately-held electrical retail business in New South Wales with 41 stores and a turnover of about $490 million...
: businessman who started up the Bing LeeBing LeeBing Lee is an Australian retailing company, a chain of superstores specializing in consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately-held electrical retail business in New South Wales with 41 stores and a turnover of about $490 million...
franchises - Yew-Kwang NgYew-Kwang NgYew-Kwang Ng is an economist at Monash University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Nanyang University in 1966 and later a Ph.D. from Sydney University in 1971....
: economist at Monash UniversityMonash UniversityMonash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL.... - Trevor O'HoyTrevor O'HoyTrever O'Hoy was the President and CEO of Foster's Group from 2004 until 10 June 2008.He was educated at Monash University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Economics in 1976. He has also studied at the Harvard Advanced Management Program....
: Former CEO of Foster's GroupFoster's GroupFoster's Group is a beer group with interests in brewing and soft drinks. Foster's Group is the brewer of the Foster's Lager. Foster's Group Limited is a publicly-listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and is based in Melbourne, Victoria... - Su Lin Ong: chief economist with RBC Capital Markets
- Mei Quong TartMei Quong TartMei Quong Tart was a leading nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment in Australia...
: 19th Century businessman and public figurehead - David WangDavid Wang (Australia)David Neng Hwan Wang , was a Chinese-Australian businessman and the first Chinese-Australian elected to the Melbourne City Council....
: businessman - Xiaokai YangXiaokai YangXiaokai Yang was a Chinese-Australian economist. He was one of the world's preeminent theorists in economic analysis, and an influential campaigner for democracy in China....
: economist - Ern PhangErn PhangErn Phang is an Australian solicitor, notary public and community advocate. He is the solicitor director of Phang Legal, a law firm in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia....
: lawyer
Arts and entertainment
- Tony AyresTony AyresTony Ayres is a Chinese-born Australian screenwriter and director. He is most notable for his award-winning films Walking on Water and The Home Song Stories.-Early life:...
: screenwriter and director - Jason ChanJason ChanJason Keng-Kwin Chan starred on Power Rangers: Ninja Storm in 2003 as Cameron Watanabe, the Green Samurai Ranger. He was born in Malaysia and moved to Perth with his family when he was only 5...
: actor and director - Queenie ChanQueenie ChanQueenie Chan is a Chinese-Australian Original English-Language comic artist who was born in 1980. She originally lived in Hong Kong, but in 1986, she and her family moved to Australia. Through her childhood, she has interest in reading manga and read Chinese-translated versions of Shonen Jump...
: comic artist - Claudia Chan ShawClaudia Chan ShawClaudia Chan Shaw is an Australian fashion designer and television presenter.She was born in Annandale in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, and studied visual communications design at Sydney College of the Arts and export marketing at Monash University...
: fashion designer and television presenter - Jun ChenJun ChenJun Chen is a Chinese American astronomer.She obtained her BS at Beijing University in 1990, and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 1997....
: painter - Jimmy ChiJimmy ChiJimmy Chi was born in 1948 in Broome, Western Australia, to a Chinese/Japanese/Anglo-Australian father and a Scots/Bardi Aboriginal mother. He is a composer, musician and playwright.- Biography :...
: composer, musician and playwright - Lee Lin ChinLee Lin ChinLee Lin Chin is the weekend presenter of World News Australia on the Australian SBS TV, a network addressing a multi-cultural audience. She has been part of SBS for many years.-Biography:...
: news reader - Elizabeth ChongElizabeth ChongElizabeth Chong is a prominent Australian celebrity chef, author and television presenter.She came to Australia when she was 3....
: chef, author and television presenter - Anna ChoyAnna ChoyAnna Choy is an Australian actress and presenter. She attended Fort Street High School in Petersham, Sydney...
: actress and presenter - Li CunxinLi CunxinLi Cunxin is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer and current stockbroker.-Early life:Li was born into poverty in the Li Commune near the city of Qingdao in the Shandong province of People's Republic of China...
: ballet dancer, author and public speaker - Jeff FattJeff FattJeffrey Wayne "Jeff" Fatt AM , is a Chinese Australian musician and actor. He is best known as a member of the children's band The Wiggles and the 1980s and 90s band The Cockroaches...
: performer with the Wiggles - Lisa HoLisa HoLisa Ho is an Australian fashion designer born in Albury, on the New South Wales and Victorian border. She is married to Philip Smouha....
: fashion designer - Shen Jiawei: painter
- Jenny KeeJenny KeeJenny Kee is an Australian fashion designer. She was born in Bondi to a Cantonese father and a mother of partially Italian descent. Kee started her career in fashion in modelling, at one time featuring as the face of Canadian Airlines advertisements...
: fashion designer - Vernon Ah Kee: Indigenous artist with Chinese heritage
- Kylie KwongKylie KwongKylie Kwong , is a prominent Australian television chef, author, television presenter and restaurateur.-Early life and education:...
: chef, restaurateur and media presenter - Lawrence LeungLawrence LeungLawrence Leung is an Australian comedian, writer and director from Melbourne, Victoria. He is best known for his television series Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure based on his one man shows that tell stories around his obsessions such as breakdancing, ghosts, the Rubik's Cube and his...
: comedian - Guang LiGuang Li-Early life:Li was born in China and moved to Sydney, Australia at the age of 2. He won the lead role in his school musical when he was 8 years old. He attended Sydney Grammar School, and graduated from St Andrew's Cathedral School in 2007...
: actor - Adam LiawAdam LiawAdam Liaw is an Australian lawyer and television chef. He was the winner of the second series of MasterChef Australia, defeating student Callum Hann in the final.-Early life:...
: winner of MasterChef AustraliaMasterchef AustraliaMasterChef Australia is a Logie award winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as...
2010 - Renee LimRenee Lim-Early life:Lim was born in Perth, Western Australia. She studied medicine at University of New South Wales medical school in 2001. -Career:She has made ten guest appearances on the Australian hospital drama All Saints as Suzi Lau and also as a regular cast member SBS's police drama East West 101...
: actress and media personality - Nina LiuNina LiuNina Liu is an Australian actress of Chinese descent. Her most prominent role was as Chloe in the television series, The Secret Life of Us...
: actress - Jaymee OngJaymee OngJaymee Ong is an Australian model and actress. She is currently the co-host of The Contender Asia and the host of AXN's eBuzz in Singapore.-Personal life:Ong was born and raised in Australia...
: actress and model - Cindy PanCindy PanCindy Pan is an Australian physician and television personality, who specialises in sexual health and women's health. Pan was born in Sydney, and was raised on a CSIRO research station in Badgerys Creek where her father was a scientist...
: physician and media personality - Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
: actor - Chris Pang: actor
- Sam PangSam PangSam Pang is a Chinese Australian radio and television host, writer and producer.-Career:A former Collingwood Football Club under 19s member, Pang turned to radio hosting at an age of 18 at the urging of his friends to do so. He co-hosted Triple R's Breakfasters program for 5 years.He then began...
: writer, actor, director, producer and presenter - Alice PungAlice PungAlice Pung is a writer, editor and lawyer. She wrote the memoir Unpolished Gem and edited Growing Up Asian in Australia.She is a practicing solicitor, and has worked as an art instructor, independent school teacher at primary and secondary schools and is Artist in Residence at at Janet Clarke Hall,...
: author - Rose QuongRose QuongRose Quong was a Chinese Australian actor, performer and writer.-Early life:Rose Quong was born in Melbourne, Australia to Chinese parents Chun Quong and Annie Moy Quong. She grew up in Australia and was employed by the government and performed with the Melbourne Repertory Players until 1924,...
: actor, performer and writer - Sarah SongSarah SongSarah Song is the Miss Chinese International 2007 winner. She hails from the city of Sydney, Australia. She speaks three languages, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English....
: television actress and presenter - Shaun TanShaun TanShaun Tan is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books such as The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and The Arrival...
: artist, author and illustrator - Ling-Hsueh Tang: actress
- Vico ThaiVico ThaiVico Thai is an Australian actor, best known for his work in Foxtel’s Dangerous , East West 101, Young Lions, Underbelly 3, Cedar Boys, Missing Water-Biography:...
: television and film actor - Wang Zheng Ting: musician, conductor and composer
- Angela Tsun: weather presenter
- Annette Shun WahAnnette Shun WahAnnette Shun Wah is a prominent figure in the Australian media, but particularly in television, film and radio. Shun Wah was born in Cairns, Queensland of Chinese ancestry.-Radio and television:...
: media presenter - James WanJames WanJames Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...
: film director, writer, and producer of SawSaw (film)Saw is a 2004 American independent horror film directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Whannell and Tobin Bell...
fame - Hannah WangHannah WangHannah Wang is an Australian actress most known for playing the sporty Kenny on the children's programme The Sleepover Club. Hannah is also a host of Rush TV on ABC 3.In 2011, she got a small role in Sleeping Beauty...
: actress - Theresa Wilson: Bega Valley-based artist
- Ai Xian: painter and sculptor
- Bin XieBin XieBin Xie is a Chinese born and originated artist with an Advanced Diploma of Fine Arts and a Masters Degree of Studio Art with honours from Sydney University, Australia....
: painter - Hu XinHu XinHu Xin is a Chinese Australian actress.- Career :There is not known so much about her personal life. She gave her debut in the German TV-Epic Hotel Shanghai, together with Agnieszka Wagner. Shortly after that, she acted in a minor role in the Russian movie Volshebnyy portret...
: actress - Poh Ling YeowPoh Ling YeowPoh Ling Yeow is a Malaysian-born Australian artist, actress, celebrity chef and runner-up in MasterChef Australia.- Background :Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1973 into a fifth-generation Chinese family, Yeow attended SMK Convent Bukit Nanas. She emigrated to Australia at age 9 with her...
: artist, grand finalist on MasterChef AustraliaMasterchef AustraliaMasterChef Australia is a Logie award winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as...
2009
Politics
- Harry Chan: former Mayor of Darwin, former President of the Legislative Council (Northern Territory), Territory Parliament
- Alfred Huang: former Lord Mayor of Adelaide
- Michael JohnsonMichael Johnson (politician)Michael Andrew Johnson , an Australian federal politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Ryan, Queensland, from 2001 to 2010, representing the Liberal Party from November 2001 to May 2010 and then as an independent from May 2010 until he was defeated at the...
: former Member of Parliament, Federal Parliament - William Ah KetWilliam Ah KetWilliam Ah Ket was a noted Australian barrister.Ah Ket was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. On 16 November 1912 he had married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church. They had two sons and two daughters...
: barrister and early 20th century campaigner for Chinese rights - Alec Fong LimAlec Fong LimAlec Fong Lim was the eleventh Lord Mayor of the City of Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory of Australia He served as Lord Mayor from 1 June 1984 – 9 August 1990)...
: former Lord Mayor of Darwin - Jing LeeJing LeeJing Shyuan Lee is an Australian politician elected to the South Australian Legislative Council as a Liberal Party candidate at the 2010 state election. She was formerly the president of the Asia Pacific Business Council for Women.-Early Life:...
: Member of the Legislative Council (South Australia), State Parliament - Bill O'CheeBill O'CheeWilliam George "Bill" O'Chee is an Australian politician. He was a National Party member of the Australian Senate from 1990 to 1999, representing the state of Queensland.-Biography:...
: former Senator (Queensland), Federal Parliament - Helen Sham: former Member of the Legislative Council (New South Wales), State Parliament
- John SoJohn SoJohn Chun Sai So JP is a Chinese-Australian businessman who served as the 102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors.First elected...
: former Lord Mayor of Melbourne - Tsebin TchenTsebin TchenTsebin Tchen is a former Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1999 to 2005, representing the state of Victoria....
: former Senator (Victoria), Federal Parliament - Henry TsangHenry TsangHenry Tsang OAM is an Australian architect, politician and formerly an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Tsang was a member of the Council from 27 March 1999 until his resignation effective 3 December 2009...
: Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier; Deputy Lord Mayor, Sydney, 1991–1999 - Penny WongPenny WongPenelope "Penny" Ying-yen Wong , is an Australian Labor Party senator for South Australia and the Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation. Wong was the first Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water. Her appointment was amended on 26 February 2010, by the Prime Minister, to the...
: Senator (South Australia), Federal Parliament, Member of Cabinet, Minister for Climate Change and Water 2007-2010, Minister of Finance and Deregulation 2010 - (Incumbent) - Peter Wong: former Member of the Legislative Council (New South Wales), State Parliament
- Peter Yu: prominent Western Australia Indigenous leader
Military
- Major GeneralMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Darryl Low Choy: soldier and academic - Caleb ShangCaleb ShangCaleb James Shang, DCM & Bar, MM was the most highly decorated Chinese Australian soldier who served in World War I, receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal twice and the Military Medal...
: World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
: soldier, Western Front - Billy SingBilly SingWilliam Edward 'Billy' Sing, DCM was a Chinese Australian soldier who served in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I, best known as a sniper during the Gallipoli Campaign. He took at least 150 confirmed kills during that campaign, and may have had over 200 kills in total...
: World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
: soldier, Gallipoli and Western Front - Jack Wong SueJack Wong SueJack Wong Sue, OAM, DCM, JP also known as Jack Sue was a Chinese Australian from Perth, Western Australia. Wong Sue served as a member of the commando/special reconnaissance section, Z Special Unit....
: World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
special forces soldier, mariner and author (Western Australia)
Sports
- Les FongLes FongLes Fong is a former Australian rules footballer who played 284 games for West Perth Football Club. He joined the club in 1973 as a rover in the reserves. Despite being only 16, he played well enough to take the fairest and best award...
: Australian rules footballer in WAFL - Wally KoochewWally KoochewWalter John Henry “Wally” Koochew was an Australian rules footballer, who was the first Victorian Football League player of Chinese background, playing four games for Carlton Football Club in 1908....
: Australian rules footballer - Hokei Lau: Rugby League player in NRL
- Cheltzie LeeCheltzie LeeCheltzie Lee is an Australian figure skater. She is the 2010 Australian national champion and 2007-2008 junior national champion.- Career :...
: figure skater - Anthony LiuAnthony LiuAnthony Liu is an Chinese-Australian figure skater. He originally represented China but became an Australian citizen in 1996. He is a seven time Australian national champion. He represented Australia at the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he placed 25th, and at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where he...
: figure skater - Miao MiaoMiao MiaoMiao Miao is an Australian table tennis player who represented Australia at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games. Her best Olympic result was the quarter finals of the doubles tournament in Sydney...
: table tennis player - Hunter PoonHunter PoonHunter Robert George Poon was the first player of Chinese descent to appear in Australian first-class cricketBorn Ander Leppit George Poon near Ballina, New South Wales to a Cantonese man who had migrated to Australia to work on the north Queensland goldfields, and his Anglo-Australian wife, Ander...
: first player of Chinese descent to appear in Australian first-class cricket - Richard Chee QueeRichard Chee QueeRichard Chee Quee is a former first-class cricketer.Chee Quee is notable for being the second player of Chinese origin to play first-class cricket in Australia after Hunter Poon in 1923...
: NSW cricketer - Kenneth ToKenneth ToKenneth To is an Australian swimmer who has represented Australia at a number of International Youth and Open Swimming events....
: swimmer - Melissa WuMelissa Wu (diver)Melissa Paige Wu is an Australian diver who has won silver medals at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Her father is of Chinese descent.Wu began diving only in 2003...
: diver
See also
- Chinatowns in OceaniaChinatowns in OceaniaThis article discusses Chinatowns in Oceania.Given its proximity to the Asian continent, Australia has had, and continues to witness, a massive immigration of Chinese and other Asians. As with Canada, the majority of ethnic Chinese immigrants to Australia are from Hong Kong...
- Chinese New ZealanderChinese New ZealanderA Chinese New Zealander is a New Zealander of Chinese heritage. They are part of the ethnic Chinese diaspora . Chinese New Zealanders are the fifth largest ethnic group in New Zealand....
- Jook-singJook-singJook-sing is a Cantonese term used to describe an Overseas Chinese person who has grown up in a Western environment, such that he or she cannot speak, read or write a Chinese dialect.- Etymology :...
- Model MinorityModel minorityModel minority refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. It is most commonly used to label one ethnic minority higher achieving than another ethnic minority...
External links
- From Quong Tarts to Victor Changs: Being Chinese in Australia in the Twentieth Century
- Chinese Australia website
- Tracking The Dragon - A history of the Chinese in the Riverina online exhibition
- Tracking the Dragon A guide for finding and assessing Chinese Australian heritage places
- The Harvest of Endurance scroll -- an interactive representing two centuries of Chinese contact with, and emigration to, Australia at the National Museum of Australia
- Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia
- Culture Victoria – Dreams of Jade and Gold – Chinese Australian families