The 9th CHINA Inc Conference was recently hosted in Darwin by the Chung Wah Society – Darwin – 澳洲達爾文中華會 and its Northern Territory Chinese Museum. Running from 20-23 September, the theme was ‘Northern Gateways: Chinese Heritage and History in Northern Australia’, with papers presented by historians, archaeologists, Chinese-Australian descendants, local historians, and other members of CHINA Inc and the Chung Wah Society. Queensland presenters included Kevin Rains, Natalie Fong, Darryl Low Choy, Noreen Kirkman, Hilda Maclean and Gordon Grimwade.

In addition, Nicolas Hadnutt, Archaeology Curator at the Queensland Museum (QM), spoke about representations of China within the Queensland State Collection, which is currently in the process of a five-year project to identify and correctly catalogue hundreds of items related to the Chinese community in Queensland. As items are catalogued, they will be photographed and digital images will be progressively added to the QM website so they can be viewed by the public.

Sophie Loy-Wilson, a Senior Lecturer at Sydney University, presented her preliminary findings on Chinese Australians in Northern Territory court records, 1870-1940. This research forms part of her 2023-2024 ARC DECRA project, ‘Chinese Business: Economic and Social Survival in White Australia 1860-1940’. Sophie is mapping Chinese court cases and the location of market gardens (as an indicator of where Chinese people lived) across Australia, which will be a vital resource for researchers of the Chinese diaspora in Australia when complete.

Griffith University candidate, Jan Richardson, a PhD candidate with the Harry Gentle Resource Centre, attended the CHINA Inc conference in Darwin to further her research on Chinese indentured labourers who arrived at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) from 1848-1853. She has established that approximately 980 indentured labourers were imported into Moreton Bay by squatters and pastoralists and is currently writing biographies of a representative sample for her thesis.

Darwin’s Chinese Temple – ‘Hall of the Ranking Sages’ – has been at its present site on Woods Street since 1889. It was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and rebuilt in 1978. It is on the same site as the Chung Wah Society Community Hall and NT Chinese Museum. Darwin has a large Chinese community and the Temple is in active use as a place of worship and ceremony for Buddhists, Taoists and followers of Confucius.

Image (above): Woods Street entrance to the Chinese Temple, Chung Wah Society Community Hall and NT Chinese Museum, Darwin. (Jan Richardson, 2024.)