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Melbourne's Chinatown - Little Bourke Street area (Victoria) (c. 1854 - )

Gallery

  • Click to view this Published illustration

    'Arrival of Chinese Immigrants in Little Bourke Street', 27 September 1866, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
    Details

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    Chinese figures in a doorway, including two children, c. 1900, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Chinese Gospel Hall (Uniting Church) in Little Bourke Street, 1960s, by Unknown creator (see disclaimer), courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
    Details

  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Corner of Little Bourke Street and Heffernan Lane., c. 1966
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    David Wang's Chinese Emporium in Little Bourke Street, 1960s, by Unknown creator (see disclaimer), courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Exterior detail of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne, 1922
    Details

  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne, 1922
    Details

  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne, 1922
    Details

  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne, 1922
    Details

  • Photograph - Thumbnail

    Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne, 1922
    Details

From
c. 1854

Details

From 1853 Chinese people first began arriving to Melbourne in significant numbers on their way to Victoria's gold rushes. In late 1854 the first Chinese lodging houses were recorded in Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue (off Little Bourke Street). Initially the area was a cheap and convenient staging post for new Chinese immigrants as well as supplies en route to the goldfields. Lodging houses were quickly joined by merchants, provisions stores and the premises of clan and district benevolent societies which catered to this shifting population.

As the gold rushes waned Victoria's population began moving from rural areas and settling into metropolitan Melbourne. For the Chinese this meant Little Bourke Street which already had a base of Chinese occupation. A broader range of organisations and businesses developed in the area catering to the more sedentary population from the 1870s into the 20th century. 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 formed.

In addition to those who had immediate links to Chinatown, the area was also a focal point for the wider Victorian Chinese community many of whom lived and worked elsewhere. It was a place to get together with friends and fellow clan members after work, share a meal, meet for religious ceremonies, gamble or stay temporarily. The area also continued to provide support to Chinese arriving from and returning to China. Business, social and clan networks spread from Little Bourke Street across Australia and also internationally.

In the 1900 to 1920 period Melbourne's Chinatown reached its largest extent with Chinese businesses and residents roughly occupying the area between Swanston to Spring between Bourke and La Trobe streets, excluding the block occupied by the State Library of Victoria and the Royal Melbourne Women's Hospital. While some Chinese societies and successful businessmen bought property in the Little Bourke Street area most Chinese rented or sublet their homes and businesses from non-Chinese.


From the late 1920s and 1930s the impact of reduced immigration as a result of the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act and a general shift of businesses and residents out of the central business district became noticeable in Melbourne's Chinatown. However the area was still home to a number of shops, district societies, churches and newly formed pan-Chinese political and social organisations. Such organisations included the Chinese Masonic Society, Chung Wah Society, Chung Wah Kung Hwei, Melbourne Chinese Empire Reform Association which later reformed as the Melbourne Chinese Progress Association and the Kuomindang or Chinese Nationalist Party. Cafes and restaurants increased in number and began to draw a larger proportion of their clientele from the general population of Melbourne. Europeans had been frequenting Chinese eating establishments in Little Bourke Street since the early 1900s, possibly earlier, but it was the bohemians and university students of the 1930s who brought this practice into the mainstream. The Little Bourke Street area also continued to be an important social centre for first and subsequent generation Australian-born Chinese.

As immigration restrictions on Chinese wanting to come to Australia relaxed in the post-war period more Chinese began migrating to Australia again. However they were very different to the earlier See Yup and Sam Yup (or Num Pon Soon) people who arrived during the gold rushes these new migrants tended to live outside the Little Bourke Street area.

By the 1940s and 1950s many were predicting that the Chinatown area would disappear altogether. In the 1950s-1960s, some of Melbourne's major department stores, which fronted Bourke Street expanded their stores by taking up the whole block to Little Bourke Street, as a result, many of the smaller buildings on the south side of Little Bourke Street, especially between Swanston and Russell Streets were demolished.

However in the 1960s, in a spirit of nostalgia and inspired by the tourist dollars that were being made in San Francisco's Chinatown, Chinatown entrepreneur, and (from 1969) City Councilor David Neng-Hsiang Wang persuaded the Melbourne City Council to embark on a radical redevelopment of the Little Bourke Street area It commenced in the 1970s with archways constructed at the ends of Little Bourke Street. Support from the Chinese community was mixed. Those against the development feared the negative stereotypes it would evoke and resented being treated as curiosities rather than the Australian citizens they were. The advent of Don Dunstan as chairman of the Victorian Tourism Commission in 1983-4, brought new enthusiasm, and Victorian government funding to the district, and a second phase redevelopment commenced in 1984. This phase involved the reconstruction of the archways, installation of the theme lighting, paving decorations and the establishment of the Museum of Chinese Australian History (Chinese Museum) in Cohen Place.

With the eradication of discriminatory immigration regulations in 1973, the 1970s and 1980s also saw a major increase in ethnic Chinese migration to Australia, from Indo-China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong kong and the People's Republic of China. At the same time, an increasing interest in dining out, and a taste for ethnic variety of cuisine, amongst the non-Chinese population of Melbourne fuelled the growth of over 100 Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. In the 1990s, too, the large number of overseas Chinese students studying at Melbourne University and RMIT University has brought a new market for Chinese-language cultural businesses (magazines, records, videos) and Chinese-run hair and fashion stores.

Little Bourke Street today is a bustling collection of Asian restaurants and cafes mingled with an eclectic mix of Chinese run businesses, car parks and building sites. Nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings still stand but often with recently designed Chinoiserie facades. Some of the older clan societies, political societies and Chinese churches are still operational.

Sources used to compile this entry: Anderson, Kay, 'Chinatown Re-oriented: A Critical Analysis of Recent Development Schemes in a Sydney and Melbourne enclave', Australian Geographical Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, 1990, pp. 137-154; Blake, Alison, 'Melbourne's Chinatown: The evolution of an inner ethnic quarter', BA (hons) Thesis, Department of Geography, University of Melbourne, 1975; Blake, Alison, 'Chinatown', in G. Davison (ed.), Melbourne on Foot, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 50-61; Couchman, Sophie, 'Tong Yun Gai (Street of the Chinese): Investigating patterns of work and social life in Melbourne's Chinatown 1900-1920', MA thesis, School of Historical Studies, Monash University, 2001; McConville, Chris, 'Chinatown', in Davidson, G., et al. (ed.), The Outcasts of Melbourne: Essays in Social History, George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1985; Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977.

Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University

Archival Collections

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

  • Lew-Boar family collection, RLB; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

S. Millard (private hands)

  • Shirley Millard private collection, 1890s; S. Millard (private hands). Details

Published Resources

Books

  • Leckey, John A,, Low, Degraded Broots? Industry and Entrepreneurialism in Melbourne's Little Lon 1860-1950, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2004. Details
  • Sutherland, A., Victoria and its Metropolis Past and Present, vol. vol.1, McCarron, Bird & Co Publishers, Melbourne, 1888. Details
  • Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977. Details

Book Sections

  • Blake, Alison, 'Chinatown', in G. Davison (ed.), Melbourne on Foot, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 50-61. Details
  • Couchman, Sophie, 'From Mrs Lup Mun, Chinese herbalist, to Yee Joon, respectable scholar: A social history of Melbourne's Chinatown, 1900-1920', in Chan, Henry; Curthoys, Ann & Chiang, Nora (ed.), The Overseas Chinese in Australasia: History, Settlement and Interactions, Interdisciplinary Group for Australian Studies, National Taiwan University and Centre for the Study of the Chinese Southern Disapora, Australian National University, Taiwan and ACT, 2001, pp. 125-139. Details
  • McConville, Chris, 'Chinatown', in Davidson, G., et al. (ed.), The Outcasts of Melbourne: Essays in Social History, George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1985. Details

Journal articles

  • Anderson, Kay, 'Chinatown Re-oriented: A Critical Analysis of Recent Development Schemes in a Sydney and Melbourne enclave', Australian Geographical Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, 1990, pp. 137-154. Details
  • Couchman, Sophie, 'Using database technology to research individuals with Chinese names: A case study of Little Bourke Street Melbourne', Locality, Centre for Community History, University of NSW, vol. 11, no. 2, 2001, pp. 31-38. Details
  • Nichol, Barbara, 'Sweet and sour history: Melbourne's early Chinese restaurants', Memento, no. 34, January, pp. 10-12. Details

Theses

  • Blake, Alison, 'Melbourne's Chinatown: The evolution of an inner ethnic quarter', BA (hons) Thesis, Department of Geography, University of Melbourne, 1975. Details
  • Couchman, Sophie, 'Tong Yun Gai (Street of the Chinese): Investigating patterns of work and social life in Melbourne's Chinatown 1900-1920', MA thesis, School of Historical Studies, Monash University, 2001. Details
  • Leckey, John, 'Low. Degraded Broots? Industry and entrepreneurialism in Melbourne's Little Lon, 1860-1950', PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2003. Details

See also

Images

Title
'Arrival of Chinese Immigrants in Little Bourke Street'
Type
Illustration
Date
27 September 1866
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Barry Lane, Little Bourke Street, near Elizabeth Street.
Type
Photograph
Date
13 June 1908
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Barry Lane
Details
Title
Chinese figures in a doorway, including two children
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1900
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Chinese Gospel Hall (Uniting Church) in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
1960s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Corner of Little Bourke Street and Heffernan Lane.
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1966
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
David Wang's Chinese Emporium in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
1960s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior detail of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Exterior view of Chinese Nationalist Party building, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Five unidentified children in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Headquarters of Chinese citizen's society in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1955 - c. 1960
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Jade Inn next to Waltons
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1970
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Kytes Lane, looking to Bourke Street from Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
1908
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Kytes Lane
Details
Title
Lion dance outside Waltons
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1960
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Little Bourke Street north, corner of Cohen Place east, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1966
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Little Bourke Street taken from Russell Street looking towards Swanston Street
Type
Photograph
Date
1960s
Details
Title
Melbourne City Councillor David Wang with Ron Walker, Murray Byrne and Ta Wen Chu at the launch of Little Bourke Street's Chinese-style archways
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1975
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
'Melbourne Illustrated - In the Chinese quarter'
Type
Illustration
Date
13 November 1880
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Men entering a lottery bank
Type
Photograph
Date
11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Num Pon Soon Society building
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1966
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Portion of an old stockyard in a lane off Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
1907
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Remodelled façade of the Chinese Nationalist Party building
Type
Photograph
Date
1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
'Sketches in our Chinese Quarter: Fan Tan playing, and a Chinese restaurant'
Type
Illustration
Date
22 May 1880
Place
Australia
Details
Title
T.C. Ching & Bros and Chinese Mission Church, Little Bourke St
Type
Photograph
Date
1920s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
'The Chinese Quarter'
Type
Illustration
Date
1888
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Three unidentified boys in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Two unidentified children in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Two unidentified opium smokers
Type
Illustration
Date
c. 1887
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Two unidentified young men on a street corner in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Unidentified men gambling and a man working in a kitchen
Type
Illustration
Date
c. 1887
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Unidentified woman in doorway in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details

See also

Title
Bible Lessons with the Chinese in Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1902
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Bland Holt with children, including Joyce May Tock
Type
Photograph
Date
1890s - 1900s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
'Chinese exchange' (Num Pon Soon building), 1863
Type
Illustration
Date
c. 21 October 1863
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Chinese language noticeboard
Type
Photograph
Date
1960s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Hughes Alley
Details
Title
Chinese Nationalist Party Headquarters in Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 29 April 1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Chinese procession & the Chinese Citizen's Archway, Swanston Street, Melbourne, during the commemoration of the Duke of York's visit to open the first Australian Parliament, 1901.
Type
Photograph
Date
1901
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Swanston Street
Details
Title
Exercises in arithmetic
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 20 December 1902
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Group of six women in procession costume
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1929
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Heffernan Lane
Details
Title
Kong Meng's building at 210 Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1934
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Little Bourke Street near Exhibition St
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1908
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Ming Balintong (or Wing Chinn) and possibly Margaret Kong
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1946
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Ming Ballingtong Chinn's birthday group
Type
Photograph
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Poon Tack [?] Wim [?], Mr Lew and Mr Ho outside the Chung Wah School at 121 Little Bourke St
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1935
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Raymond Lew Boar and Thomas Leung
Type
Photograph
Date
1940s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Remodelled façade of KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party) building, Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
School class in front of Chinese Nationalist Party Building
Type
Photograph
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Students at Presbyterian Women's Mission School, including Joyce May Tock
Type
Photograph
Date
1890s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Two unidentified children in Little Bourke Street with their guardian
Type
Photograph
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Unidentified lane off Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
unidentified man carrying shoulder poles
Type
Illustration
Date
c. 1887
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Unidentified men, women and children in front of KMT building in Melbourne
Type
Photograph
Date
January 1922
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Vance (Tung Gow) Chinn dressed as a soldier beside Her Majesty's Theatre
Type
Photograph
Date
1920s - 1930s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Wing Chinn in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details
Title
Yin Bun Lowe cookstore, unloading bananas in Little Bourke Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 February 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Little Bourke Street
Details

Created: 11 July 2001, Last modified: 19 January 2008