Young Chinese League

From

Melbourne, Victoria

Summary

The Young Chinese League was created from an amalgamation of Chinese Progress Association and the Chinese Athletics Association. The organisation was formally established on 4 October 1932 with M.H. (Mee How) Ah Mouy as President, B. Moyling as Vice-President, C. (Claude) Wing Kee as Secretary and H. Nam as Treasurer. F.A. (Frank) Chinn, G. Lau, N. (Norman?) Wong Hee, G. Yee, Miss D. Chung and Miss L. Yee were Committee members.

Details

Founded on 4 October 1932, the Young Chinese League was set up to provide social engagement and activities for young Australians of Chinese descent. It arose out of the merging of two former clubs, the Chinese Progressive Association and Chinese Athletics Association, and continues to meet today.

Both clubs had organised social activities that were popular cultural pastimes of the Australian community, but with a distinctive Chinese touch. The clubs had been around since the 1920s. Sport was very important to these clubs and the two competed against each other.

Through organising social and sporting activities the aims of the clubs was to further advance the Chinese in Melbourne and Australia. By advancing the prospects of Chinese Australians, it was hoped that this would lead to a further understanding in the broader Australian community of what the Chinese community could contribute to the nation. Through clubs like the Young Chinese League, new forms of community allegiances were created.

The idea of Chinese clubs in Melbourne was nothing new by the 1920s and 1930s. There had been societies that sought to improve relations with Australians as well as discuss community issues and business. One such club, the Sino-Australian Association, was formed by future Young Chinese League founding president, Mee How Ah Mouy in 1906.

Founding members of the Young Chinese League included Mee How Ah Mouy (first club President), Ben Moy Ling (Vice President), Cord Wing Kee (Honorary Secretary) and Herbert Nam (Honorary Treasurer). On the committee were Frank Chinn, G Lau, N Wong Hee, Miss D Chung and Miss L Yee. Most of these members had held committee positions with either the Chinese Progressive Association and or the Chinese Athletics Association. The objectives of the Young Chinese League were to promote free social intercourse and goodwill amongst its members and their mutual improvement. Membership was open to all persons, with one or both parents or grandparents born in China. Wives of Chinese members were permitted as members with the same privileges. The Young Chinese League was not a political organisation.

Founding member and later President, Frank Chinn, saw the League as a way of providing positive social activities that would further the Chinese community’s advancement. He saw the Young Chinese League as a moral alternative to the gambling and drinking houses in and around Little Bourke Street. For many years, the Chinn family allowed their home, 104-106 Little Bourke Streets, formerly the Munster Arms Hotel, to be used as the club’s meeting rooms. The home had fifteen rooms and was large enough for the club to meet and hold functions there. In 1963 the League were looking for new premises and the See Yup Society offered them the use of their temple in South Melbourne. The League was to stay there until the early 1980s.

Activities of the Young Chinese League included indoor sports such as table tennis as well as card games. From 1930 an Australian Rules football team was formed. Other sports played on a regular basis include ten-pin bowling, basketball, netball and golf. For a short period in the 1930s they ran boxing classes with a professional trainer. A tennis tournament was organised every year; played at Bacchus Marsh Lawn Tennis Club, the tournament provided a popular and competitive atmosphere with club members vying for men’s and ladies championship titles as well as trophies.

Each year the League organised a summer picnic. For many years, the picnics were held at Aspendale Palais and Racecourse, then Carrum Beach and later Chelsea Lifesaver’s Hall. The picnic kicked off the social calendar for the Young Chinese League. The picnics were open to all Chinese Australians including non-members and were an opportunity for members of the Chinese community to renew acquaintances, with some coming from interstate. Members of the League were encouraged to bring their friends as well, opening up the opportunities for the Chinese and Australian communities to meet.

Regular social dances were organised and these provided the perfect opportunity for the Chinese community to meet on a larger scale and raise funds for the club’s sporting teams. The Young Chinese League also held annual debutante balls, which were the biggest and most popular social event for the Chinese community in Melbourne. The Chinese Progressive Association had also organised balls, with the first occurring around 1922. The dances were held every year at St Kilda. In the early years of the debutante balls there could be as many as one thousand people in attendance. Typically, a debutante set was around eight to twelve young girls and their partners. In preparation for the event the girls undertook dancing and etiquette lessons with instruction from Alma Quon. Alma held the distinction of instructing every debutante set from the very first in 1938 to the last in 1988. Alma also played in an ‘all-ladies’ orchestra called ‘Alma Quon and her Joybelles’ and for many years, the band played at the debutante balls as well as other social activities such as fundraising dances and the annual summer picnic.

The Young Chinese League also had an historic involvement with Chinese lions and dragons in Melbourne. The League’s first lion and dragon were imported in the 1950s. They appeared at charitable functions and processions, most notably the Moomba Parade from 1953 to 1975. The dragon was a popular fixture at Moomba drawing mixed praise for its ‘gorgeous design’ and ‘grotesque colours.’ The dragon was carried around by up to forty League members acting as the ‘legs’.

In its heyday, the 1930s to 1950s, the Young Chinese League had several hundred members and, through a committee, organised regular social and sporting activities. From the late 1950s, a newsletter was published either monthly or bi-monthly. For many years, they were edited by Les Youie. The newsletters informed members of upcoming events organised by the Young Chinese League committee as well as promotions and reporting on sport and social dances and the debutante ball.

In 1992, a special reunion function was organised to commemorate sixty years of the Young Chinese League. In attendance were past and current members, including ladies from debutante sets from every year. Alma Quon who had trained every single one of them was there to provide musical entertainment.

The Young Chinese League continues to organise an annual golfing championship and annual tennis tournament. Newer activities include wine tastings, cooking classes, car rally and scavenger hunts.

Sources used to compile this entry: Loh, Morag, Sojourners and Settlers: Chinese in Victoria 1848-1985, Victorian Government China Advisory Committee, Melbourne, 1985; Ryan, Jan, Chinese Women and the Global Village: An Australian Site, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2003; Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977;

Museum of Chinese Australian History collection.

Young Chinese League Collection (Les Youie) on Chinese Australia website (La Trobe University and Chinese Museum)

Museum of Chinese Australian History collection including - Young Chinese League, Melbourne Constitution & Rules, 1932 reprinted 1957.

Prepared by: Brendan O'Donnell, Monash University

Related Concepts

Related Corporate Bodies

Alma Quon and her Joy Belles
Chinese Athletics Association
Young Chinese League was created from an amalgamation of Chinese Progress Association and the Chinese Athletics Association.
Chinese Progress Association (Melbourne)
Young Chinese League was created from an amalgamation of Chinese Progress Association and the Chinese Athletics Association.
Young Chinese League social activities
Young Chinese League tennis
Tennis played as an organised social activity.

Related Families

Related Places

102-106 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne (Victoria)

Archival Collections

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

Young Chinese League Debutante sets, 1938 - 1988; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

S. Millard (private hands)

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

State Library of Victoria - Picture Collection

Ah Yee family collection, 1900-1983, 1900 - 1983, LTA 801; State Library of Victoria - Picture Collection. Details

Published Resources

Books

Loh, Morag, Sojourners and Settlers: Chinese in Victoria 1848-1985, Victorian Government China Advisory Committee, Melbourne, 1985. Details
Ryan, Jan, Chinese Women and the Global Village: An Australian Site, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2003. Details
Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977. Details

Newspaper Articles

'Y.C.L. Debutantes', The Sun, 6 September 1950, p. 7. Details
'Y.C.L Dragon at Moomba', The Sun, 13 March 1956, p. 25. Details
'International Deb Set including two YCL members', The Sun, 17 May 1957, p. 9. Details
'Y.C.L. Dragon at Moomba', The Sun, 1 March 1958, p. 22. Details
'Y.C.L. Debs', The Age, 7 September 1960. Details
'Y.C.L. New Lion', The Sun, 5 October 1960, p. 2. Details
'Y.C.L. dragon', The Sun, 13 March 1979, p. 3. Details

Online Resources

Edwards, Grace, Dancing dragons: Reflections on creating a cultural history of the Chinese Australian community, Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Special issue: 'Sources, Languages and Approaches in Chinese Australian History' edited by Bagnall, Kate and Couchman, Sophie, vol. 6, 2013, 102-111 pp, http://www.chl.anu.edu.au/publications/csds/csds2013/csds2013_09.pdf. Details

Images

Title: Celebrating Les Youie's Birthday
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 14 July 1956; Details

Title: Dancing class function preparing supper
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 19 May 1956
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Dragon parade practice
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 28 February 1954
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Carlton; Details

Title: Fashion parade
Type: Photograph
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Moomba Young Chinese League dragon procesion
Type: Photograph
Date: 1950s - 1970s
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Bourke Street; Details

Title: Various members of the Young Chinese League
Type: Photograph
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Y.C.L. members at a weekend away
Type: Photograph
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Wharburton; Details

Title: Young Chinese League Ball, 1 September 1959
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1 September 1959; Details

Title: Young Chinese League dancing class at Chin's place in Princess St
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 21 December 1955
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Kew; Details

Title: Young Chinese League debutantes and Mrs. Amy Young
Type: Photograph
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Young Chinese League debutantes, 1937
Type: newspaper items
Date: 1937
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Young Chinese League debutantes, 25 September 1945
Type: Photograph
Date: 25 September 1945
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Young Chinese League debutantes, possibly 1946
Type: Photograph
Date: 1946?
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Young Chinese League dragon on Carlton Oval
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 28 February 1954
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Carlton; Details

Title: Young Chinese League Group 1
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 19 May 1956
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne; Details

Title: Young Chinese League Group 2
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 21 December 1955
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Kew; Details

Title: Young Chinese League group at St Vincents Royale Ballroom
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 23 September 1954; Details

Title: Young Chinese League picnic
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1 January 1961
Place: Australia - Victoria - Aspendale; Details

Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia

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