Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage in Western Australia

The “Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage in Western Australia” collection ambitiously seeks to collect, document, and showcase the remarkable contributions of the Chinese community to Western Australia from the state’s founding to the present day. This collection, consisting of a broad array of materials—including archival documents, photographs, oral histories, and audio-visual files—aims to create a rich and dynamic record of the Chinese community in Western Australia.

A foundational element of this collection is the Anne Atkinson Collection, a valuable trove of research material amassed by Dr Anne Atkinson during the 1980s and early 1990s. This component, encompassing nearly 10,000 pages of notes, photocopies, and newspaper articles, captures the lives and stories of over 3,000 Chinese Australians who lived in the state during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The second component of this collection, “Celebrating 200 Years,” is generously funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations. It invites the Chinese community in Western Australia and other interested parties to contribute information, knowledge, and visual materials related to Chinese heritage in the state. We seek to construct a more complete and accessible record that helps us understand the broader history of Western Australia through the lens of its Chinese community.

By integrating both components, this collection aims to provide an open and evolving repository of Chinese heritage in Western Australia, ensuring that the legacy of the state’s Chinese community is preserved, presented, and celebrated for future generations.

This collection is an invaluable resource for historians and researchers and a living archive for the community to explore and expand. We encourage the users to contribute additional information and materials to enhance and enrich this collection.

Collection summary: Collecting, documenting and showcasing the remarkable contributions of the Chinese community to Western Australia from 1830 to the present day.