Our Museum’s footprint is growing internationally, nationally and locally, strengthening the heritage and culture of Chinese Australians as an integral part of contemporary Australian society.
Our Story – Aboriginal Chinese People in Australia, created by Zhou Xiaoping is showing at the National Museum of Australia until January 2026 and then travelling to three cities around China, and then around Australia from 2027 with support from National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (NFACR).
Shared Connections – Cantonese Stories in Australia will be an Exhibition created and held by the Australian Consulate in Guangzhou in the last half of 2025 with our Museum’s assistance.
Chinese Australian Achievers Awards 2025 will be launched this month with support from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (NFACR). We are now seeking nominations for Chinese Australian candidates from around Australia who have been outstanding contributors to Australian Society. This will culminate at a Gala Awards Night held at Sofitel Melbourne on 10 November 2025, held in partnership with Executive Wealth Circle. Organisations are welcome to nominate candidates for an award.
Journeys to Achievementis a series of talks held by past Achievers, also supported by NFACR. Talks include Alice Pung, award-winning author hosted by Aspire on 18th September; Benjamin Law hosted by Screen Presence on 16 October and William Chan, sustainable architect hosted by RMIT next year.
Shanghai 1939 Jubensha theatre (Chinese live action role play) commences this month, performed in English for the first time in Australia, a bold cultural crossover of live theatre. Previously, as a passive audience member, you are one of ten actors who become immersed in being part of the history of China!
New free guided tours (with paid admission) are being held at the Museum on the weekends at 10.30am and 2.00pm on Saturday and Sunday ongoing from August. Tours are bilingual (Mandarin and English). Bring in your friends and family to gain a greater insight into Chinese Australian history.
Thank you to the Lee Family Education program (in memory of Albert Fook Yen Lee) which subsidizes low socio-economic sectors of the general community to visit the Museum that widens our reach to over 25,000 school children in Victoria.
… and there’s more!
The Museum strengthens our identity as individuals and our connectivity as a community in Australia. Join any of our inspirational, intriguing and thought-provoking events held in China, across Australia or at the Museum in Melbourne.
We look forward to seeing you at one of these events soon.
Mark Wang Chief Executive Officer
WHAT'S ON
MORE EVENTS IN OCTOBER
Join our Volunteer team
Feature Appeal
Help us collect, preserve, and share Chinese Australian stories
The purpose of the Chinese Museum is to build a more harmonious Australian society by deepening the understanding of Chinese-Australian contributions to our collective history, heritage, and culture.
We achieve this goal by presenting popular education and public programs, exhibitions, and cultural activities - positive ways of sharing our culture and history.
Your generous donation will help us collect, preserve, and share the stories of Chinese Australians, both past and present, protecting their rich legacy for generations to come.
You may have heard of a recently published travel guide “She Shapes History” by Sita Sargeant who travelled Australia collecting stories of women who have achieved much yet do not appear in history books. For Melbourne Sita featured Alma Quon and Elizabeth Chong as remarkable women however space constraints meant that their achievements were reduced to only half a column each.
Our Chinese Museum archives provide a little more information about Alma Quon. Born in 1911, Alma was one of seven children of Charles Quon and his wife Violet (nee Geechoun). The four girls - Amy, Iris, Lorna and Alma, were all given musical lessons. In the 1930s after earlier moving to Melbourne from Rutherglen, Alma first played piano at the Golden Dragon restaurant in Little Collins Street, then at Toby’s and Raffles before she and her sister Lorna became part of the all-women Jazz band ‘The Merry Makers’. In 1941 Alma formed her own all-women group ‘Alma Quon & Her Joy Belles’ which also included her sister Lorna. Their group name was proudly displayed on the drum which Alma played.
Alma Quon & Her Joy Belles - (left to right): Dawn Smith, Molly Worrall, Gladys Torrens, Alma Quon, Valma Frecker, Moya Brown, Lotte Rehn, Gay Funston, Lorna Quon.
In addition to playing in her band, Alma trained debutantes in dance and etiquette for the Young Chinese League (YCL) Balls which ran from 1938 to 1988. The Joy Belles played at every YCL Ball until the 1960s. She also tutored primary school (Grade 6) students in dancing and performing for annual School Balls at the Melbourne Town Hall from the late 1940s through to the 1970s.
The Joy Belles continued performing at functions and venues around Victoria until the 1990s although not always with such a large group. Alma passed away in August 2007 at the age of 96 and her remembrance plaque in the Boroondara Cemetery is next to her husband’s who passed away in 1967. Alma is and will be remembered by many including the YCL debutantes and the primary school students who were taught to dance.
Click the button below to hear more about Alma on Prima Donna’s 2023 podcast (16 min) which includes input from Alma’s nephew Ray Quon
Courtesy of Irene Poon, Curatorial Volunteer and Family Historian
News Summary: Threads of Memories – Tyon Gee’s Story Through Her Unworn Garments Melbourne, 8 June 2025 – The Museum of Chinese Australian History hosted a moving public lecture entitled “Threads of Memory – Telling Tyon Gee’s Story Through Her Unworn Clothes”, taking audiences deep into one woman’s migration, resilience and cultural identity.
The event featured 15 exquisite garments and accessories from the 1930s that all belonged to Tyon Gee (Szeto Tsau Yung). The collection was discovered by her daughter Lava Gee in 2024 in a locked wooden box that had been quietly stored in her Sydney home for more than 80 years.
Relatives of the donor, including Debbra Yee and Joanne Weewan, attended the event and expressed their deep gratitude for the opportunity to share in their family legacy. They saw it as a meaningful and mutually beneficial cultural contribution.
Tyon Gee was born in southern China and married William Yocksui Gee, an Australian-born Chinese man, in the late 1920s. After living in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the couple moved to Australia in 1937 to escape the war, settling in Croydon, Sydney. William founded the fruit and vegetable distribution company Yocksui Bros. and was active in community support during World War II. After William's death in 1942, Tyon continued to run the company and raise their two children.
Although she brought with her a collection of beautiful traditional clothing, Tyon ultimately chose Western clothing and never wore it. Today, these preserved artifacts provide a rare insight into Chinese fashion and craftsmanship in the 1930s.
Courtesy of Aimee Li, Collections Manager, Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies
EDUCATION PROGRAM
Bookings are now open for 2025
The Chinese Museumoffers education programs all year round for students of all year levels and abilities.
For your convenience, bookings for all of our education programs can be made online using ouronline booking form. Simply select your preferred program, click the BOOK NOW button to and then fill in the online booking form.
Museum of Chinese Australian History acknowledges Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and pays respect to their cultures and Elders past, present and emerging.
