Resources
Resources
This page is very much a work in progress. Ultimately, it is intended to contain an extensive list of old Chinese-language resources of relevance to the history of the Chinese diaspora in Australasia. At present, it is no more than an indicative summary of resource types, illustrated with a few specific examples.
Library collections
National, state and university libraries are home to Chinese-language publications (such as rare books and organisational pamphlets), and collections of letters. Examples of the latter include: “Papers of the Chau family, 1893-1998” at the National Library of Australia; and “Letters received by Quong Tart regarding an assault made on him [ In Mandarin ] the crest of Quong Tart in Mandarin characters” at the State Library of New South Wales (none of which is written in Mandarin as the catalogue title suggests).
Museum collections
Museums large and small, public and private, are home to numerous collections of Chinese-language documents and inscriptions. Examples include: the Chin Kaw collection and the temple collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Foon Kee store collection at the Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne; the collection of the Wing Hing Long Museum, Tingha.
Gravestones
Chinese-language inscriptions on old gravestones are a rich source of information, especially as they often identify a deceased’s native place to the level of the village.
Plaques, stelae and other inscriptions
Plaques, inscriptions on objects, and stelae located both in Australia and China record such things as the names of places, firms, and people. Many date from before the advent of local Chinese-language newspapers, making them a precious resource on an earlier period of Chinese-diaspora history.
Old photographs
Chinese-language inscriptions are sometimes inadvertently captured in historical photographs, which can be enhanced to render them legible. Such photographs constitute a rich resource that is often overlooked.
Old newspapers
Early Chinese-language newspapers from such places as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada and Singapore are a wonderful source of information on all manner of topics. Many have been digitised and are searchable via online archives.
Private collections
Many precious documents, photographs and objects that bear Chinese-language texts are held in private collections.
Government archives
Chinese-language documents or English-language documents with Chinese text on them, such as petitions, Certificates of Exemption from the Dictation Test (CEDTs), and documents that relate to legal cases, are to be found in various government archives.
Ely would like to acknowledge historians Kate Bagnall, Sophie Couchman, Juanita Kwok, Paul Macgregor, Karen Schamberger, Michael Williams, and other dedicated researchers in the field of Chinese-diaspora history, who have directly or indirectly brought the existence of these (and other) resources to his attention.