11/18/2023 0 Comments Chinese dragon projectThe Museum holds a rich and large collection of objects, textiles, photographs, documents and oral histories that relate to the family and community lives of Chinese and their descendants in Bendigo, the wider Victorian goldfields and beyond. Its construction in Bendigo’s declining Chinese quarter highlights its role telling this local history. The Golden Dragon Museum was established in part to rectify this. With a sizable ethnically Chinese population and the rise of the People’s Republic of China as a global power, understanding Australia’s Chinese history continues to be highly relevant today.ĭespite the significant role of Chinese during the goldrushes and as a part of Australia’s immigration history, until the 1970s and 1980s their role and contributions were largely overlooked in the histories and collections of public institutions. While the White Australia Policy has been dismantled, the repercussions of this period of our history continue to reverberate through Australian society and to shape Australia’s relations with Asia. This legislation was adapted to control all non-white immigration as part of the White Australia Policy. This in turn drove Government legislative responses to Chinese immigration. Popularised pseudo-scientific ideas about race and racial hierarchies shaped how these Chinese arrivals were treated. They become the largest non-British immigrant group in Australia at this time. It is supported by research and evidence assembled through the assessment process.’ The Statement of Significance is the key findings of the Assessment and draws attention to the unique qualities of the Golden Dragon Museum’s Collection.įollowing is Dr Couchman’s Statement of Significance of the Collection at the Golden Dragon Museum:Īlthough trade links between China and Australia pre-date British colonisation, Chinese only began arriving and settling in Australia in large numbers from the 1850s goldrushes. A Significance Assessment summarises how and why the collection is important. It is more than a description of what the collection looks like. Significance Assessments are current often for years, even decades as they form an essential part of how a museum cares for, researches, develops and uses their most valuable asset their collection.ĭr Couchman has described a Significance Assessment as ‘A reasoned, readable summary of the values, meaning and importance of a collection. A Significance Assessment is also invaluable for informing future exhibition programs as well as planning public and education programs. Significance Assessments help museums to better understand their collections, their areas of strength and where they can best be further developed. For the first time, the 30,000 or so objects in the Collection were considered and assessed, looking both at key individual pieces and the Collection as a whole. In early 2021 Dr Sophie Couchman, an expert in Chinese Australian history and culture, was commissioned to undertake a Significance Assessment of the Golden Dragon Museum’s Collection.
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