The ‘Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage Project’ at UWA takes a biographical approach by weaving snippets from historical sources to uncover stories about Chinese people who came to Western Australia.
This month we examine the free, public exhibition in Perth before it travels to Albany, Kalgoorlie and Broome in 2026.
Making Home Under Southern Skies
by Lucy Hair
In the last article in our series on Chinese Heritage, the UWA project team is delighted to share details of our free exhibition.
Regular readers of this column will be aware there are many stories of the contributions of Chinese Western Australians and we have shared just some of them in this column. We have included many more stories in our exhibition Making Home Under Southern Skies as well as our digital portal available through UWA Collected.
Building upon the foundational research of Dr Anne Atkinson, the UWA Project Team has conducted additional research from a range of repositories, particularly National Archives of Australia and State Records Office of Western Australia. Many families have shared their stories with the project team and the exhibition includes photographs from private collections.
We held a launch at Boola Bardip, WA Museum in late October. It was an excellent opportunity to share the exhibition with the many people who have supported us, particularly our funding body, the National Foundation for Australia China Relations. Around 130 members of the community attended and we were delighted that many were descendants of early Chinese Western Australians.
The exhibition is currently at Reid Library, UWA until December 14. The exhibition is free to attend during library opening hours.
It will then move to Council House, St George’s Terrace, Perth from January 6 to 28. The foyer at Council House is a light and open gallery space. Being located in the heart of the city, it is easily accessible by public transport.
Next the exhibition will be at the Museum of the Great Southern, Albany from January 31 to March 18 2026.
Later in 2026 it will be held at the Boulder Town Hall. Details will be confirmed through the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as part of their Heritage Festival.
We are also liaising with the Broome Historical Society and Museum to display some of the exhibition panels there. This is likely to take place in the second half of 2026.
We thank readers for their interest in our project and hope you will choose to visit our free exhibition at Reid Library at UWA this year, at Council House in St George’s Terrace in January 2026 or one of the regional locations.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore the UWA research database, podcasts and other aspects of the project at: www.chinesewa.net/.
