Associations
Date Published
Chinese Organisations in Australia
From their first arrival in Australia, Chinese people have always been well-organised. This was particularly true of the Cantonese, who formed associations based on their home districts or villages. These included the Lungdu, the Four Districts (Siyi), and other Taishan-area associations. Organisation was the natural way people from southern China managed life abroad, and it carried over directly into the Australian colonies.
There were also some so-called secret societies—better described as brotherhood organisations—that operated to protect their members. These societies collected money to assist those who were sick, to help people return to China, and to offer general welfare and self-protection. They followed the same patterns of organisation that existed in southern China itself, where local or fraternal associations often filled the gaps left by weak or absent government support.
As the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth, however, the Chinese in Australia began to develop broader kinds of communal associations. Some of these were political, such as the Empire Reform Association, which supported reform in China. Others were commercial, including the Chinese Chambers of Commerce that began to appear in the major cities. Still others were devoted to self-help and mutual support, and included groups formed by Australian-born Chinese, who were now a growing part of the community.
These newer associations marked the beginning of a shift away from district or dialect divisions. People increasingly began to see themselves as Chinese as such, rather than primarily as people from Lungdu, Taishan, or Xinhui. This change was partly a response to how they were perceived by white or mainstream Australian society, which tended to see them simply as “Chinese,” regardless of origin. But it also reflected changes in China itself. The fall of the Qing Empire, the rise of nationalism, and the growth of the Guomindang (Nationalist Party) encouraged Chinese people everywhere to think in national terms rather than purely local ones.
By the time of the Second World War, this shift was well advanced. Many Chinese Australians took part in organisations supporting China’s struggle against Japan, sending money and supplies, and organising local fundraising campaigns. This period saw a renewed sense of unity among Chinese people in Australia—one that connected their life in Australia to the broader fate of China.
So over time, Chinese organisation in Australia moved from small, localised district groups to larger, more inclusive associations. The pattern began with the practical needs of migrants—protection, welfare, and connection to home—and grew into a more complex communal structure that linked Chinese Australians to each other, to the Chinese nation, and to the changing society around them.
Chinese Australians also established associations to protect their status and positions under White Australia.
The Chinese community was shocked by the emergence of White Australia. It also strengthened the process of transformation within community networks and social leadership. Chinese Australians established associations to ensure and protect their status and position under White Australia, but these developments, together with increasing democratisation of the Chinese community, fostered a decline in the leadership of the bilingual Chinese. Between 1902 and 1904, a number of new Chinese organisations were established in Australia, including the New South Wales Chinese Merchants’ Society (鳥修威華商會社 Niaoxiuwei Huashanghuishe) and Chinese Merchants’ Defence Association (保商會 Baoshanghui, CMDA) in Sydney, and in Melbourne the Chinese Times, Chinese Christian Union, Chinese Employees’ Union, and China Public Association (中國公會 Zhongguo Gonghui, later 新民啟智會 Xinminqizhihui, New Citizen Enlightenment Association, NCEA).
