Chinese and Indigenous Australians - share a long history

A Game of Euchre, Johnson National Library of Australia, NLA57611 source abc.net

This year is the 200th anniversary since the first Chinese person arrived in Australia in 1818. Since this arrival Indigenous and Chinese communities have shared a strong cultural bond. Much of this history between Indigenous and Chinese Australians is unrecorded (Yang, 2018).
It is known that relationships between Indigenous and Chinese communities started with intermarriages. Slocomb,(2014, p. 282) states "It is a well attested fact that Chinese men entered into informal married relationships with Aboriginal women. In the the Burnett district, this history is recorded on the museum map of the former mission at Cherbourg on Barambah Creek with the area designated for what were colloquially termed Chinarigines. These relationships were made illegal. The "Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (61 Vic., No. 17)  made it illegal for Chinese men to cohabit with Aboriginal women and to employ Aboriginal labour" (Slocomb, 2014.p 282).
Gregory Eaton is an Chinese Aboriginal Australian and he tells us his story in our Having a Voice series found on our Youtube Channel

Do you know anything about Chinese Aboriginal History?

References:
Slocomb, M. (2014). Among Australia's pioneers. Bloomingdale: Balboa Press.
Yang, E (2018) Indigenous and Chinese Relationships in Australian History retrieved 23.6.18 from http://mobile.abc.net.

Tags #Chinese #Aboriginal #Australia #Maryborough #Burnett