Although they probably never said, “there’s gold in them thar hills”, Chinese settlers first came to Victoria in large numbers hoping to find their fortunes on the goldfields. As early as the 1860′s Little Bourke St was a busy hub for Chinese cultural and business activities, and even now, after the gold has run well and truly out, Chinatown remains a proud centre for the Chinese community in Melbourne.

Despite successive historic waves of restriction on migration, whether through the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act – often called the White Australia Policy –  or otherwise, in 2006 the census recorded that more than 50,000 people resident in Victoria were born in China. Chinese/Australian writers like Lia Incognita are still happy to stand outside the Chinese Museum and question how we can know who we are and where we came from and still know where we are going.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This poem is a part of Writings on the Wall.