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TRANSCRIPT:
There were lion dancers - and a visit from the prime minister -
"Ladies and gentlemen, the prime minister of Australia."
- for a museum opening in Sydney: the Museum of Chinese in Australia.
In Chinese astrology, it is the year of the fire horse, which is traditionally linked to a time of significant breakthroughs and drastic change.
It is fitting then that the Museum has thrown open its doors in the heart of Sydney's Chinatown for the first time after years of challenges - including the COVID-19 pandemic to balancing the intricacies around renovating a 1875 heritage building.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore played significant a role in helping the museum take shape.
"This heritage building - formally a bank - was for over 20 years our much loved Haymarket library. This library was the busiest with its collections and programs tailored to serve the large Chinese community in the area. The library was so popular that we realised that we needed a larger library, when the beautiful birds in the building in the darling quarter became available, the city took the opportunity to relocate the library."
Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, helped secure federal government funding.
"Chinese Australians have made a contribution well beyond commerce Australia, to our culture, to our multicultural community. And I think we will have the opportunity through this museum to acknowledge all of those elements of the Chinese contribution towards Australia."
Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly says the museum will shine a light on the ambitions, resilience and determination of Chinese migrants.
Chief executive Peter Cai says the museum aspires to share the Chinese Australian story.
"The museum of the Chinese in Australia is a joint project between the Chinese-Australian community, the Commonwealth, the states and the city government to preserve, collect and celebrate the history of the Chinese-Australians."
But Mr Cai says the museum's goal was not just to tell the local community's story.
In the face of challenges to multiculturalism and diversity in Australia, he says Australians love stories about underdogs.
He says one promotional exhibition will accordingly feature some of Sydney's biggest merchant families from the late 19th to early 20th century as the final touches continue to be made to the space.
Meanwhile, at the opening, Anthony Albanese, who grew up in the adjoining suburb of Camperdown with his mother, has recalled his memories of shopping in Chinatown at Christmas when festivities at his household were a small affair and there was no point having a big turkey.
"So what we did was to come to one of the outlets down here, and we had duck and pork barbeque was our Christmas meal along with salad, every single year, and that was our Christmas meal every single year. That way as well everyone who dropped in was always welcome to our place, that was the part of the benefit that we had."
The prime minister says the museum will play an important role in educating about the contribution Chinese migrants and their descendants have made.
"Their are all important stories - stories of contribution, of ambition and determination, of energy and hard work. The sheer determination to realise the dream and to make a difference. And whether that's in hospitality, in business, commerce, medicine, science, or culture. This is all the stuff of nation building. And that is what underpins the spirit of the Museum of Chinese in Australia."
