Chinatown, Melbourne

Today, Melbourne's Chinatown is a major tourist attraction, known for its architectural heritage, annual festivals and cuisines of Asian origins,[5] as well as its karaoke venues, bars and fashion boutiques.

The majority were Cantonese-speaking male villagers from Hong Kong and nearby areas, including the southwestern districts of Guangdong (See Yup), and its capital city Guangzhou (Sam Yap).

The eastern half of Little Bourke Street was considered convenient for these immigrants, as both a staging post and a place to pick up supplies en route to the goldfields in central Victoria.

[10] The Victorian gold rush eventually waned, causing a shift from rural living and an influx of people migrating into metropolitan Melbourne, particularly Little Bourke Street, which already had a predominantly Chinese population.

The residents of Chinatown established themselves as storekeepers, importers, furniture-makers, herbalists and in the wholesale fruit and vegetable industries, with a strong presence at the nearby Eastern Market on Bourke Street.

[13]Despite the cultural divide, several community leaders with strong Chinatown connections became influential and well-regarded among Melburnians more broadly, including businessman Lowe Kong Meng, police detective Fook Shing and missionary Cheok Hong Cheong.

Also during the colonial period, a number of businesses run by Australians of European descent were based in Chinatown, including the offices of Table Talk, one of Melbourne's most popular magazines in the 1880s.

Chinatown peaked in the early 20th century in terms of population and size with businesses having expanded into the nearby Little Lon red-light district, transforming it into a predominantly Chinese-owned area.

[8] In the 1920s, more Australians of European descent began frequenting Chinatown eateries, one being Chung Wah on Heffernan Lane, a haven for members of the University of Melbourne ALP Club.

Chinatown's potential as a tourist site was recognised in the 1960s by local entrepreneur and politician David Wang, whose push for the redevelopment of Little Bourke Street led to the archways of today.

During the Second World War, modernist Eric Thake created a series of works depicting Chinatown shopfronts, which now belong in the State Library of Victoria's painting collection.