Chinatowns exist in most Australian states and territories, especially in the highly-populous and cosmopolitan capital cities but also in rural areas.

Chinese people first immigrated to Australia in large waves in the midst of the Australian gold rushes (beginning during the 1850s).

Australia has seen significant waves of Chinese and Overseas Chinese immigration for several decades since the 1970s, which was roughly when the White Australia policy (a white nationalist Australian ethnic policy that heavily restricted Asian immigration from 1901 until 1973) was completely dismantled.

There are also many Overseas Chinese people in Australia, mostly from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

[2] Other suburban Chinatowns have cropped up over the years in the suburbs of Ashfield, Auburn, Burwood, Cabramatta, Campsie, Chatswood, Eastwood, Parramatta, Hurstville, Kingsford, Marrickville, Wolli Creek, Zetland adjoining Waterloo on Gadigal Avenue and most recently around Mascot railway station Beaumont Street in Hamilton temporarily turns into a Chinatown for a week for Newcastle China Week, which starts yearly on 24 September.

[3] Although no permanent ones exist in the large city, many Asian supermarkets and restaurants are found around the area and the Hunter Valley.

In 1991 the Bridge St Chinatown became the site of the Golden Dragon Museum which includes many relics from the city's Chinese heritage.

[6] A historic Chinatown existed in Castlemaine during the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1860s near the corner of Mostyn and Union streets (current site of the Albion Hotel) which included as many as five Joss Houses and a Chinese Mission Chapel.

Suburban Chinese communities, of a mostly Cantonese culture, are in Box Hill, Doncaster, Glen Waverley and Springvale.

Melbourne's Chinatown boasts some world-famous cuisine, Flower Drum for example was voted as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the world by the New York Times.

It will offer an authentic Asian experience and create a unique destination on the light rail corridor in the heart of the CBD.

A four-metre-high (13 ft) statue of Confucius was unveiled and soon, three paifangs - traditional Chinese gateways - will mark the entries to the precinct.

[13] After Broome was established, a Chinatown area emerged as the town became home to a large Asian population in the late 19th century.

Historically many Chinese (usually of Malaysian, Singaporean or Indonesian background) settled in Northbridge alongside other immigrant groups.

The city's low density population and comparatively cheap property encourages migrants to move to the expanding suburbs.