MY WORK   -   Conference papers and presentations

2022 “ ‘Don’t Mention the history. I did, just a little, and I think I got away with it.’ Memorialising ‘the Chinese’ in the diaspora, yet marginalising their history”, Dragon Tails 2022 Conference: Rural and Regional Histories, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, 10-14 November 2022.

2022 “The Chinese Miners’ ‘Residence Tax Revolt’ of 1859”, presentation at Eureka Centre Ballarat, 22 March 2022. Video available at: https://fb.watch/gtK6_Tpzpl/

2021 "Contributors or colonizers? The awkward recuperation of Chinese artefacts into the settlement narrative", Australian Historical Association conference, 1 Dec 2021

2021 “The power of nails – Interpreting Chinese mining hut sites”, Victorian Archaeology Colloquium, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 4 February 2021.

2020 (with Melissa Tsafkas) “The trouble with MNI – comparing assemblages across Chinese diaspora sites in Australasia”, Victorian Archaeology Colloquium, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 7 February 2020.

2019 “A translatable thirst: Why did Chinese gold miners drink European alcohol?”, Dragon Tails 2019 Conference: Translation and Transformation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, 20-23 November 2019.

2019 “Did they leave or were they pushed? Chinese population decline in Australia 1880-1900”, Australian Historical Association conference, Toowoomba, 9 July 2019.

2019 “Hard Work? Hard Liquor? Alcohol Consumption in a Chinese Mining Village: Harrietville, Victoria, 1860-1890s”, Victorian Archaeology Colloquium, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 1 February 2019.                  

2018 (with Juanita Kwok), “The politics of compensation for victims of racism: a legal aftermath of anti-Chinese goldfields riots in Australia’s first era of immigration restriction”, Exclusion, Confinement, Dispossession: Uneven Citizenship and Spaces of Sovereignty, 37th Annual Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society, University of Wollongong, 10-12 December 2018.

2018                   “Lowe Kong Meng: Economic diversity, innovation and integration in Victoria’s colonial economy”, “Chinese contributions to Asia Pacific colonial economies” symposium, University of Wollongong, 9 December 2018.

2018                   “Who supported the temples? Investigating the name lists on the artefacts of the Cairns, Atherton and Georgetown and Innisfail temples”, CHINA Inc conference: Northern Link: Protecting Their Interests and Pushing Back, Townsville, 3-4 March 2018.

2018                   “Chinese Tablewares and the Archaeology of Illustration”, Victorian Archaeology Colloquium 2018, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 2 February 2018.

2018                   (with Melissa Dunk) “ ‘Dig With Us’: Public participation at Harrietville Chinese Mining Village”, October 2017”, Victorian Archaeology Colloquium 2018, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 2 February 2018.

2018                   “Lowe Kong Meng and the fluidity of 19th century geopolitical affinity”, Amidst Empires: Colonialism, China and the Chinese, 1839-1997 conference, Flinders University, Adelaide, 29-30 January 2018.

2017                   “Embodiment of Dreams, Reality of Destruction: The Literal Rise and Fall of the Joss Houses of Northeast Victoria”, Dragon Tails 2017: Hopes, Dreams and Realities, 5th Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, Victoria, 23-26 November 2017.

2017                   “Digging into the hopes and dreams of the gold miners - the excavation of the Chinese Mining Village in Harrietville, Victoria”, Dragon Tails 2017: Hopes, Dreams and Realities, 5th Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, Victoria, 23-26 November 2017.

2017                   “Chinese gold mining in northeast Victoria - a 19th century success story”, Australasian Mining History Association 23rd Annual Conference, Federation University, Churchill Campus, 25-29 September 2017.

2017                   “Chinese mining labour on the gold and tin fields of 19th century Australasia”, Workers of the World, the 15th biennial labour history conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 23-25 September 2017.

2016                  “Ecological Racism and Imperial Agriculture in the Upper Goulburn Valley, Victoria”, Colonial Formations: Connections and Collisions conference, University of Wollongong, 23-25 November 2016.

2016                   “Chinese tin mining in Australia and Malaya 1870s-1890s”, Australasian Mining History Association 22nd Annual Conference, Cobar, NSW, 16-21 October 2016.

2016                   “Chinese perspectives on their own rights as indentured labourers - Southeast Australia, 1840s and 1850s”, ISSCO 2016: 9th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas, Vancouver, Canada, 6-8 July 2016.

2016                   “Chinese temples and joss houses in the 19th century diaspora - hubs of transnational communal identity”, ISSCO 2016: 9th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas, Vancouver, Canada, 6-8 July 2016.

2016                   “Temples of the North: Rich Contents and a Wealth of Meaning”, CHINA Inc conference: Northern Links: Transplantation or Transnationalism?, Townsville, Queensland, 27-28 February 2016.

2015                   “A Chinese diaspora of things: how 19th century 'material-culture imperialism' influenced self-perception and other-perception of 'Chinese-ness' ”, Race, Mobility and Imperial Networks: Charting the Transnational Asia-Pacific World, 1800-2015, conference, RMIT University, Melbourne, 9-11 November 2015.

2015                   “Chinese joss houses and temples in the 19th century diaspora: Hubs of transnational communal identity”, China in the World from the Maritime Perspective: The First International Conference of the Silk Road Conference, University of Queensland, 7 October 2015.

2015                   “Lowe Kong Meng 劉光眀 - Melbourne’s international goldrush merchant”, 8th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation and the 2nd World Congress of Guangdong Overseas Chinese Youth, Sydney, 6 October 2015.

2015                   “Chinese perspectives on their own rights as indentured labourers - Southeast Australia, 1840s and 1850s”, Thinking Labour Rights Through The ‘Coolie Question’ Symposium, University of Sydney, 17-18 September 2015.

2015                   “Chinese joss houses in the 19th century diaspora - hubs of transnational communal identity”, Foundational Histories: Australian Historical Association Conference, University of Sydney, 6-10 July 2015.

2015                   “Transactions and talismans: Using Chinese coins in Australasia and Southeast Asia”, Dragon Tails 2015 : Jade Dragon in the Tropics, 4th Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, Cairns, 2-5 July 2015.

2015                   “Gold for Goods - Chinese Miners and the Trade with Hong Kong”, Australasian Mining History Association 21st Annual Conference, Darwin, 21-25 June 2015.

2015                   “The Self-Assured Traveller: Bringing Ease and Curiosity to the Imperial Apprehension”, Writers and Readers: Books that Shaped and Subverted the British Empire Conference, University of Melbourne, 8-9 May 2015.

2015                   “The dormitory and the temple: Chinese contrasts in affective display in colonial Victoria”, The Private Lives of Empire: Intimate Histories of the Settler Colony 1800-Present Conference, University of Sydney, 16-17 April 2015.

2014                   “Transplanting and transforming Chinese cultural practice in Australian colonial society – the everyday life of Siyi people in Victoria in the late Qing era”, International Symposium on International Migration and Qiaoqiang Studies, Wuyi University, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China, 11-14 December 2014.

2014                   “Mrs Fabian Chow of Shanghai—journalist, radio star and goodwill ambassador: an Australian Chinese colleague of the Soong sisters”, Symposium on Chinese Women in the Southern Diaspora, University of Wollongong, 5 December 2014.

2014                   “Chinese temples of colonial Victoria”, Culture, Climate, Change: Archaeology in the Tropics, joint conference of the Australian Archaeological Association and the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology, Cairns, Queensland, 1-3 December 2014.

2014                   “Race relations on the goldfields: The Chinese reconsidered”, Past Heritages: Future Prospects, 10th Congress of the International Mining History Association and 20th Annual Conference of the Australasian Mining History Association Conference, Charters Towers, 6-11 July 2014.

2014                   “Goldrush anti-Chinese immigration restriction - and its opponents: 1855-1865”, Boat People: The Long History of Immigration conference, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta, Sydney, 12-13 June 2014.

2014                   “From Penang to Longwood: A Cantonese merchant becomes a central Victorian landowner”, lecture at Rocky Passes Estate, Whiteheads Creek, Victoria, 28 February 2014.

2013                  “The Kong Meng deep lead and quartz mines of central Victoria 1860s-1880s: a stellar investment strategy”, Diversity in Mining: 19th Annual Australasian Mining History Association Conference, Beechworth, Victoria, 29 September-4 October 2013.

2013                  “Colonial Victoria’s Indian Ocean Trade”, Mobilities and Mobilisations: Australian Historical Association 32nd Annual Conference, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 8-12 July 2013.

2013                  “Gender, location, identity: The multiple lives of a transforming Chinese-Australian woman”, Dragon Tails 2013: Tradition and Modernity, 3rd Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 6-8 July 2013.

2013                  “Promoting temple heritage in Australasia”, Dragon Tails 2013: Tradition and Modernity, 3rd Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 6-8 July 2013.

2013                  “Lowe Kong Meng of ‘Valetta’: An International Entrepreneur in 1860s East Melbourne”, Lecture for East Melbourne Historical Society, Clarendon Terrace, East Melbourne, 19 June 2013.

2013                  “Diasporic politics during the Chinese mining rushes”, Melbourne Chinese Studies Group seminar, Melbourne, 14 June 2013.

2012                  “A trade in Chinese men and supplies: Lowe Kong Meng and the organisation of the Chinese goldrush in Otago”, 150 Years of Riches: The Central Otago Gold Rush, 1862–2012 conference, Cromwell, Otago, New Zealand, 28 August-1 September 2012. Organised by University of Canterbury.

2012                  “Islands of Chinese Modernity 1786-1949: From Singapore and Shanghai to Sydney and San Francisco”, Connections: Australian Historical Association 31st Annual Conference, University of Adelaide, 9-13 July 2012.

2012                  “A Tale of Two Chinatowns: Comparing San Francisco’s and Melbourne’s Chinese histories”, Melbourne Chinese Studies Group seminar, Melbourne, 1 June 2012.

2012                  “Was Melbourne’s Lowe Kong Meng a pioneer of tropical Australia?”, Rediscovered Past 4th conference: Chinese Tropical Australia, held by Chinese Heritage in Northern Australia Inc (CHINA Inc), Hotel Sheridan Plaza, Cairns, 11-12 February 2012.

2011                  “Malaya and Australia: comparative perspectives Chinese endeavour in British colonial societies”, Dragon Tails 2011: Sources, Language, Approaches, 2nd Australasian conference on overseas Chinese history & heritage, Chinese Museum, Melbourne, 11-14 November 2011.

2011                  “Lowe Kong Meng – International Man of History: Chinese and European engagement in colonial Austral/Asia”, History at the Edge: Australian Historical Association Regional Conference, University of Tasmania, Launceston, 4-8 July 2011.

2011                   “A Chinese Political Reformer Tours Australia: Liang Qichao 1900-1901”, Melbourne Chinese Studies Group seminar, Melbourne, 6 May 2011.

2010                  “Temples, Ghosts and Christians – A Brief History of Chinese Spiritual Practice in Australia”, Melbourne Chinese Studies Group seminar, Melbourne, 2 July 2010.

2009                  “ 'Follow the Money': Tracking the Value of Chinese Economic Activity in Colonial Victoria”, Dragon Tails: Re-interpreting Chinese-Australian Heritage conference, Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Victoria, 9-11 Oct 2009.

2008                  “Lowe Kong Meng 1831-1888: China’s first global citizen?”, Melbourne Chinese Studies Group seminar, Melbourne, 5 December 2008.

2005                  “ ‘Tasting’ the Orient - the economic and cultural significance of the tea trade between China and Australia”, Chinese Studies Association of Australia Conference, Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, Victoria, 30 June-3 July 2005.

2004                  “Lowe Kong Meng: Entrepreneur, Comprador or Mandarin? The economic and social significance of a Melbourne gold rush magnate”, An International Conference on Quong Tart and His Times 1850-1903, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 1-4 July 2004.

2003                  "The China Trade and Chinese Goldminers", Hidden Histories, Active Voices: Coming Down from Golden Mountain: making sense of the history and material evidence of 19th century Chinese mining communities in Victoria conference, Old Castlemaine Gaol, Castlemaine, Victoria, 21-22 June 2003.

2003                 “Before we came to this country, we heard that English laws were good and kind to everybody” - Chinese immigrant views of colonial Australia”, As Others See Us: Chinese and Japanese Accounts of Australia, one-day conference, National Library of Australia, 6 February 2003.

2000                  “ ‘Dual Loyalties’ of Chinese Australians”, paper presented at Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 15 December 2000.

2000                  “Christianity, modernism and nationalism in Melbourne's Chinese community, 1890s-1920s”, The Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation Conference, Chinese Museum, Melbourne, 1-2 July 2000.

2000                 “The Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation Project”, Workshop on the Chinese in Australian and New Zealand History, University of New South Wales, 11-13 February 2000.

1999                  “Pioneers of Chinese Australian Business”, Chinese Diaspora – Enriching Australia – A Look at Chinese Business Networks seminar, organised by The Asia Society Austral/Asia Centre, the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the Australia Asia Institute of Management at Australian National University, held at the Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre, Melbourne, 23 March 1999.

1999                “Is Culture Diaphanous?”, Multicultural Arts Victoria forum, Span Galleries, Melbourne, 9 February 1999.

1998                  “Searching for the History of Melbourne's Chinatown”, Chinese in Australasia and the Pacific: Old and New Migrations and Cultural Change Conference, held by Association for the Study of the Chinese and their Descendants in Australasia and the Pacific Islands (ASCDAPI) and the History Department of the University of Otago, Otago Museum, Dunedin, 20-21 November 1998.

1998                  “Embracing Modernity - Chinese Australians as cultural pioneers, 1900-1930”, Cultural Connections: Walter Burley Griffin and the Australian Chinese Community symposium, Walter Burley Griffin Society and National Maritime Museum, Sydney, 8 August 1998.

1997                “The Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation Project”, The River: Regional Conference of the Australian Historical Association, Newcastle, 28-30 September 1997.

1997                  “Issues relating to the presence of the Australian Chinese in museums, heritage more generally, and in Australian historical writing”, The Chinese Southern Diaspora Workshop, Australian National University, Canberra, 11 July 1997.

1995                  “From pottery shards and recorded memories, to temple records, family portraits and antique bills of lading - sources for the history of the Chinese in Australasia”, Symposium on the Archaeology and History of the Chinese in Australasia, at Biennial Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia, Macquarie University, Sydney, 5-7 July 1995.

1994                 “Chinese? Australian? The limits of geography and ethnicity as determinants of cultural identity”, Chinese Settlers and Sojourners in Australasia and the South Pacific seminar at History ’94, the 7th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Historical Association, University of Western Australia, Perth, 26-30 September 1994.

1994                 “A bridge of understanding: The Museum of Chinese Australian History as tourist venue and cultural heritage institution”, Traditions and Tourism: the good, the bad and the ugly - Sixth National Folklife Conference, Melbourne University, July 1994.

1993                  “The material heritage of Chinese Australians: a survey and evaluation of the collection of the Museum of Chinese Australian History”, Histories of the Chinese in Australasia and the South Pacific Conference, Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne, 8-10 October 1993.

1991                  “Australians in China: An Overview”, Australians in China: Two Centuries of Contact symposium, jointly presented by History Institute of Victoria and Museum of Chinese Australian History, Chinese Museum, 4 October 1991.