A new exhibition that seeks to challenge stereotypes of the pioneering Chinese immigrants leading up to Victorian Federation has opened at Kyneton Museum.
Chinese Fortunes explores the history of colonial Chinese Australians on the goldfields and celebrates their contributions to Victoria.
The exhibition has been developed at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (MADE) in association with Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum and Kyneton Museum.
The display works to combat stereotypes of Chinese miners in colonial times as indentured labourers who lived and worked in squalor.
Chinese Fortunes shows the image of the Chinese in the gold rush era as a homogenous and unsophisticated group, as was encouraged by anti-Chinese immigration propaganda, to be an inaccurate representation of the truth.
Macedon Ranges mayor Jennifer Anderson said the council welcomed this “special exhibition” to Kyneton.
The exhibition will run until June 24 and is located at 67 Piper Street, Kyneton.
The museum is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-4pm. It will be closed over the Easter long weekend.
