- Title
- A Ballarat chinese family biography – an intergenerational study
- Creator
- Horsfield, Yvonne
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/174070
- Identifier
- vital:14769
- Abstract
- This thesis addresses the gap that has existed in Ballarat’s historiography regarding the historical neglect and ignorance of Chinese family narratives and their life experiences. In doing so this thesis presents a longitudinal, three generational study of an immigrant Ballarat Chinese family from the early 1860s until the 1950s. It examines how members of each Tong Way generation strove to gain acceptance and establish an enduring sense of cultural belonging in a former regional, Victorian gold mining city. An ancestor, Liu Chou Hock, was a sojourner who arrived on the Haddon goldfield in 1862 and successfully worked a claim. Within three years, he returned to his village, Wang Tung, in Taishan, China. His experience was in sharp contrast to that of his son John Tong Way (Liu’ Zongwei) who permanently settled in Ballarat. The family strived to integrate against a background of migrant adjustment, ethnic discrimination and later a policy of assimilation. These factors represented a challenge for all Chinese who remained until the White Australia Policy was abandoned by the Whitlam Labor government in 1973. Unlike Caucasian immigrants, who could assimilate, whilst retaining certain features of their ethnic identification, the Chinese were culturally alienated and often excluded from everyday cultural life and practice. They represented a demographically significant ethnic minority. The thesis also compares the experiences of the Ballarat and Bendigo Chinese communities in order to examine the similarities and differences. In doing so, it analyses how they were able to establish a sense of belonging in their respective communities. The analysis of the Ballarat family’s experiences, combined with that of other Chinese descent families forms the basis of an extended case study. One that argues that adaptation was necessitated by their individual aspirations for acceptance, respectability and success.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- Copyright Yvonne Horsfield
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- A Ballarat Chinese Family Biography - An Intergenerational Study
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Reeves, Keir
- Hits: 2371
- Visitors: 2049
- Downloads: 35
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE2 | Australian Digital Thesis | 17 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |