China News Agency, Sydney, May 5 (Reporter Tao Shelan) The preparation of the Australian Chinese Museum (MOCA) has made good progress. The museum committee released news that Sydney City Hall has used the museum as a preferred tenant in the former site of the Haymarket Library adjacent to Chinatown.
More than 200 years have passed since the first recorded Chinese settled in Australia. The growing Chinese population has become an important part of Australia's modern multiculturalism. They have extraordinary stories and outstanding contributions in the history, migration and composition of Australia. The Australian-Chinese History Museum, established in 1985 in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, is the largest special museum for Chinese in Australia.
In order to make up for the vacancy of Chinese records in New South Wales, the Australian Chinese Museum Commission has been committed to promoting the construction of the Sydney Chinatown Museum. On September 12, 2019, the launching ceremony of the Australian Chinese Museum Establishment Project was held in the Chinese Garden in Sydney. The committee submitted a letter of intent to lease the building to Sydney City Hall, including the Jubilee City Library.
The Chairman of the Australian Chinese Museum Committee is Dr. Yu Yu AC, the Australian Distinguished Person of the Year in 1996, and Dr Stephen Fitz Gerald AO, Australia ’s first ambassador to China, serves as Vice Chairman.
Regarding the current progress of the museum, Yu Senmei said that this is the opportunity given to us by Sydney. We are part of Sydney ’s rich heritage. The Chinese community is very proud of the development of Sydney, and it is important to share this with other Australians. This new museum will be a project that will inspire the spirit of Sydney. The Australian Chinese community in Sydney is very excited to be able to share their history.
The Australian Chinese Museum is dedicated to discovering, preserving and promoting the history of Chinese Australians and has become an important addition to Australia ’s existing history and community museums. The museum will collect, study, protect, display and explain the history, heritage and material culture of Chinese Australians, and open it to the Australian public to help them understand the history and culture of Chinese Australians. The Committee appreciates the cultural relics exhibits currently in the collection of the Australian Chinese History Museum in Melbourne and other regional museums, and looks forward to working with these institutions to produce new and inspiring exhibitions that describe the Chinese settlement experience in Australia and contribute to the Australian multiculturalism. (Finish)