Chinatown

Welcome to Chinatown! Like every great city in the world, Melbourne has a sizeable Chinatown, dating back to the 1850s. At that time, the Victorian gold rush drew immigrants from all over the world, including thousands of Chinese prospectors. They settled on the eastern half of Little Bourke Street, which they found very convenient – a quick rest stop and supply point on the way to the promised lands of central Victoria. When the gold rush fizzled out, the men moved back to the metropolis to work as shopkeepers, herbalists, tailors and greengrocers. Chinatown’s activity reached its peak at the beginning of the 20th century, but a new law to reduce immigration was passed in 1901, and slowed things down. Even businesses started to relocate to the suburbs. But Melbourne’s Chinatown wasn’t done yet! In the mid-20th century, students and Aussies with European roots began to frequent its restaurants, raising the profile of Australian Chinese cuisine that became extremely popular. Did you know that Dim Sum, that delicious bite-sized goodness, was invented right here in Melbourne, in 1945, by William Wing Young? His daughter, Elizabeth Chong, went on to become a famous Aussie TV chef. The 1960s finally saw Chinatown recognized as a tourist gem. The decades that followed also marked the end of the so-called White Australia policy, which prohibited immigration by people of non-European ethnic origin. This brought in a new, more diverse Asian population from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.