As white male history teacher I make it a point to seek out histories that are not about me and my kind. Too much of what I have read and have seen was written by and about us white men and we tend to leave out and or misrepresent anyone who is not white and male.
The Celestial Chinese exhibition at the Sydney Museum was a rich experience for me and it ticks the boxes I love in a museum. It is rich in visual representation of the experience of the Chinese community in Australia over the last two centuries. It contains lots of material written from their perspective and about their lives. It abounds in ordinariness and familiarity – reminding me of how embedded and contributing the Chinese community have been to my life and my history. It portrays in a clear way how deeply racist has been the treatment by the white people who took this land from the indigenous occupiers of the Chinese who were just another invading race.
The best part for me was the pointing out of the day to day contributions they made to ordinary people’s lives. I had not known their involvement in the furniture business but it reminded me of an experience I had 15 years ago. I had designed a large drop sided table to solve a problem we had at home entertaining big groups. I found a place in Sydney to build two of them from drawings I gave them on the back side of one of their flyers and returned to Canberra. When they were delivered they had some big flaws in the result. I was very disappointed. I contacted the company borrowed a box trailer and went to their factory. An office worker who spoke English and Mandarin heard my problem, ushered me into the workshop and sitting on the floor under the tables she explained my problems to two Mandarin speaking carpenters. After an intense conversation she emerged with a solution that got the tables in line with my vision. Worried I would have to return to Sydney I was amazed they agreed to do both tables then and there and 45 minutes later we loaded them on my trailer and we have entertained hundreds of people on them for a decade and a half.
The exhibition was a delight. Attached are some pics and a brochure.
Celestial Chinese, Sydney Museum,

