Uncovering the stories of Chinese Australian families

When she began researching the history of Chinese Australian families more than two decades ago, the sources Kate Bagnall first came across, including accounts by politicians and journalists, focused on an absence of ‘real’ family life among the colonial Chinese population. Despite this, other sources provided tantalising hints at the presence of a small number of Chinese women as well as a significant number of families made up of a Chinese father and white mother. In this talk, Kate will share how she, alongside a growing number of family historians, has gone about uncovering the stories of Chinese Australian families and consider how their transnational lives are an important part of the history of connection between China and Australia.

 Kate Bagnall is a social historian whose research explores histories of migration, citizenship, family and the law, and one of her particular interests is the women, children and families of Australia’s early Chinese communities. Kate is Senior Lecturer in Humanities and coordinator of the Family History program at the University of Tasmania.

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