New Stories Bold Legends

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. This series, we’ve been looking at some prominent Chinese personalities from Sydney’s history. As we’ve learned, there has been a small but strong Chinese presence in Australia right from the start of colonisation. But what about other Asian communities? Walk down any main street in Sydney and you’ll find restaurants serving Thai food, Malaysian dishes and Vietnamese delicacies. Census data shows that about 16% of Australia’s population has Asian heritage. Asian-Australains are an essential part of Sydney’s multicultural make-up. In the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Rat. The Rat is actually the first sign of the lunar zodiac and heralds the start of the 12-year lunar calendar cycle. So I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to explore 12 other Asian communities which make Sydney special.

   Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Debutantes at the Dragon Ball, 1945 Image: National Library of Australia In the stories of Chinese and Asian people in Australian history, there’s one group that’s noticeably missing: women! There were many notable Chinese men in Sydney’s early days and in the 20th century. If you’ve been listening to this podcast series, you’ve discovered some of them. But where are the ladies?

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Sun Johnson and the front page of the Chinese Australian Herald Images: State Library of NSW Sun Johnson was the editor of Australia’s first national Chinese newspaper, which started publication in 1894. He was born in Hong Kong and educated in London, before moving to Australia as a young man. Sun used his linguistic skills to create a Chinese-Australian dictionary, aimed primarily at helping Chinese people deal with Australian merchants.

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. William Liu as a young man in 1920 and receiving his OBE in 1983 Images: State Library of NSW William Liu was a tireless campaigner for the rights of other Chinese Australians to live and settle peacefully in this country. Earlier in his life, he had been instrumental in exporting Australia’s department store model to China and Hong Kong. William fervently believed that economic ties between the two countries was the key to a strong relationship. William Liu is in the centre row at right. Image: City of Sydney Archives

  Listen via the player below, via   Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Mei Quong Tart Image: State Library of NSW Mei Quong Tart was one of the most recognised figures in Sydney during the late 1800s. He was an entrepreneur and philanthropist - and most importantly, he opened Sydney’s very first cafes. Yes, we owe our fantastic cafe culture to a Chinese immigrant who spoke with a Scottish accent.

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. John Shying's name on the Welcome Wall at the Australian National Maritime Museum Image: ANMM John Shying is the first known Chinese person to arrive in Australia and make a life Down Under. He emigrated to the colony at Sydney as a young man in 1818, just 30 years after the First Fleet. He was a skilled tradesman and earned his keep as a carpenter before moving out west and becoming a publican. 

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Professor Charlie Teo is one of Australia’s leading brain surgeons and is known for operating on brain tumours that have been considered by many others as ‘inoperable’. He’s the only Australian neurosurgeon to be Board Certified in both Australia and the US, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, has also been named the Most Trusted Person in Australia for the last five consecutive years. Professor Teo primarily works at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney and established the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery. He has been invited to many distinguished universities in more than 50 countries as Visiting Professor, including Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and Stanford universities in the USA, Marburg University in Germany and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. In 2017 he founded the Charlie Teo Foundation, which raises awareness and funds the frontlines of brain cancer re

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Louise Zhang is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture and installation. She designed the playful Monkey Tower lantern for the Sydney Lunar Festival. With an interest in horror cinema, particularly the body horror genre, Zhang is interested in the dynamics between the attractive and repulsive. By exploring how themes of perceived innocence such as prettiness and cuteness can be contrasted with notions of the perverse and monstrous, Zhang explores the intersection of fear, anxiety and a sense of otherness in the construction of identity. Based in Sydney, Louise has had multiple solo shows both in Australia and Beijing. https://www.louisezhang.com/ Louise in her studio

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Ien Ang, is a Professor of Cultural Studies at Western Sydney University. Ien is Chinese and was born in Indonesia but her parents migrated to The Netherlands when she was 12. Her books, including Watching Dallas, Desperately seeking the audience and On not speaking Chinese , are recognised as classics in the field and her work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, German, Korean, and Spanish. Her most recent books are The art of engagement: culture, collaboration, innovation (University of Western Australia Press, 2011, co-edited with Elaine Lally and Kay Anderson) and Cultural diplomacy: beyond the national interest (Routledge, 2016, co-edited with Yudhishthir Raj Isar and Phillip Mar). Professor Ang's work deals broadly with patterns of cultural flow and exchange in our globalised world, focusing on issues such as: the formation of

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Dai Le is a champion for diversity and, as a result, founded DAWN, a platform that gives voice to diverse and inclusive talent who are shaping today’s society. Dai speaks, consults, and help organisations understand the economic and social benefits of leveraging diversity and inclusion as part of their business development, market innovation and corporate responsibility. Prior to establishing DAWN, Dai was an award-winning journalist, film-maker and broadcaster with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She was named one of AFR-Westpac’s Top 100 Influential Women in Australia in 2014. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Dai spent many years in refugee camps in South East Asia before being accepted for resettlement in Australia. Her childhood experiences and growing up with a dual identity – being a Vietnamese in Australia and western cultural surroundings, helped to shape her perception of life.

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Kate Bagnall is a historian and expert on Chinese migration in Australia. Kate’s fascination with China start decades ago and she’s currently co-editing a publication on Chinese Australian women, from some of the earliest women who settled here from China. It’s an important initiative because, as Kate says, we tend of think of Chinese Australian history as a history of men and there isn’t much information around on the contribution or participation of Chinese women in Australian life. Kate is slowly uncovering some of this history. And she’s finding stories that need to be told. There is other academic research, by Alanna Kamp, actually about the erasure of Chinese-Australian women from our history books and from research. Kate, along with nine other historians, are looking to change that. Kate’s historical work focuses on Chinese migration and settlement in the British settler colonies of th

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Laurens Tan splits his time between Las Vegas, Beijing and Wollongong. He designed the Ox lantern for the Sydney Lunar Festival. Laurens was born in The Hague to Chinese Indonesian parents from Surabaya. At the age of 12, they migrated to Australia and while Laurens first got started in music and playing in bands, he eventually turned to studying art. His art practice has incorporated ceramics for many years, painting, and now innovative 3D installations that are seen in exhibitions all over the world. Linking sculpture, architectural & industrial design, 3D animation & video, graphics and music, Laurens is concerned with the plight of a global trance as it affects cultural identity. His work has been curated in international survey exhibitions at the Iberia Center of Contemporary Art, Today Art Museum (Beijing), at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Houston Museum of Art (USA),

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Angela Foong is a fashion designer who co-founded the Newcastle-based label ‘High Tea with Mrs Woo’ with her sisters, Rowena and Juliana. The siblings were born in Malaysia and their family migrated to Australia in 1988. Fascinated with the memory, and the memoir of clothing, they explore the ability of fashion to unfold a great yarn. They describe each garment they make from a moment in time, a truth or a reminiscence – like Stuck in Ueno , Irreversible , We're all mad here , Waiting for Jack to name a few. The name ‘High Tea with Mrs Woo’ is a nostalgic nod to the colonial-style high teas the siblings experienced when they were younger. The sisters say they are conscious of making decisions that support their sustainability practices on a daily basis, and work towards bettering the way they make, sell and consume things. This includes recycling and engaging in energy-saving functions as

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Dr Geoff Lee is the Member for Parramatta. In March 2015, Dr Geoff Lee won the NSW seat of Parramatta for the second consecutive term. This is the first time in 60 years the seat has been held by a Liberal Party member for two consecutive terms. However, Geoff wasn’t always a politician and says he fell into it accidentally. He’s now Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, Western Sydney and Multiculturalism. Dr Geoff Lee has both Australian and Chinese ancestry. His paternal grandfather originated from the providence of Zhongshan, Southern China and moved to Australia in the 1920s. His maternal ancestors are of English and Scottish descent arriving in Australia early in the 1800s. Before entering politics, Geoff was the Associate Dean (Engagement) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) from 2007 to 2011, a lecturer in business at UWS from 2004 to 20

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Pamela See is one of the artists featured in the Sydney Lunar Festival in 2019. Born in Brisbane to Chinese Malaysian parents who migrated to Australia, Pamela is the artist behind the beautiful sheep lantern inspired by the traditional art of Chinese paper cutting. Her technique bears resemblance to Foshan papercutting that emerged during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) in her maternal family home province of Guangdong.  Using a variety of knives, this style of papercutting is also applied to thin foils of metal. Over the past 20 years, Pamela has exhibited in Australia, China and the United States of America. This includes contributing to exhibitions at the International Curatorial and Studio Program (ICSP) in the US, the Qing Tong Museum in China, and the National Gallery of Australia.   Her artwork is held in several institutional and corporate collections including: The Australian War Mem

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Ky Chow is media consultant and journalist. Ky has worked as a television and radio reporter and writer for Australia's top news organisations including the ABC, Sky News, the Australian Financial Review and SBS. Ky was the first male Chinese-Australian news reporter and his consulting work includes media training, freelance writing, video producing and presenting. KyChow.com

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Jackie M is an expert on South-East Asian cuisine and has a whopping 1.9 million followers from around the world. She is a TV presenter, writer and pioneer of live video streaming, having broadcast the first of what would become a weekly cooking show back in 2012. Jackie moved to Australia at the age of 17, studied IT and learnt multiple languages including French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Hakka, Cantonese and more. After experimenting with recipes and running stalls at weekend markets, she eventually made the life-changing decision to ditch her IT career and follow full-time in the footsteps of her street-food vendor parents. She hasn’t looked back since. Jackie is also a proud sole parent to Noah, who was born with Down syndrome and a number of life-threatening conditions that saw him spend the first 7 months of his life in hospital. Through her public profile Jackie hopes to raise awa

  Listen via the player above, via iTunes or your favourite podcast app. Born in Australian to Chinese parents who were educated in Australia – but who came from Papua New Guinea – Brad says he wasn’t surrounded by many Asian traditions while he was growing up. Now Brad is founder of HaymarketHQ, a startup hub with a particular focus on helping startups grow into Asian markets. The hub also provides space for events and talks around subjects such as innovation, business in Asia and promoting culturally diverse leadership. He is also CEO of Banna Property Group, a third generation family business with a vision to transform its shopping centres into community hubs. Brad also acts as a mentor to both startups as well as individuals and retains a personal interest in angel investing. Previously, he was president of the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce for five years, sat on the City of Sydney Chinese New Year Advisory Committee and was the first president of the Australian Asian A

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Elaine Chia is CEO of City Recital Hall,  one of Sydney’s leading arts, entertainment and festival venues. Her career spans music, theatre and visual arts, and she is a passionate advocate for the arts. Elaine’s formal introduction into arts management began with the Australian Youth Orchestra. Her role on her first symphony orchestra tour was to source and coordinate host families for 110 young musicians in 10 cities across Australia. In 1996, she managed the National Music Camp with 240 music students and 100 staff and volunteers. Her role as coordinator, wrangler, persuader and responsible big sister was thus cemented. Elaine’s journey next took her to Belvoir St Theatre as business manager, then to Sydney Conservatorium of Music as marketing and development manager. Elaine moved to Melbourne in 2004 where she took on the role of acting CEO of the AMEB, and later, business and finance mana

  Listen via the player above, via Apple Podcasts  or your favourite podcast app. Marina Go is chair of the Wests Tigers NRL Club and has been named by BOSS Magazine as one of the country's 20 True Leaders. She is author of the business book for women, Break Through: 20 Success Strategies for Female Leaders and has forged a successful board career after spending decades as a leading figure in the media industry. Marina is chair of Ovarian Cancer Australia, a non-executive director of Energy Australia, Auto-sports Group, 7-Eleven, Pro-Pac, and The Walkley Foundation. Starting her career as a journalist, Marina then went on to a successful career in the media and was previously Head of Hearst Australia at Bauer Media. With an MBA under her belt, she is also Chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre For Media Transition at the University of Technology Sydney. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinago/ https://ovariancancer.net.au/