The Australian-Chinese History Museum (Chinese The Chinese useum is a unique tourist attraction in Melbourne's Chinatown, built at the initiative of Don Duhstan, and showcases the hardships and entrepreneurial experiences of early Chinese immigrants in Australia in a variety of ways.

Building an Australian-Chinese history museum to showcase Chinese history The proposal to build an Australian-Chinese history museum to showcase Chinese history was first proposed by a respected Australian, Don Duhstan, Chairman of the Victorian Tourism Authority. After receiving strong response and support from all sectors of the community, the Victorian government donated 240,000 Australian dollars, and then purchased an old warehouse building built in 1890 in Melbourne's Chinatown as the site of the museum, after more than a year of renovation, preparation, and officially opened to the public in November 1985.

The AHM is mainly used to collect, study and exhibit the historical relics of the early Chinese in Australia, and a pair of huge stone lions in front of the AHM embodies the traditional Chinese architectural style. The AHM has five floors of galleries, including the Chinatown Visitor Centre, the Dragon Gallery, the Gold Rush Gallery on the ground floor, a gallery of over 200 years of Chinese history in Australia, and a gallery of stories of people from the Asia Pacific region who settled here from the 1950s onwards.

In the gallery, thousands of artifacts and ancillary exhibits are neatly displayed, including early Chinese clothing, labor tools, tableware, furniture, household items, and more. Artifacts include historical photographs, news papers, diaries, letters, books, account books, and various crafts. Audiovisual materials include audio and video tapes of their own history. Almost every exhibit is illustrated with Chinese and English characters, making it easy for visitors to understand the origin, age and meaning of the exhibits.

Gold Rush Exhibition: The museum's basement level recreates the 19th century Chinese encounter with gold in the Australian gold mines. You will see winding shafts and an elaborate model of a gold mine, all of which will allow you to immerse yourself in the adventures of those gold seekers. Afterwards, you can ask for fortune at the Guan Gong Temple (Guan Gong was a famous general in ancient China and was worshipped as a god). You can also have fun watching a Cantonese opera in a tent theater and see how the gold seekers won money by buying Chinese lottery tickets.

Melbourne's Chinese Dragon: The Millennium Dragon of the Melbourne Dragon Society hovers from the first floor to the ground floor, as if it were in hibernation, awaiting the arrival of the Spring Festival (January-February) and the Momba Festival (March). Three Chinese parading dragons, which have been parading through the streets of Melbourne for almost a century, are on display at the Australian Chinese History Museum, reflecting one of the centuries-old traditions of the Chinese community in Melbourne. The Millennium Dragon is the largest parade dragon in the world, standing upright at over three meters tall, and it takes eight people to support its head alone. The dragon is surrounded by costumes, banners, lanterns and lion dancers, making it a must-see! You can learn more about the importance of the dragon dance in the Chinese community in Australia by watching the video below.

Chinese History and Culture: This gallery showcases the Australian-Chinese Museum's antique collection of Chinese textiles and artifacts, highlighting the long-standing relationship between Australian and Chinese cultures. One of the highlights of the gallery is the story of the Qing Dynasty wooden bed and Australia.

On the same level, the Chinese Language and Culture Experience Center provides a multi-media environment for visitors to experience and learn about Chinese history and culture. Topics include Chinese scenery, musical instruments, ideas, inventions and paper-cutting crafts.

Australian Chinese History: The fourth floor of the museum showcases the history and culture of the Chinese in Australia. The exhibition tells the story of the Chinese in Australia, from the arrival of the first generation of Chinese and their descendants in the 19th century to the present day immigration situation.

It also tells the story of the Chinese community from the earliest friendship groups formed for mutual aid to the social and sporting clubs formed in the 20th century. Through the exhibition you can learn about the careers of Chinese people, their social and family life, and the societies they have organised, and realise that Chinese people have become an integral part of Australia.

Past Revisited (Stories of Recent Migrants) explores the complexities of identity through the personal experiences of Chinese people who have migrated to Australia from China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. The exhibition highlights the changes in the economic, social and political landscape of the world over the past 50 years. Over the past fifty years, more than half a million Chinese have migrated to Australia, creating the multicultural society that it is today.