Cairns is set to become home to a new purpose-built Chinese Cultural and Heritage Centre, with $2.7 million in Queensland Government funding to help build a facility to honour the region’s rich migrant history and multicultural community.
The Centre will house rare Chinese artifacts and become a key educational, cultural and tourism hub said Minister for Multiculturalism, Fiona Simpson.
“The Chinese Cultural and Heritage Centre delivers on a key Crisafulli Government commitment to the Cairns community and is part of delivering a Fresh Start for Queensland,” Minister Simpson said.
“This centre will honour and embrace the social, agricultural, economic and cultural contributions this community made in developing modern day Cairns, while supporting jobs and tourism.
“During the Gold Rush, almost a third of Cairns’ population was Chinese migrants, with those ancestral ties still running deep across the community today.
“We want to help create more liveable, inclusive and sustainable communities across this state, and this centre will deliver on that vision.”
The Centre has been a dream of the Cairns and District Chinese Association (CADCAI) for almost 40 years and will be built opposite the Chinese Friendship Gardens.
It will provide a permanent home and exhibition space to preserve Cairns’ Lit Sung Goong Temple collection, as well as a venue for community performing arts, research, education, celebrations and festivals.
CADCAI President, Mrs Lai Chu Chan said the Centre would promote stories of Chinese migrants from the Gold Rush era, and their shared history and experiences alongside European and the First Nations people of Australia.
“The Lit Sung Goong Temple collection of artifacts remain a tangible link to the early Chinese presence in Cairns and are considered rare and significant due to their quality, size and level of intactness,” Mrs Chan said.
Prominent local architect, Roger Mainwood, has been involved in the project since its inception in 2018 and has developed a personal interest in the Chinese contribution to the settlement and growth of Cairns.
“We have had the privilege to work on many of the heritage and new public places in Cairns, including the Cairns Art Gallery, Bulmba-ja Arts Centre, School of Arts Museum and more recently the Mulgrave Gallery and Whitrock Community and Multicultural Centre,” Mr Mainwood said.
“The Chinese Cultural and Heritage Centre will be a significant addition to the stories that make Cairns so special.”
This weekend (15 – 16 February) marks the pinnacle of Lunar New Year celebrations in Cairns.
