Location: Xin Jin Shan Chinese Library, 200 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central VIC 3350

Dates: 18 April 2026 to 24 May 2026

Admission: Free

In recent years, many members of the general Australian populace had begun to question the level of loyalty that members of Australia’s 1.2 million member Chinese-Australian community has to Australia, a phenomenon that had been promoted by members of the Australian political class (and in particular those on the right wing of the Australian political system), especially with allegations that had been made by members of the Australian political class, as well as the tabloid media outlets that are part of the Australian media ecosystem (such as those that are part of the global media empire that is owned by the controversial Australian-born American media mogul Rupert Murdoch) that had accused members of the Chinese-Australian community of being loyal to the People’s Republic of China and having no loyalty to Australia. It could even be argued that at recent federal elections that had been held in Australia, the Chinese-Australian community had become political footballs for those who had been campaigning for election, and that it could be argued that the alleged lack of loyalty that members of the Chinese-Australian community has been accused of had been drummed up by members of the Australian political class, as well as in large sections of the Australian media ecosystem (whether the media outlet in question had been part of the so-called “mainstream media” or had been part of the so-called “alternative media”), when combined with the various relationships that Australia has with the People’s Republic of China (whether the relationship in question had been diplomatic, economic, business-to-business, or people-to-people in nature) had become major election issues when a federal election takes place in Australia.

However, while the loyalty of the Chinese-Australian community to Australia by members of the political class in Australia (as well as by large sections of the Australian media ecosystem), it can be argued that the Chinese-Australian community has in fact has had a strong sense of loyalty to Australia and its people. But despite the strong sense of loyalty to Australia and its people, there is often a high level of doubt among members of the general Australian populace in regards to the loyalty to Australia and its people by members of the Chinese-Australian community. In this regard, an argument could be made that this high level of distrust that members of the general Australian populace has of the Chinese-Australian community could be attributed to the increasingly sensationalised nature of the coverage of the Chinese-Australian community in large sections of the Australian media ecosystem (whether the media outlet in question had been part of the so-called “mainstream media” or had been part of the so-called “alternative media”) and that this increasingly sensationalised nature of the coverage of the Chinese-Australian community in large sections of the Australian media ecosystem has led to an increase in the level of tension that members of the general Australian populace has towards members of the Chinese-Australian community.

When it comes to the loyalty that members of the Chinese-Australian community has towards Australia, it has often gone under the radar, and that this had not just been a recent phenonemon, as this has also occurred throughout the history of the Chinese-Australia community ever since the arrival of the first Chinese-born migrant to Australia in 1811. In fact, when it comes to the level of loyalty that members of the Chinese-Australian community has towards Australia and the Australian people, it had often gone under the radar, and had often gone unacknowledged throughout the post-26 January 1788 history of Australia. One example of this had been the role that members of the Chinese-Australian community played during the First World War (which was fought between 1914 and 1918) in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, which members of the Chinese-Australian community had played a largely unacknowledged role in, and it could be argued that this could be due to the “White Australia Policy” that was in effect at the time And when it comes to the history of the relationships that had existed between members of the Chinese-Australian community and the general Australian populace, the role that members of the Chinese-Australian community played serving Australia during the First World War is an often unacknowledged part of that relationship between members of the Chinese-Australian community and members of the general Australian populace, and this is what this exhibition looks at.

When war was declared in 1914, Australia issued a call to arms, and the Chinese-Australian community rallied behind the war effort. In Sydney, Chinese businessmen took out advertisements in the Tung Wah Times to encourage fundraising among the community. In Brisbane, the Chinese community actively raised funds to support returned personnel, while the Normanton Chinese community also donated money to the Normanton branch of the Red Cross Society.

Along with other Australians, families of Chinese descent sent their sons to war. During the First World War, around two hundred Australians who were of Chinese descent enlisted, and of these, nineteen received a total of twenty-three gallantry awards, and of the around two hundred who saw active duty during the First World War, nearly forty died. There were no identifiable Chinese-Australian nurses who served during the First World War.

When it came to enlistment, enlistments into the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were guided by the conditions that were listed in The Defence Act 1909. Within The Defence Act 1909, Part 13, Article 138, Section 1, Part B exempted those “not substantially of European origin or descent” from serving in the naval and military forces. In addition to this, physical requirements also had to be met. The guidelines that were used for the purposes of enlistment meant that young men who enlisted were profiled and acceptance was at the discretion of the attending medical officer. This meant that as a result, it was more difficult for young men who had non-European ancestry or mixed heritage to successfully enlist in the AIF. However, once they were in the AIF, they were treated as equals. In 1915 and 1917, changes to the physical requirements, as well as an easing of restrictions saw many more young men from the Chinese-Australian community successfully enlsit in the AIF.

Like other Australian families at the time, many Chinese-Australian families contributed more than one son to the war effort, and in some instances, brothers and cousins served in the same regiments. Siblings who did not go to war often took over the responsibilities of those who were serving on the front line, caring for their families and working in the family business One family that were looked at in this exhibition was the Leep family from Ballarat in which fourteen cousins from the second-generation Chinese-Australian family responded to the call to arm. Of the fourteen members of the Lapp family who served in the First World War, two were killed, one was gassed and one received the Military Medal. Their descendants continued the family tradition of serving in the armed forces, with James serving in the Second World War with his niece Thelma and nephews Stanley and Laurence.

When it came to the families who sent their sons to war, many Chinese-Australian families at the time saw their sons make the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the theatre of war during the First World War, a fact that had been lost in recent years with the increasingly sensationalised coverage of the Chinese-Australian community in large sections of the Australian community (whether the media outlet in question had been part of the so-called “mainstream media” or had been part of the so-called “alternative media”).

However, the exhibition is more than telling the story of the Chinese-Australians who served in the First World War, as it also looked at those who served during the Second World War (which was fought between 1939 and 1945). It looked at the impact that war had on those who fought and their transition back to civilian life after the war (whether it was those who fought in the First World War or those who fought in the Second World War).

You can view the article through my website at bhiskins.wordpress.com/2026/04…