Wonderful Wellington 嘩崙頓: The Longevity of the Chinese Community in Wellington, New South Wales

Abstract

The town of Wellington in the Central West of New South Wales had a Chinese population almost from its inception and a small number of descendants of early Chinese-Australian families still live and farm in Wellington today. Beginning with an overview of its colonial settlement and the establishment of a Chinese community in Wellington, this paper considers the factors which contributed to the longevity of the Chinese community in Wellington. Chinese storekeepers and market gardeners are shown to have played a pioneering role in the development of the town. Prominent storekeepers and market gardeners, in particular William Mow Funn and William Suey Ling, were not only leaders in the Chinese community but also in the broader community. This paper also argues that the employment of Aboriginal people as labourers and the existence of ChineseAustralian families in Wellington were important factors that allowed the community in Wellington to survive to the present day, when Chinese communities in other rural towns in New South Wales ©disappeared©