Asian Studies Program
La Trobe University
Victoria 3086
AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 3 9479 1315 Fax: +61 3 9479 1880 Email:cha@latrobe.edu.au
Asian Studies Program
Chinese Australia
Participation in civic life
Unit title:
Participation in civic life
Year level:
Middle secondary
Key learning areas:
Studies of society and environment
Curriculum emphases:
From: Studies in Asia: A Statement
for Australian Schools:
- Likely implications of closer Asia-Australia relationships
- World contributions by the peoples of Asia
Duration:
Two - three 50 minute lessons
Description:
Students investigate the political activism of Chinese in
Australia - from the protests against discrimination in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the participation
of Chinese Australians in all levels of government in recent
years.
Teacher background material:
The following links provide an introduction and overview of
the topics covered in this unit:
- Brief
History of the Chinese in Australia on the Chinese Heritage
of Australian Federation website.
- See the Discovering Democracy Kit - Middle Secondary Units
- 'Getting Things Done'. Note: Discovering Democracy Kit should
be in every school in Australia for further information see
the Discovering
Democracy website.
Student outcomes:
Students will be able to:
- identify issues from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
that provoked political action by Chinese Australians (ie:
understand the motivation behind the political activism
- evaluate the effectiveness of this political activism
- describe the extent of participation by Chinese Australians
in political life today.
Materials required:
- Computer/s with access to the internet. Alternatively could
use a cached version of the site, paste the database information
into a spreadsheet program such as Excel or print relevant
pages and copy onto overheads or handouts.
Procedure: 1. Introduction: Making your political voice heard.
Class discussion and/or small group work. (For group work,
give each group a scenario to discuss. Groups share their
findings in a report-back session) Teacher suggests a number
of scenarios to students where a decision/rule/law has caused
some discontent.
Begin with a home-based scenario (eg: you are banned
from watching television for a month, no people from your
school are allowed to visit you at home).
Next, consider a school-based scenario (eg: year 9
students are not to use the canteen at lunchtimes, all school
computers are out of bounds to students), then a local community
scenario.
Move on to look at a state, national and international scenario
(choose something topical and of interest to the students).
For each scenario, consider the following:
- What can the discontented people do about this decision/rule/law?
(eg: ignore rule, break law, talk to someone in authority
about the concerns, protest, write letters, vote, stand for
election yourself, join a political party, alert the media,
violent actions, start a petition, go on strike etc.)
- Encourage students to be creative in their ideas. Consider
the likely effectiveness, practicality, morality and legality
of various strategies. What limitations may there be on people's
ability to do something about a perceived problem?
(eg: language barrier, too young to vote, unable to get access
to those in authority, illiterate etc.)
2. Political activism of Chinese in Australia - the past
Minority groups sometimes find that they are being less favourably
treated and wish to do something about it. Chinese Australians
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had this
problem. Allocate each student (or group of students) a selection
of the documents listed below.
Draw up a list or table to summarise what you have learned,
using the following headings:
- Issue of concern.
- Who was affected / involved?
- What action was taken?
- What was the result?
- What would /could you do if this issue affected you today?
3. Political activism of Chinese in Australia - today
Investigate your local area to see if there is anyone of Chinese
origin who is active in political life eg: a community leader,
local councillor or a member of state or federal parliament.
If possible, you may like to write to this person or interview
him or her. Try to find out their motivations.
- Why did they became politically active?
- Do they feel as if they are working on behalf of the Chinese
community or the general community - or both?
- Are there any issues over which you have taken political
action?
The following links may help:
John So (Lord Mayor of Melbourne)
- 'Personal
statement', Australian Electoral Commission website
Alec Fong Lim (former Lord Mayor of Darwin)
- 'Alec
Fong Lim' on the Harvest of Endurance Scroll website
Giese, Diana 'Post-war
Chinese Australians Oral History Project' discusses her
involvement in the Post-war Chinese Australians Oral History
project including her interviews with prominent Chinese Australians
on the National Library of Australian website.
The Parliament
at Work website allows you to search for Members of Parliament
in all Australian parliaments. Click on "Search",
then select the appropriate parliament from the 'Parliamentarians'
list.
Below is a list of people with Chinese heritage who are or
have been involved in Australian politics:
- Wellington Lee (Councillor, City of Melbourne)
- Hong Lim (Legislative Assembly Victoria, Australian
Labor Party)
- Dr Richard S H Lim (Legislative Assembly Northern
Territory, Country Library Party)
- Senator Bill O'Chee (Federal, National Party)
- Dr Bernice Pfitzner-Tu Swee Lian (Legislative Council
South Australia, Liberal Party)
- Helen Wai-Har Sham-Ho (Legislative Council New South
Wales, independent)
- Senator Tsebin Tchen (Federal, Liberal Party)
- Henry Shui-Lung Tsang (Deputy Mayor Sydney, Legislative
Council NSW, Australian Labor Party)
- David Wang - (Councillor City of Melbourne)
Students to present their findings to the class.
Author:
Karen Dowling
Summary of websites used in this lesson:
Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation website - http - Brief History of the Chinese in Australia
- education/history.htm
- Historical backgrounds - education/about.htm
- Digitised Historic Documents database - docs_home.htm
