Work | Leaving & staying | Leisure | Beliefs | Dress | Food

Leisure

Subthemes: 
gambling | opium smoking | picnics | music | sport | social visits

Social visits

In the 'bachelor society' which characterised Chinese communities in the nineteenth century, social visits usually meant spending time eating, drinking, talking and perhaps gambling or smoking opium in the 'Chinese camps' and 'Chinatowns' across the state.

In the early twentieth century as the number of Chinese in each locality decreased, social visits often meant travelling to neighbouring towns and to Sydney or Brisbane to spend time with Chinese living there.

Chinese Masonic Society performance, Sydney, 1930s (Private collection).

For Chinese-Australians living in regional NSW, a visit to Sydney could also mean a visit to some of the social and cultural activities available within Sydney's Chinese community. Here, Harry Fay (Louie Mew Fay) from Inverell is attending a performance presented on the premises of the Chinese Masonic Society in Sydney.

Trevor Jack and Albert Yum at Gunnedah, early 1930s. (Private collection).

Trevor Jack and Albert Yum were among the young Australian-born Chinese men who worked at the Hong Yuen store in Inverell during the 1930s. Their leisure pursuits included visiting friends in other regional centres. They were particularly attracted to those towns where the Chinese-Australian families included a number of young women.

Glad, Ruth and Marge O Young, Gunnedah, early 1930s. (Private collection).