Made in Chinatown: Australia's Chinese Furniture Factories, 1880-1930

Made in Chinatown explores the hundreds of Chinese furniture factories that thrived in Australia after the gold rush, but were targeted by anti-Chinese political campaigns and legislative restrictions. It reveals how these factories operated under the exclusionary vision of White Australia and how Chinese manufacturers and workers resisted injustice. The book argues that Chinese Australian furniture manufacturers and their employees were more adaptable and the White Australia vision less pervasive than most histories suggest.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 230 pages
Publication date: 01 April 2022
Publisher: Sydney University Press

Made in Chinatown delves into a little-known aspect of Australia's past: its hundreds of Chinese furniture factories. These businesses thrived in the post-goldrush era, becoming an important economic activity for Chinese immigrants and their descendants and a vital part of Australia's furniture industry. Yet, owing to an exclusionary vision for Australia as a bastion of 'white industry and labor, these factories were targeted by anti-Chinese political campaigns and legislative restrictions. Guided by Chinese manufacturers and workers' own reflections and records, this book examines how these factories operated under the exclusionary vision of White Australia.

Historian Peter Gibson uses previously untapped archival sources to investigate the local and international factors that boosted the industry, and the business and labor practices associated with factory operation. He explores the strategies employed in efforts to resist injustice, and the place of Chinese furniture factories within the contexts of Australian enterprise, work, and consumerism more broadly.

Made in Chinatown argues that Chinese Australian furniture manufacturers and their employees were far more adaptable, and the White Australia vision less pervasive, than most histories would suggest.

Weight: 314g
Dimension: 148 x 210 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781743327852