The Kong Chew Society, located at four Tattersalls Lane, is a long-standing community organization that grew out of the arrival of Chinese migrants during the eighteen fifties gold rushes. Named after the Cantonese pronunciation for the…
Chinatown Heritage Walk
This walk leads you along Little Bourke Street to see the oldest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western world, established during the 1850s gold rush.
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1. Kong Chew Society
2. Celestial Avenue
Celestial Avenue is a short, dead-end lane paved with rough, dark bluestone that runs north off Little Bourke Street. It sits at the heart of Melbourne's Chinatown, tucked between Swanston and Russell streets. Originally called Celestial…
3. 200 Little Bourke St
At two hundred Little Bourke Street stands the Nam Poon Shoong building. You can identify it by its historic facade, which has remained a fixture of this street since eighteen sixty-two. This structure was built by the Nam Poon Shoong…
4. Gospel Hall Melbourne
The building at one hundred sixteen Little Bourke Street still bears the name Ancient Times House on its façade, a remnant of its decades spent as a museum for the Australian Institute of Archaeology. Behind this exterior lies a history…
5. Chinatown Archway
The Chinatown Archways are defined by their seven-meter height and bright red neon lights, which stand out against the low-rise buildings of Little Bourke Street. These structures act as the official gateway to Melbourne’s Chinatown, the…
6. Chinese Mission Church
The Chinese Mission Church at one hundred and ninety-six Little Bourke Street is a narrow, two-story brick building that carries the distinct visual imprint of late nineteenth-century industrial architecture, standing out with its pointed…
7. Ancient Times House
Ancient Times House sits at one hundred and sixteen Little Bourke Street, a three-story brick structure that once functioned as a private museum of antiquities. Established in nineteen fifty-four, this collection gathered thousands of…
8. Museum of Chinese Australian History
The Museum of Chinese Australian History is housed in a five-level brick warehouse built in eighteen ninety by the Cohen Brothers, who originally used the space for furniture manufacturing. The structure later passed to Her Majesty’s…
9. Tianjin Gardens
The Tianjin Gardens sit at the northern end of Spring Street, recognizable by their classical Chinese architectural style and the presence of two pairs of carved Sichuan white marble lions. These lions, traditionally placed at imperial…