Perth’s “Chinatown” and Chinese Temple
Entrance to Chinatown, Northbridge. (Image: Filip Milovac)
A distinct red and green-tiled pagoda archway was built in the 1980s in the inner-city suburb of Northbridge, to honour Perth’s ‘Chinatown’ and over one hundred years of Chinese cultural heritage in Western Australia (WA).1 This Chinatown was first established in the 1840s, after 51 Chinese men arrived in WA from Singapore as indentured labourers. Hundreds more Chinese workers and immigrants arrived over the following decades during the gold rush period. Many were highly successful at running businesses such as market gardens, laundries, bakeries, furniture factories, tailor shops and grocery stores. There are strong connections between Chinese families from Perth and Broome, and there were reportedly Chinese temples in both cities, which may well have contained Buddhist symbols, as did the temples from the same period around Australia.2 However, laws enacted from the 1880s, such as the Goldfields Act of 1886 and Australian Commonwealth Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 radically curbed Chinese migration until such restrictions were lifted in the 1970s.3
Further north of the official Perth Chinatown is an area many consider the ‘authentic’ or ‘local’s Chinatown’, an array of shops and restaurants reflect the rich diversity of Asian cultures that have since flourished within Perth.4 Chinese New Year and other festivals have been celebrated since the 1840s here and continue to be honoured to this day by Perth’s Chinese community.5
By: Ruth Fitzpatrick and Anna Halafoff
References:
1 “Perth Chinatown,” Chinatownology, accessed July 7, 2026, https://www.chinatownology.com/Chinatown_Perth.html.
2 Jack Waltham, Chinese Temples of Australia (Flinders University, 2014).
3 “Chinese Migrants,” WA Migration Stories, State Library of Western Australia, accessed July 7, 2026, https://exhibitions.slwa.wa.gov.au/s/migration/page/chinese; Benjamin Smith and Yu Tao, “Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage in Western Australia, 1830s – 2020s,” Chinese WA, accessed July 7, 2026, https://www.chinesewa.net/home; Andrew Du, ”Western Australia’s Chinese story,” 9 News Australia, February 17, 2026, YouTube, 6 min., 18 sec., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDrowGFefeA.
4 Julia D’Orazio, “A snapshot of Perth’s Chinatown,” Destination Perth, May 23, 2024, https://www.destinationperth.com.au/blog/post/perth-chinatown/.
5 “Home,” Chung Wah Association, accessed July 7, 2026, https://www.chungwah.org.au/en/home/.