After the gold rush; before Tiananmen: how Chinese-Australians put down deep roots in the regions

Tom Plevey and his mother, Kathy See-Kee. Plevey’s grandfather, Charles See-Kee, was one of many Chinese-Australians who forged a life even while the White Australia policy was in place. Photograph: Simon Scott/The Guardian

Three years ago in the town of Moree, a small general store shut down, just eight years short of what would’ve been its hundredth anniversary.

The name didn’t really strike me as one that would seem odd to those outside the north-west. Not until years later: Hong Yuens. Not until I spent some time in Brisbane, and saw that people seemed amazed that, yes, there were Chinese people outside Sunnybank – sometimes way outside.