4. Sojourn in Your Native Land

Based on my Master thesis, updated and recently published by ChideStudy Press this is a in-depth look at the continuing links between Sydney market gardeners and their villages in South China - the remittances, the trips and the gifts.

Brief Sojourn in Your Native Land highlights the enduring connection between Sydney and South China from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, maintained by thousands of Sydney residents born in the diverse districts of the Pearl River Delta. The work draws on a wide range of Immigration Restriction Act files, along with other sources such as the late 19th-century ‘Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling,’ the burial register of the Chinese section of Rookwood Cemetery, and oral histories from descendants of these residents. The narrative reveals the experiences of a generation often referred to as huaqiao, whose ties to their home villages are traced from youth through adulthood and into retirement, passing onto subsequent generations.

Key aspects of this enduring connection include the importance of their districts of origin, restricted marriage choices, evolving conditions in China, the emergence of a new generation, and the impact of the White Australia Policy’s 1901 Immigration Restriction Act and its administration. Throughout their lives, the huaqiao were largely driven by a desire to support their families in their home villages, fostering ties between these villages and Sydney that lasted for at least two generations.

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