Ballarat An extensive historical Chinatown existed in
Golden Point, a district of the city of the gold field city
Ballarat While the settlement no longer exists, it is remembered at nearby
Sovereign Hill.
Bendigo Several Chinatowns were established in
Bendigo during the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s and 1860s. These were the Chinese camps, of which there were seven established. The Ironbark camp in North Bendigo became the most prominent in the 1850s and 1860s. It continued to be the centre of Chinese life in Bendigo until it was ravaged by fire for a second time in 1911. A Joss House, one of Victoria's oldest, is the only thing remaining on the site. After the fire at the Ironbark camp, those Chinese still in Bendigo moved their operations to Bridge Street, nearer the centre of Bendigo. This Chinatown survived until 1964 when the council cited its declining use and dilapidated state as reasons for its demolition. A car park was put in its place. In 1991 the Bridge St Chinatown became the site of the
Golden Dragon Museum which includes many relics from the city's Chinese heritage.
Castlemaine A historic Chinatown existed in
Castlemaine during the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1860s near the corner of Mostyn and Union streets (current site of the Albion Hotel) which included as many as five Joss Houses and a Chinese Mission Chapel.
Creswick A historical Chinatown existed in
Creswick during the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1850s. The settlement was depicted in
Watercolor paintings artists by Burkitt (1855) and
Norman Lindsay (1894).
Melbourne Melbourne's Chinatown is in
Little Bourke Street. It is notable as the oldest Chinatown in Australia, the oldest continuous Chinese settlement in Australia, and the longest continuously running Chinatown outside of
Asia. Suburban Chinese communities, of a mostly
Cantonese culture, are in
Box Hill,
Doncaster,
Glen Waverley and
Springvale. Melbourne's Chinatown boasts some world-famous cuisine, Flower Drum for example was voted as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the world by the
New York Times. It was also the location where the
Dim Sim, a popular Chinese-Australian snackfood commonly served in takeaway outlets throughout the country, was first invented by William Wing Young, at his restaurant
Wing Lee, in 1945. Gift shops and souvenir shops also make up a large proportion of businesses. Melbourne Chinatown also houses the world's longest annually paraded
Chinese dragon in the Melbourne Chinese Museum. This record is believed to have been held by the city since 1978 when the original
Dai Loong dragon was commissioned, which was also the first Chinese dragon built in China since 1948. It was 92 metres long, had 6160 scales on its body and was initially paraded with a procession involving over 200 participants. In 2003, it was replaced with a new dragon, the Millennium Dragon, which was deliberately crafted in order to retain the record, and required 8 people to hold its head up. This later dragon is also locally known as Dai Loong, as some parts of the original 1978 dragon were reconditioned for use in the new dragon. ==Queensland==