Celebrating Chinese New Year Society News: 8 February 2018

Cairns Chinese Heritage Unveiled

Offering Bowls. Lit Sung Goong Collection. Courtesy CADCAI The Cairns Museum will showcase rare and precious objects from Cairns’ pioneering Chinese history in a special exhibition curated for the Great Barrier Reef Chinese New Year Festival.

The exhibition ‘Deep Roots: understanding the Lit Sung Goong and the Temple Collection’, is collaboration between the Cairns Historical Society and the Cairns and District Chinese Association Inc. and will feature items from the nationally significant Lit Sung Goong Collection, many of which have not been exhibited in Cairns since 2005.

Temple Drum. Lit Sung Goong Collection. Courtesy CADCAI

Cairns Museum Manager Suzanne Gibson says the collection is one of Cairns’ heritage treasures.

‘The Lit Sung Goong in Grafton Street was a tiny place, less than half the width of a tennis court, but it played a big part in the life of the Chinese community in Cairns for over 80 years. As well as a place of prayer, divination and feasts, it was also a meeting place, a business place and a community centre’, she said.

‘The exhibition will feature rare objects and images that reflect all these aspects of the Lit Sung Goong.’

Deity Statue of Guan Yin. Lit Sung Goong Collection. Courtesy CADCAI

CADCAI Heritage Coordinator Mary Low says the exhibition is an opportunity to showcase the recent work of CADCAI volunteers

‘The Lit Sung Goong Collection reflects late 19th Century Chinese culture, which was rich in Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions’, she said.

‘The artefacts are highly decorated with the symbols of these great philosophies, often together, and decoding the meanings contained in the works is a task some of our volunteers have been focussing on. The exhibition will showcase their work and what it reveals of the life of our Chinese pioneers’.

‘Deep Roots: understanding the Lit Sung Goong and the Temple Collection’, will open to the public on Sat 17th February and run through to the end of May, at the Cairns Museum Temporary Exhibition Gallery.