The Joss House, Innisfail, North Queensland

The Innisfail Joss House.

In order to understand the significance of this place in the greater scheme of things, you need a quick history lesson:

There is a long history of Chinese involvement in the development of North Queensland, even before Federation in 1900 when Australia was born.

These first Chinese were part of the Cantonese diaspora, when Guangdong was in the grip of a drought that lasted 129 years and forced farmers to sent their surplus children out into the world. Quite a lot came to Australia, and quite a few came to Queensland, to pan for gold, log the rain-forest, grow vegetables and lade the wharves.

This Cairns museum exhibit shows
historical photographs of Chinese in NQ.
Double-click on photo to read:

Cairns Museum exhibits

Then came Federation and that was when this new land, in a burst of zenophobia, introduced The White Australia Policy and all non-whites in the country were ordered to return home.

And that's when the entire Chinese population of Australia applied the Cantonese motto "The Mountains are high and the Emperor is far away" and, rather than return to China - where they weren't wanted since Canton was still in the grip of the drought - charged up North to live out their days where no one would look for them and the locals - authority-defying Errol Flynn types mostly - were grateful for their involvement and couldn't give a toss about what the law said anyway.

So North Queensland had a large and increasingly wealthy Cantonese population until The White Australia Policy was revoked after WWII and the Chinese contingent, now rich, drifted back South until, today, there remains only two: the elegant and dynamic Old Mrs Lee and her sister who's in a loca nursing home with Alzheimers.

This means that the North-Queensland Chinese past is almost gone without leaving a single trace EXCEPT for ...

The Joss House.

Naturally, Old Mrs Lee, "the last man standing", is the curator of the place and she's just wonderful. I mean, look inside:

The Interior.

Another Interior.

She works a full-time job running her grocery store, visits her sister daily, yet everyday she comes in here to keep the place spotless, despite the fact there's no one left to worship. No one, apart from the odd tourist or curious local, ever visits, yet there's always incense burning to keep the gods happy.

But there's more: Old Mrs Lee is so snitty that the Chinese have departed without leaving a trace that she's determined her legacy will be a museum dedicated to keeping this history alive. To this end, she works tirelessly on research, finding out what happened where, gathering up material artifacts, finding old photographs and planning her Chinese Heritage Museum ...

... which will happen when she buys up these shops next door ...

The Buildings Next Door.

... which will then be united with the joss house as part of the same complex and will house the museum exhibiting and honouring the Chinese of North Queenland.

So far it's all still a pipe-dream and she's recently had a stroke ... and, although she's made a full recovery, if it's to happen at all - and it won't happen if she's not pushing it - it's going to have to happen fast.

Every Old Australian-Chinese Family has a NQ past. It's a fact, even if they've forgotten, because the history of Australia makes it so. Absolutely, 100%, if you're Oz-Chinese and your family has lived in Oz for over 50 years, then this is your own story and your own history that Old Mrs Lee is trying to preserve.

Thus, anyone reading this, if you know any Old Australian-Chinese Families, please let them know about Old Mrs Lee and her dream of honouring your own ancestors. Can you help?


I also have several more Old Mrs Lee stories that I'll get around to posting up here as well. Only not today.