Chinatown, Melbourne

Chinatown (Chinese: 墨爾本華埠) is an ethnic enclave in the Central Business District of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Centred at the eastern end of Little Bourke Street, it extends between the corners of Swanston and Spring Streets, and consists of laneways, alleys and arcades. It is notable for being the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western World and the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere.

Since the arrival of Chinese immigrants during the Victorian gold rush of the early 1850s, Melbourne's Chinatown has played an important role in establishing the culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in Australia, and is still home to many Chinese restaurants, cultural venues, businesses and places of worship. Today, Melbourne's Chinatown is a major tourist attraction, known for its architectural heritage, annual festivals and cuisines of Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Korean origins.

Beyond Chinatown, Melbourne's Chinese community is well-represented in other areas of the city, such as Box Hill and Glen Waverley.

Chinatown is home to the Chinese Museum.

Melbourne's Chinatown has a long and illustrious history. It was established during the Victorian gold rush in 1851 when Chinese prospectors came to Australia for the gold rush in search of gold. In late 1854, the first Chinese lodging houses were created in Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue (off Little Bourke Street). This particular location was considered convenient for the immigrants, as it was a staging post for new Chinese immigrants as well as supplies en route to the goldfields. It is notable for being the oldest Chinatown in Australia, the oldest continuous Chinese settlement in Australia, and the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the western world, only because San Francisco's Chinatown was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. The gold rush eventually waned, causing a shift from rural living and an influx of people migrating into metropolitan Melbourne, particularly Little Bourke Street, which already had a predominantly Chinese population.

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