Summary

Digital photograph of Alison Kelly at age 4 years old with her three brothers on the footpath outside their family home in Morwell, 1928. It was taken around the time Alison was given a small Chinese doll by a man of Chinese descent in the late 1920s. The children have the family dog harnessed to a small cart. People in the photo, left to right: Desmond (Des), Alison, Frank Donald (Don), Brian and dog Bobby. The dog-cart was for play and the children also had a cart for their pet sheep Billy. The children were keen on making things and as young adults the boys worked on their bicycles, motor bikes and eventually started Kelly Brothers Motors in Morwell, a well-known local Holden dealership.

Born in 1924 of Irish ancestry, Alison recalls playing in her front yard in Morwell when a travelling Chinese trader passed by. He stopped on the footpath to say hello, and then gave her this doll to keep. Alison also recalls some unease by her parents at this exchange and her mother dashing quickly out of the house; as well as community suspicion about Chinese travellers in general. Alison cherished this act of kindness and the doll all her life and remembers being very proud of it as a child.

Physical Description

Digital photograph

Significance

This collection of images and the related Chinese doll is part of the museum's collection of Chinese dolls from the early twentieth century which appear to have been in common supply at this time. They reflect the residual Chinese settlement in Victoria despite the impacts of the White Australia policy (introduced 1901) post the significant numbers of arrivals from China during the 1850s-60s gold rushes in Victoria. The photographs portray evocative scenes of children at play in the 1920s and 1930s and domestic architecture.

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