Summary
Digital photograph of Alison Kelly at age 3 years old with her mother, father and three brothers on the front verandah of their home in Morwell, 1927. It was taken just before or around the time Alison was given a small Chinese doll by a man of Chinese descent in the late 1920s. The people in the photograph, back row, left to right: Elsie May Kelly nee Hicks (1882-1973) and Patrick Perce Kelly (1882-1969); Front row, left to right: Brian Patrick Kelly (1918-2001), Alison Mary Kelly (1924-), Frank Donald Kelly (1922-1983) and Desmond Percy Kelly (1920-2008). Alison recalled that since the boys still had their caps on, that they must have been on their way to Mass. After Mass, their caps would have been put into their father's coat pockets.
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.