A podcast about Chinese Australian family stories, how we tell them and what we can know about them. Listen to Chinese Australian Whispers here.

This podcast series will highlight the contemporary relevance of recorded oral histories of Chinese Australians. Listen to Chinese Australian Whispers here. In each episode, I discuss the significance of an oral history with a family historian currently researching their Chinese ancestry bringing past and present together.

These conversations will highlight little-heard Chinese Australian voices and lived experiences as well as the complex processes of researching and understanding them. Oral histories are designed to be listened to – for nuance, intonation, emotion, hesitation and silences. Podcasts provide an ideal format to not only make these voices heard but also to interpret them.

To create each podcast episode, professional historian and curator Dr Sophie Couchman and a member of the Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria (CAFHOV) carefully review one oral history held in the collection of the Museum of Chinese Australian History. They share and discuss the parts they find most interesting. Sophie leads a conversation with the family historian, mixed with oral history clips, that uncovers the historical lives featured in the oral history and the more recent family experiences of the family historian.

Enhancing the discussion is music composed by musician, composer and ethnomusicologist Dr Wang Zheng-Ting inspired by Australia’s Chinese musical history.

This project was completed in partnership with the Museum of Chinese Australian History with the assistance of the Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria. It is generously funded by a Victorian Government Local History Grant.

Brendon Rees, ‘Museum of Chinese Australian History celebrates $15K grant for new podcast’, CBN News, 23 September 2021, https://www.cbdnews.com.au/museum-of-chinese-australian-history-celebrates-15k-grant-for-new-podcast.