Visitors to Melbourne should not miss seeing the Chinese Joss Temple at Emerald Hill, if they can manage to do so. It is generally open to inspection on a Sunday afternoon, and many people stroll in.
(The Queenslander, 11 October 1873)
How many people, I wonder, have strolled into the See Yup Temple in Raglan Street, South Melbourne? It certainly made an impression when I visited as a child. In 2019, it is still a place I recommend to visitors as one of Melbourne’s, if not Australia’s, most hidden treasure. It has been on the Victorian National Heritage Register since 1976. The See Yup Society who own and manage the site is the second oldest and longest-running Chinese community organisation in Australia. The current building, constructed in 1866, replaced an earlier two-storey wooden building that was built in 1856 only three years after the first substantial numbers of Chinese began arriving in Victoria bound for the goldfields.
This is the blurb for a public lecture I was invited to present about the See Yup temple in Raglan Street, South Melbourne by the City of Port Phillip Library and Heritage Centre as part of the Australian Heritage Festival on 14 May 2019.
I’ve written this lecture up as a journal article, ‘Melbourne’s See Yup Kuan Ti temple: A historical overview‘ and it has been published in volume 8, Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies in 2019.
14 May 2019
Sophie Couchman 
I attended your lecture at Emerald Hill Heritage Centre and loved your lecture. You said you could supply a cooy of the presentation to us. I have a Chinese born friend who I now realise is a member of the SeeYup Society by dint of her birthplace. She has been to the temple but would love to know more about the history .
I would live to share your eork eith her.
Thanks again for your fascinating lecture!
Thanks Vivien. I have reworked the paper and am going to be publishing it online in an open access journal. When it is published I’ll let you know! Sophie
Thanks Sophie! I look forward to piblication!
The article has just been published and is available here along with other articles related to Australia’s Chinese history and heritage – http://chl.anu.edu.au/chinese-southern-diaspora-studies/chinese-southern-diaspora-studies-volume-eight-2019.
Hi Sophie, I’m researching some histories of a building related to Mr Frank Sham Goon and came across your essay. However, the link above seems to be unavailable now. Are there any ways I can have access to it? Thanks a lot!
Hi, I’ve updated the link, so you should be able to access it now. I’d be interested to learn more about the research you are doing if you wanted to email me about it. Best Sophie