Ham Hop the Gold Mountain Wife
Event description
Ham Hop was a ‘gold mountain wife’ who moved from China to Australia in 1910 to begin a new life in Geelong.
Small Ripples Theatre presents a performance lecture and mini exhibition that traces Ham Hop's journey as a Chinese migrant, which began with Ham Hop selling fruits and vegetables at Geelong Market Square with her husband, a market gardener and businessman. She became highly engaged in the church community and other philanthropic activities, where she connected with other Chinese migrants. Although having started a new family in their home at 268 Moorabool Street, she was eventually deported due to a discriminative immigration act under the White Australian Policy—despite overwhelming support for Ham Hop from the Geelong community.
The project was inspired by the article "Exception or Example? Ham Hop’s Challenge to White Australia," written by social historian Kate Bagnall in 2021. The article is one of a few published pieces that centred Ham Hop's perspective as a migrant woman. For context, she features in thousands of newspaper archives, but most reference her as ‘Mrs Poon Gooey’ (she was married to Poon Gooey) and never as Ham Hop, portraying her as mostly voiceless.
Jun Bin Lee (Co-writer, Composer & Musician) Cho Vu (Co-writer)
Bingyao Liu (Co-Producer & Musician)
Lauren Cheok (Artist)
Wendy Wu (Artist)
This project is funded by a City of Greater Geelong Arts Project Grant. Supported by Platform Arts the Geelong Chinese Association.
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