Part of National Volunteer Week.
The See Yup Temple complex, tucked away in suburban South Melbourne, is perhaps Australia’s best kept secret. Constructed in 1866 by the See Yup Society with funds gathered from across Victoria (including Bendigo), it is the oldest Chinese temple in Australasia. Extraordinarily it also continues to be run by the See Yup Society, the oldest Chinese community organisation in Australia. Some of the objects within the temple date to an earlier wooden temple erected on the site in 1856 making them the oldest in Australia. The damage caused by a fire in the Kwan Tai main hall of the temple in February 2024 has been heartbreaking. Recovery is slow but steady. Out of the devastation, however, new diverse communities of people have come together to support the See Yup Temple’s recovery and new histories about the temple and the hundreds of beautiful objects housed within it are being uncovered.
Sylvia and Jeffory Mander were a local Bendigo couple who together and then Sylvia alone upon her husband’s death, gave decades of volunteer support to the Museum. Since 2022 when the Sylvia and Jeffory Mander Memorial Lecture was established following Sylvia’s death, the Museum has invited a recognised expert in a field relevant to its areas of interest to give a lecture that is substantive in its ideas and thinking without necessarily being overly ponderous or heavy. The lecture generally has broad public appeal and engages with ideas and knowledge in a serious and thoughtful way.
Each year the lecture coincides with National Volunteer Week and acts as a fitting tribute to two of the Museum’s wonderful long-time supporters. It is also an opportunity for the Museum to thank its tireless volunteers without whom the Museum would find it very difficult to operate.
Dr Sophie Couchman is a Professional Historian and Curator who has researched and published in the field of Chinese-Australian history for many years. She works across diverse spaces including the development of exhibitions, walking tours, oral histories and online resources. In 2021 Dr Couchman undertook a Significance Assessment of the Museum’s Collection. She is currently working with the See Yup Society assisting the recovery of the See Yup Temple in South Melbourne after it was damaged by fire in February 2024.
6.00 – 7.00pm
La Trobe Art Institute
121 View Street, Bendigo.
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
