Researching Chinese Market Gardening: Insights from Archaeology and Material Culture

Abstract

This paper explores the use of material culture evidence to uncover the economic and social environments of Chinese market gardeners in Australia and New Zealand. In particular it explores the multiple meanings that artefacts associated with Chinese market gardeners can embody and how they mediate between cultures. Four items of material culture are examined to discover how they can shed light on the daily lives of Chinese market gardeners and their social interactions. Two come from archaeological contexts; one is in a museum collection and one is in private ownership. They range in date from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s or 1930s. The first two are utilitarian items of technology: a garden rake and a Clutterbuck oil engine. The second two are more luxury items: an ornate silver fob watch and chain and a collection of fine bone china ceramics imported from Europe. What they have in common is that their owners and users were all Chinese market gardeners. Illustrating how material culture evidence can complement evidence from more traditional sources, the paper draws on documentary sources and oral histories to provide a context in time and place for each of these items.