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Chinese New Year Celebrations at Sovereign Hill Ballarat
February 11, 2017 - February 12, 2017
Sovereign Hill, together with the Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat, will present a host of fun, hands-on activities to celebrate the Year of the Rooster, on both Sunday 5th and Sunday 12th February.
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The Chinese Dragon, Xin Long, and Chinese lions will dance and weave their way up Main Street at 1 pm, filling the outdoor museum with colour, spectacle and celebration!
Hands-on activities – Create your own Chinese paper rooster, have your name written in Chinese characters, make a lucky money envelope and wish others good fortune, make a Chinese endless knot, and even try Chinese paper cutting! Located at the Horse Bazaar from 11am – 4pm.
Chinese Camp Tour – Visit the Chinese camp and find out how Chinese diggers lived during the gold rushes. Meet Sovereign Hill’s roosters and beautiful Chinese Silkie hens too. Twenty minute guided tours are available in English (11.30am and 2pm) and Chinese (11.50am and 2.50pm) at the Chinese Camp.
Anti-Chinese League – come to a theatre performance that recreates a public meeting to ban Chinese people from the Ballarat goldfields and learn about why some people were determined to stop Chinese immigration in the 1850s. Victoria Theatre, 12noon.
Chinese Performances – Discover the importance of the Chinese Year of the Rooster and enjoy colourful performances of ribbon and fan dancing, as well as the sacred art of Tai Chi. Victoria Theatre at 1.45pm
Lion Dance Workshop – Find out about Chinese Lion Dancing, and even try to do it yourself! Victoria Theatre, 12.30pm. Sunday 5th February only.
Over at the Gold Museum, visitors can place a wish at the Wishing Tree in the museum’s foyer, or colour and send a postcard to family and friends with good wishes for 2017. Chinese Collection Tours, where visitors can get a sneak peak of the Chinese collection in this exclusive back-of-house tour, are also available in English and Chinese.
To extend your visit to Ballarat, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (MADE) is showcasing ‘Chinese Fortunes’ an exhibition exploring the individual stories of early Chinese Australians – business people, traders, miners, gardeners, herbalists, detectives, interpreters, entertainers, publicans – and the rich diversity of Chinese Australian history leading up to Federation. The Gold Museum has lent a number of objects to this fascination exhibition.
