Listening to Cantonese Growers: Retelling Parramatta's Past (SOLD OUT)
About
What happens when you stop looking at history and start listening to it? This talk retells Parramatta’s past through the voices of Cantonese market gardeners and their descendants. Drawing on oral histories, family memories, and visits to active and long-forgotten gardens in and out of Parramatta, it reveals how Chinese migrants shaped the land, fed the city, and built enduring communities. From miswritten names to gardens lost over time, it invites you to hear Parramatta anew—through the people who once grew it.Dr Christopher Cheng records the stories of Cantonese market gardeners—some waiting 50 years to be heard. His oral history recordings are preserved at the State Library of New South Wales and the National Library of Australia, and his research appears in Australian Garden History, including “Growing Against the Grain” (2025) and “Nurturing Gardens of Opportunity” (2026). While not a market gardener himself, he digs where most historians don’t—into language, memory, and story—to show that the past still bears fruit if you know how to listen.
Listening to Cantonese Growers: Retelling Parramatta’s Past is a research initiative supported by the City of Parramatta’s 2025 Parramatta History, Culture and Stories Fund and administered by the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia (CHAA).
Date
Thursday 21 May 2026 5:45 PM - 8:00 PM (UTC+10)Location
Charles Darwin University Sydney Campus
Level 7, Room 7.09, 815 George Street , Haymarket NSW 2000
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Listening to Cantonese Growers: Retelling Parramatta's Past (SOLD OUT)
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