About MOCA 關於我們

MOCA acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Museum is built.

The Museum of Chinese in Australia is dedicated to sharing and preserving the rich history, traditions, and culture of Chinese Australians. By exploring and explaining the stories of the community, we hope to foster a deeper understanding of its contribution to the Australian way of life.

The idea to establish MOCA was conceived in 2019, as a way of creating a centre for the discovery, preservation and promotion of the story of the Chinese in Australia. The founding directors, including the eminent Australians Dr John Yu AC and Dr Stephen FitzGerald AO, envisioned a dedicated museum in the Haymarket district of Sydney, the city’s oldest and largest Chinatown, working alongside history and community museums across the country.

Daphne Lowe Kelley

MOCA’s current Chair, Daphne Lowe Kelley, is one of Australia’s leading advocates for Chinese-Australian heritage. Founding president of the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia and a long-standing leader of the Chinese Australian Historical Society, she has spent decades documenting and championing the community’s history. A driving force behind the museum’s creation, she now guides MOCA with the same dedication she has long shown to preserving Chinese-Australian stories.

Dr Stephen FitzGerald AO

A founding director and former Chair, Dr Stephen FitzGerald AO is one of Australia’s foremost China scholars. Appointed by Gough Whitlam in 1973, he became Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, helping to shape the modern relationship between the two nations. A sinologist, author and commentator, he has spent a lifetime building understanding between Australia and China, making him a fitting guardian of the stories MOCA exists to tell.

John Yu AC

A founding director and the museum’s inaugural Chair, Dr John Yu AC is one of Australia’s most distinguished public figures. A paediatrician and hospital administrator, he led the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney for nearly two decades and was named Australian of the Year in 1996. Brought out of China as a young child, he went on to become a National Living Treasure and a celebrated champion of Asian art and culture in Australia. His vision helped bring MOCA into being.

OUR Board 董事會成員

Daphne Lowe Kelley Chair
Marcus Lim Deputy Chair and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
Cathy Guo Treasurer
Joanna Capon AM Board Member
Yin Cao Board Member
Stephen Hutcheon Chair of the Exhibition, Collection and Programming Committee
Kwan Leung Board Member
Simon Chan AM Board Member

Our Building 棲居之所

MOCA is housed in one of Haymarket’s landmark heritage buildings, at 744 George Street, on the corner of George and Hay Streets in the heart of Sydney’s oldest and largest Chinatown. Dating from the 1870s, the three-storey building has had many lives, serving as a bank and, for more than two decades, as the much-loved Haymarket Library, before the branch moved to Darling Square in 2019.

When the library moved on, the City of Sydney made the building available for a new purpose, and in 2021 architect Kaichi Leung began its careful transformation into a museum. Its former reading rooms are now galleries and public spaces, with the building’s heritage character preserved alongside warm, contemporary detailing. The result is a home that honours both the history of the place and the stories MOCA was created to tell.

The museum opened its doors in February 2026.

Historic black-and-white photo of George Street at Haymarket, early 1900s