Chinese Footprints: Wellington History Walk

Retrace the rich history of early Chinese Wellington, much of which has been erased and is now largely invisible to passers-by.

Led by historians Lynette Shum and Nigel Murphy, this two-hour tour highlights sites of significance for Wellington’s early Chinese community including businesses, eateries and Haining Street’s ‘Chinatown’.

The tour begins and ends at Trades Hall, 124 Vivian Street. Booking is essential.

About Lynette Shum
Lynette Shum, third generation Poon Yu Chinese New Zealander, is Oral History Advisor for the Alexander Turnbull Library. Her first home was on the fringes of Chinatown, yet she was unaware of its existence until researching what was to become the Haining Street Oral History Project. She has completed an MA on the topic.

About Nigel Murphy
Nigel Murphy has been researching, writing, and lecturing on Chinese New Zealand history for almost 40 years. His interests include the politics of Chinese New Zealanders, their organisations and associations, their social and cultural lives, their home villages, and their transnational connections with other Chinese overseas communities, the lives of Chinese women in New Zealand and at home in China, the history of Chinese people in Wellington, and many other Chinese New Zealand topics.

Image credit: Chinese boys in Wellington with semaphore flags that spell ‘China’. Seyip Association :Group portraits and photographs relating to the Anglican Mission Church in the 1920s.. Ref: 1/2-168564-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22751251