February 2012 Edition

NEWSLETTER
2011/12 CWS
OFFICE HOLDERS
AND COMMITTEE
Mr Richard (Dick) Griffiths
Patron
Mr Adam Lowe
Vice-Patron
Mr Alfred On OAM
Vice-Patron
Mr Austin Chin
President
Mr Daryl Chin
Vice President
Ms Camille Fong Lim
General Secretary
Mr Roland Chin
Treasurer
Mr Daniel Chow
Chinese Secretary
Committee Members
Andrew Chin
Brad Griffiths
Dennis Low
Desmond Yuen
Jade Schembri
Michael Lui
Natasha Yuen
Nathan Tam
Randall Chin
Richard Quan
Roger Lowe
Shaun Pearson
Tanya Fong Lim
Tiffany Chin
Warren Wong
Temple Officer
Dennis Low
Temple Caretaker
Paul Ho
Public Officer
Roland Chin
Community Support
Worker
Mrs Susan Lay
Auditor
Mr John Hetherington
February 2012
POSTING OUT OF HARDCOPY OF CWS NEWSLETTERS
At the monthly CWS Committee Meeting held on the 03/01/2012, a
motion was put forward and passed that "as of the 1st July 2012,
Chung Wah Society will cease to send out hardcopies of the
Newsletters and electronic copies will be emailed to Members who
have provided an email address. Copies of the Newsletters will also
be available on the Chung Wah website".
As the majority of our Members have now elected to receive the CWS
Newsletters electronically, it is no longer cost effective to continue
posting out the small number of Newsletters each month. Also, CWS
will then be doing our bit to assist in 'greening the environment'. We
are aware of Members that do not have access to a computer and/or
Internet, so we will make a limited number of hard-copies available to
be picked up at the CWS Hall, CWS Museum and Chinese Temple.
We also encourage family members that receive the Newsletter
electronically to share it with other family members that used to
receive the Newsletter via post.
CARPARKING
A reminder to all CWS carparkers - we must have up-to-date info on
ALL cars that you will be parking in your allocated bay. The
carparking sub-committee have noticed over several occasions, that
people are parking cars in their allotted bay and we do not have any
records on our database for that vehicle.
We will be emailing out to all carparkers, a survey form requesting
this updated info, so that we can have current vehicle details at all
times.
Your assistance in completing the survey form would be appreciated.
The Management Committee and Members
of the Chung Wah Society
extend their heartfelt condolences to
Brian, Daryl, Kristina and Thomas,
Iain and Andrew
on the recent passing of Jan
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Twenty years ago, Chung Wah Society commemorated the 50th anniversary of the “Bombing of
Darwin” which in 1942 marked the end of the then “Chinatown” in Cavenagh Street.
The exhibition was known as “Chinatown ‘42” and was quite a significant event.
It was significant in many ways, but most of all was the invaluable oral history we were able to
document when we started interviewing our senior members and hearing their amazing life stories
of Darwin in the 1940’s.
From the oral history we obtained from our seniors, we went on to develop the NT Chinese
Museum and the award winning “Sweet and Sour” exhibition. As the then Chairperson of
“Chinatown ‘42”, Melanie Chin instigated the formation of the “CWS Seniors Group” which will be
celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year.
As part of the 70th Anniversary Commemorations of the Bombing of Darwin, the NT Chinese
Museum will open from Sunday 12th to Sunday the 26th February 2012. As our contribution to the
commemoration we will be offering free admittance to the museum, however a gold coin donation
will help cover the cost of running the air conditioning.
The museum is manned by volunteers and we are in desperate need of volunteers for Mondays,
Tuesdays and the weekends. If you are able to help out, please contact our museum coordinators.
Adam Lowe on 0411631726 and Richard Quan on 0412613055 will be glad to hear from you.
On a much sadder note, the sudden passing of our General Secretary, Ms Jan MacPherson was a
great shock to us all. Jan was recently awarded Life Membership to our Society for her invaluable
contribution. She had a quality about her that inspired everyone that was lucky enough to have
known and worked with her. Jan will be missed by many for her dedicated community work and
she will always be remembered. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
In closing, I would like to congratulate the organising committee on presenting a most fantastic and
successful Chinese New Year Banquet. On the night, the Hon Kon Vatskalis MLA, pledged up to
$50,000 to help upgrade our deteriorating air conditioning system. The CNY Banquet has become
one of our most important function of the Chinese New Year Festival.
Chinese New Year would not be celebrated so well without our brilliant “Lion and Dragon Dance
Troupe” and the “Jade Dragons”. Our Society is blessed to have so many young people so
passionately involved. I recently had the pleasure of travelling to Alice Springs with the Lion Dance
Troupe where I saw a fantastic camaraderie between highly skilled “dancers/athletes”. The team
worked very hard to help bless the many businesses and homes in the Alice. Many thanks must go
to our Alice Springs supporters, the ever talented David Quan, our wonderful bus driver “Wolfe”
and the ever inspiring Joanna Tjung who made our trip such a wonderful experience.
As always, we exist only with the invaluable support by our members and volunteers. If I was to
thank everyone individually, it would take forever. However, I must make special mention of
Nathan Tam, Warren Wong, Dennis Low, Roland Chin, Daryl Chin, Tina Griffiths, Danny from
Tasty House and of course, all the “kids” for all the many hours they put in every year for our New
Year Celebrations.
Austin Chin
AGED & DISABILITY ADVOCACY SERVICE
The Aged & Disability Advocacy service provides free and confidential advocacy, information and
advice to people living in Commonwealth funded aged care homes, to recipients of community aged
care or eligible to receive such services, to anyone with a disability and their representatives. We
can also provide information about your rights with regard to these or other services you are
receiving and provide an interpreter.
You may wish to visit our website www.dcls.org.au or phone us on 8982 1111.
CHUNG WAH SOCIETY DRAGON & LION DANCE TROUPE
CHINESE NEW YEAR 2012
The Chung Wah Society Dragon & Lion Dance Troupe kicked off the Year of The Dragon
celebrations by welcoming 10 new lions into the lion family. These new lions included smaller lion
heads to cater for the growing number of junior lion dancers joining the Troupe. It was a colourful
and amazing spectacle witnessed by all those that attended. The traditional eye-dotting ceremony
concluded with the lighting of 2 long string firecrackers to ward away any evil spirits…..and waking
up the residents in the surrounding buildings!
It was another extremely busy period for the Troupe as they travelled all around Darwin conducting
performances and blessings to many businesses, private functions, and homes. Some of the main
events include:
Shop blessings at Casuarina Shopping Square;
Shop blessings in Darwin CBD and surrounding suburbs;
Shop blessings in Palmerston and Coolalinga;
Shop blessings in the Northern Suburbs;
Various restaurants around Darwin;
Various performances at private functions, including Skycity Casino and CWS CNY Banquet;
Main performance at the Chief Minister’s Chinese New Year Reception at Parliament House;
Opening of Parliament Sittings and Darwin City Council meeting.
As it is the Year of The Dragon, the Chung Wah Society’s performance dragon made several
appearances during the Chinese New Year period. Together with 10 lions, the dragon performed
for the crowd at the Chief Minister’s Chinese New Year reception. In the words of the Chief
Minister himself, he said that the performance he saw was the best he had ever seen! The dragon
also did a special performance at the Chung Wah Society’s Chinese New Year Banquet. The
dragon was performed in complete darkness and was brought to life by the glow of UV lights. It
was a spectacular performance where the dragon appeared to be floating through the main hall.
A team was also sent to Alice Springs for 3 days conducting blessings and performances in the
Red Centre. The team had fantastic weather during their stay and reports have it that the amount
of flies were down on previous years. However, that did not stop one particular team member from
swallowing a fly on the first day. You can never break tradition!
It has been another successful Chinese New Year for the Troupe and for everyone involved. A big
thank you goes out to everyone who volunteered their time in helping with the lion dance blessings
and performances in Darwin and Alice Springs. To the core performance group, thank you for your
time and hard work that you put in during our busiest period for the year, and thanks to your parents
for being able to drive you to all the venues where we performed and also for allowing you to
perform when you had homework to do!
Let’s hear three loud cheers for everyone involved with the Chung Wah Society Dragon & Lion
Dance Troupe and making Chinese New Year 2012 a successful one……HIP HIP…..HOORAY!!
HIP HIP…..HOORAY!! HIP HIP…..HOORAY!!
CHINESE NEW YEAR IN ALICE SPRINGS
By Shaun Pearson – CWS Dragon & Lion Dance Troupe Member
Following a late night at the Chinese New Year Banquet on Saturday the 4th of February, a dozen
members of the Chung Wah Society Dragon and Lion dance Troupe (including several Jade
Dragon dancers) woke up bright and early to catch a 7am flight down to Alice Springs in order to
partake in the annual blessing of business, houses, schools…… and the odd fire station!
In a way, the Troupe itself was ‘blessed’, with good weather awaiting our arrival. Temperatures
dropped below 14 degrees overnight on Monday, and fine sunny days (with very few flies and no
humidity) made it the perfect weather for a Lion Dance.
The Troupe was in Alice for three days, with dances going on for much of Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday. There were approximately 80 dances over those three days, with most of the Alice
Springs CBD being blessed at some point. On no day was the Todd Street Mall spared from the
cacophony of the Drums, Gong and Cymbals.
As always, the boys and girls put in a lot of effort with all of their performances, and pulled off some
memorable displays. However, the highlight of the trip was definitely watching the Lion snatch a
lettuce hanging from the ladder of a fire truck at the Alice Springs Fire Station.
The busy schedule was worked through with the support of some Alice Springs locals, David,
Joanna and the ever-reliable Wolfe, who once again displayed his bus driving expertise and made
sure the Troupe got to where they needed be. Despite some hectic moments, the Troupe had
some time to relax, and made the traditional trips to ANZAC Hill and the ‘Welcome To Alice Springs’
sign.
A big thank you goes out to those who helped made the trip possible, including the Northern
Territory Government, Lasseters Hotel Casino, Thrifty, and the Oriental Gourmet, Hong Kong
Restaurant, Red Centre Cafe, Hanumans and On’s Kitchen, who made sure the Troupe didn’t go
hungry.
Indeed, it is the incredibly positive reception we receive from the Alice Springs community which
makes the trip possible every year. On Sunday we attended to several house blessings, and were
welcomed by an eager audience waiting on the front lawn of many of the residences we visited. So
interested were the crowds that our team leader was forced to make several impromptu speeches
about Chinese culture and the significance of the Lion Dance to many surprisingly well-informed
audiences. Some even remembered the colour of the lions we used last year and commented on
our use of the traditionally-styled ‘rainbow’ lions.
It was encouraging to see such strong community support from Alice Springs locals, and the Troupe
had only good things to say about the town as they made their way home on Tuesday night.
However, a Lion Dancer’s work is never done, with the Troupe blessing several venues around
Darwin on Wednesday evening and continuing to dance over the following week to wrap up this
year’s Chinese New Year’s celebrations.
FROM THE TEMPLE
Happy 28th Birthday
to
Chantelle
Salandanan
who was born on
Valentines day
Thanks to ALL the helpers on January 15th - Sunday
(cleaning the Temple for Chinese New Year).
Helpers: Jum Sook, Paul Ho, Aunty Eva, Doreen & Roger
Lowe, Roland & Eleanor Chin, Randall Chin & kids, Jarrod &
Arron Chin, Des & Bradley Yuen, Stanley Chin, Derek Chin &
Daryl Chin.
Photos
courtesy of
Rochelle Chin
ENTER THE (YEAR OF THE) DRAGON
By Courtney Chin – CWS Lion Dance Troupe and Jade Dragons Member
The last three weeks could be described as hectic, tiring and sometimes stressful, yet exciting, fun
and one of my favourite times of year.
This year, the Dragon and Lion Dance troupe kicked off Chinese New Year with the blessing of new
temple lions. Added to our family were 5 new lions, with red, yellow and white fur. Immediately after
blessing the temple lions, we welcomed another 5 into group, to be used for performances. Some of
these had black fur, a first for Chung Wah!
Over the next couple of weeks, we would be lion dancing non-stop and living in those sweaty yellow
shirts. One of the highlights of the Darwin street blessings was the “meet and greet” between Lion 1
(or Lion “Won”) and Lion 2 in the Galleria. The two teams showed off their moves and combos,
whilst the musicians played in sync with each other. Even the younger “baby” lions joined in and
battled it out. Lion 1 was lucky enough to get free ice cream from Cold Rock! The second “meet and
greet” was held on the Temple lawns in the second week of street blessings. Each lion team
displayed their sequences and jumps. Accompanying the lions, the three music groups tried to outplay each other, and with firecrackers being lit, it’s fair to say everyone had hearing problems
afterwards!
The Parliament house function was another highlight of the New Year period. The Jade Dragons
performed their graceful fan dance, which was followed by 10 lions performing, and later
accompanied by the Dragon Dance. The Jade Dragons in their bright pink Chinese tops, the multicoloured lions and the neon dragon all put together was a colourful sight.
The New Year Banquet was also a spectacular night. The Jade Dragons performed two pieces,
including their new “lotus dance,” incorporating traditional and contemporary movements. The lion
dance troupe then took over, with both the senior and junior groups performing together. As it is the
Year of the Dragon, it was only fitting to have the Dragon perform. Under black UV lights, the
dragon was glowing in the dark and it really came alive as the boys carrying the dragon disappeared
into the darkness.
In between all of the main performances were what seemed like hundreds of restaurants and shop
blessings. All in all, Chinese New Year with the CWS Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe is always a
great experience, and it is a way for us to keep our traditions and culture alive. The Troupe
members’ always becomes closer at the end and even though everyone breathes a sigh of relief,
there is always a sense of sadness when the last of the Lion Dance performances are over.
Photo
Courtesy of
Elizabeth Law
Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Law
The Committee and Members of the Chung Wah Society,
the Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe
and Jade Dragons Dancers
would like to thank Dr Reg Prasad
for his most generous donation of $1 500
MUSEUM
The Museum Sub-committee met on Sunday 12 February for a thank you lunch and to plan for
2012.
It was agreed that the Chung Wah Society would open the Museum over the fortnight from Sunday
12 February to Sunday 26 February (with free admittance) as part of the Bombing of Darwin
Commemoration. After Sunday 26th Feb 2012 the Museum will continue to open at the normal
admittance fees to cover electricity and operating costs.
All General Committee members and ordinary CWS members are implored to assist us man the
roster during this year. We are doing our best to provide a service to the general populace and
visitors to Darwin to let them know how worthwhile the contribution of our ancestors has been to
Darwin and Australia. We are proud Australians of Chinese heritage and do have a worthwhile
story to tell.
Please contact Adam Lowe on 0411 631 726 or Richard Quan on 0412 613 055 to assist
us. Remember: " many hands make light work".
HAVE A SMART PHONE?
If you own a Smart Phone and want to keep up to date with the
Chung Wah Society, why not make use of a 'Quick
Response' (QR) code. You now ask "what is a QR code"? A QR
code is very similar to a bar code that you see on everyday items.
You will need to have a QR Code reader installed on your Smart
Phone - there are a number of good free QR Code readers
available from the Apple Store or the Android Market. Once you
have your QR Code reader installed on your Smart Phone, the
following QR Code will then direct you to the CWS website.
Contact us at:
[email protected]