Anne Atkinson

Description

Biographical informationAnne Atkinson has made a vast contribution to the study of Chinese heritage in Western Australia. She devoted much of her career to this field. Anne’s research collection and publications contribute substantially to our understanding of the lives, experiences, and contributions of Western Australians with Chinese heritage in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Anne completed her honours thesis at Murdoch University in 1984, focusing on Chinese Western Australians from 1900 to 1920. She demonstrated how discriminatory immigration policies forced most early Chinese Western Australians to become short-term labourers, or sojourners, rather than long-term settlers. Government legislation and policies hindered the establishment of long-term businesses or professional opportunities by people of Chinese descent. This made it difficult for Chinese Western Australians from that time to settle and stay long-term. Many ended up returning to their place of birth later in life and not leaving families in Western Australia. Anne’s honours thesis examined their socio-economic struggles from 1900 to 1920.

Anne later extended her research to cover the period from 1847 to 1947 and she wrote this as a ground-breaking PhD thesis which she submitted to Murdoch University in 1991, under the supervision of Tim Wright and Lenore Layman. This broader timeframe allowed Anne to provide a much more comprehensive view of the first Chinese Western Australians. By exploring the establishment, survival, and decline of Chinese labour and capital in Western Australia, Anne shone a light on the lives, experiences and the myriad challenges faced by early Chinese Western Australians.

Much of Anne’s work involved developing biographical profiles of individuals and analysing these patterns to reveal the experiences of Chinese people amidst racist immigration policies and attitudes. Her exceptional skill in piecing together fragmented information led to the publication of “Asian Immigrants to Western Australia, 1829-1901”, volume 5 of the “Dictionary of Western Australians” series. This publication continues to be an essential resource for those researching Chinese Western Australians.

Honorifics (Titles)DrOther nameAtkinson, Anne DrDate of birth1945

Document

Audio

Collection

Oral history

Employment

EmployerMurdoch University

Connections

Related collectionAnne Atkinson Collection

Item information

ContributorSchool of Social SciencesSource of informationChinese Labour and Capital in Western Australia, 1847-1947 (Anne Atkinson's doctoral thesis)

UWA Collected

Anne Atkinson

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA