Moon cakes traditional Chinese celebration at harvest time

Members of Chinese Association celebrate traditional harvest festival with moon cakes in Rockhampton

From Rockhampton's Chinese Association (l-r) Andrew Hao, Pengwei Li, Shengbin Wu, Lingxing Meng, Huanhuan Li, and Xinglong Meng will celebrate the mooncake festival on Friday

ACCORDING to Chinese legend, there is a rabbit that lives on the moon... or a fairy or a goddess.

The moon is so auspicious in Chinese mythology, its space program names rockets after the characters which live there.

And ‘moon cakes’, made from crushed nuts and beans and wrapped in a flour and oil mix, are the symbol of China’s mid-autumn festival which, in the southern hemisphere, falls this Friday.

Assembling the mooncake ingredients

For members of the Rockhampton Chinese Association, it’s an opportunity to celebrate their long history in Central Queensland.

Well before the Mt Morgan gold rush, as far back as 1848, eight Chinese workers were employed as shepherds and shearers by the Archer brothers.

According to characters on the Bedford Street temple, the local association goes back at least 120 years.

Its vice president, Andrew Hao, said there was a historical research project underway to determine more about the part Chinese migrants played in Central Queensland’s development.

“When I came here 14 years ago there were fewer than 100 Chinese speakers in Rockhampton,” he said.

“Now there’s probably more than 300, and a new generation of English speaking Chinese children.”

The association creates connections for people who come here to study and work, and offers Chinese language classes for the generation which no longer speaks the language at home.

“In the early days the temple may have had religious purposes but the people who visit it now don’t have any clear denomination,” Mr Hao said.

“It’s a place to gather and pay respect to ancestors.”