Oral history book presentation: South Flows the Pearl

In the 1980s Mavis Gock Yen began interviewing elderly Chinese Australians, recording hours of conversations.

These fascinating and absorbing stories of the struggles and successes of Chinese in Australia, told in their own words, have been edited by Siaoman Yen and Richard Horsburgh. They form the basis of South Flows the Pearl: Chinese Australian Voices, to be published by Sydney University Press in February 2022.

Perth-born Mavis Gock Yen (1916-2008), moved with her family to Shanghai in 1925 and spent time in China and Australia over the next twenty years. In 1946 she settled in China where she worked as a journalist and English teacher until after the Cultural Revolution, eventually returning to Australia in 1981 with her daughter Siaoman Yen. Mavis then began recording and writing this landmark pioneering oral history book which will change how you think about Australian history.

Learn more about South Flows the Pearl from editor Richard Horsburgh, historian Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson who wrote the introduction and Professor Kam Louie who wrote the foreword.