Australia’s 16-day celebration of Asian cultures held in a remote beach town – welcome to Broome
- The Shinju Matsuri, an amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese and Malay celebrations, attracts thousands of visitors each year to Broome in Western Australia
- The 52-year-old festival, to be held this year from August 20 to September 4, also encompasses Aboriginal heritage, including Indigenous art, music and film
Since 1970, Chinese dragons, Japanese lanterns and Malaysian flags have marked a unique festival in a remote Australian outback community.
Two thousand kilometres (1,240 miles) from Perth, the nearest city, Broome is renowned for its 22km-long beach, seaside resorts, rugged interior and annual Shinju Matsuri Festival, a celebration of its Asian and Aboriginal heritage.
In the far north of Western Australia, Broome has a significant population of Asians, their ancestors initially having come in the 19th century to join the town’s pearling industry. Shinju matsuri means “pearl festival” in Japanese.
A spokesperson for the wider Shire of Broome doesn’t know exactly how many people in the town have Asian ancestry, but according to Doug Fong, a retired teacher and amateur historian who is an influential member of Broome’s Asian community, more than 2,000 of its 16,000 people have Asian blood.
Fong, who says his family came to Australia from southern China a century ago, was born and raised in Broome, which he describes as probably the most multicultural small town in Australia.