NEWSLETTER 2012/13 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 Tiffany Chin Rinaldi General Secretary

Mr Roland Chin Treasurer

Mr Daniel Chow

Chinese Secretary

Committee Members Andrew Chin David Quan Dennis Low

Desmond Yuen Jade Schembri Jennifer Yuen Natasha Yuen Nathan Tam

Pauline Ah Toy Quen Foo

Randall Chin Richard Quan Roger Lowe

Shaun Pearson Stephen Pearson

Temple Officer Dennis Low

Temple Caretaker Paul Ho

Public Officer Roland Chin

Community Support

Worker Mrs Susan Lay

Auditor Mr John Hetherington

February 2013

LION DANCE SHOP BLESSINGS

Friday, 15th February 2013 – Casuarina Shopping Square Shop

Blessings.

Saturday, 16th February 2013 – Darwin CBD and surrounding suburbs

(8:30am-4:30pm).

Saturday, 23rd February 2013 – Northern Suburbs, Palmerston (8:30am-

4:30pm).

We welcome anyone who would like to volunteer their time to help out the

lion dance troupe with their performances and shop blessings over the

Chinese New Year period. In particular, if you are able to help on the above

dates. Please let the lion dance co-ordinators know by dropping an email at:

liondance@chungwahnt.asn.au

Thanks Nathan

GOOD HEALTH, GOOD LUCK AND MUCH HAPPINESS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

“The 2013 year of Snake is Water Snake, Water Snakes are lucky with finances, they always seem to have money flowing their way. They are said to be adventurous spirits and love to take risks. They are also very intelligent and often a wellspring of creative ideas. Water Snakes love to socialize and meet new friends. They are proud of their achievements, and also very thoughtful and considerate of others.”

So therefore I feel that if there are any of our members who were born in the Year of the Snake, we would dearly love to have you on our committee as we recently loss one of our most valuable committee members when he moved with his partner, Helen to beautiful Murwillumbah in NSW.

Richard Quan was and still is one of those people who enjoys helping his community, one of those people who made a difference (“yes, he was very different”), jokes aside, he was always one to jump in to lend a hand, nothing was a problem and he always seem to find the time, he was always there. We will miss his energy, humour and organisational skills, especially around Darwin Show time. He also made an invaluable input to our Museum with Uncle Adam. We wish him and Helen a wonderful new life together and we have no doubt, he will be putting his talents to work within his new community. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome his son David Quan who lives in Alice Springs and like his father, David is also heavily involved with the community especially with the youth of the “Alice”.

Chinese New Year is all about family and friends, it is a time to relax and appreciate this most important aspect of life. It is also the time of the Year when you pay respect to your ancestors and pray for their care and guidance for the New Year ahead.

To appreciate our future, we must know our “past” and we as a society are very fortunate to have our very own museum where the stories of our ancestors and elders have been preserved not only for us, but for our children and their children. We are continuously looking for more volunteers to help keep our museum open to the public, so if you have a few hours to spare during the week, please give Uncle Adam a call.

The Chung Wah Society also has the honour and responsibility for the upkeep of the Chinese Temple as a place of worship. It is a place for us to carry on the culture and traditions of our ancestors. The Temple enables the Lion Dance Troupe to provide protection and bring good fortune to all the people of the Northern Territory and not just the Chinese community.

Every Chinese New Year more and more people are requesting the attendance of our Chinese “Lions”. The troupe now bless well over 300 shops, restaurants and homes in the Territory, however due to a lack of funding, it is with great regret that we were not able to visit Alice Springs this year, however we can assure the people of Alice Springs that we will try very hard to get back there next year.

Chung Wah Society continuously promotes Multicultural Diversity and Social Cohesion. We believe in mutual respect, fairness and the strong sense of belonging for Australians of every race, culture and religion.

The Management Board and Committee wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our members, volunteers and supporters.

Austin James Chin

CWS Seniors group starts again at the hall

on Friday 15 February

All CWS Carparkers - we are requesting that whilst you are

on CWS premises, that you keep your speed limit to less than 20 km. It has been observed on several occasions, that some cars are entering/exiting the CWS premises at high speed. We have pedestrians, young children and Seniors on CWS premises at various times throughout the day and we ask that all drivers exercise a safe speed limit to ensure the safety of all. Your cooperation in observing a safe speed limit on CWS premises is appreciated.

10 GOOD LUCK FOODS FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR

1. Tangerines and Oranges. Displaying and eating these fruits is said to bring wealth and luck. The Chinese words for gold and orange sound alike, while the word for tangerine echoes luck. It’s good if they have leaves, because leaves symbolize

longevity. But don’t group them in fours, because this number is associated with death. 2. Long Noodles. If noodles are served, then keep them as long as possible for long life.

3. The Tray of Togetherness. Put out for visiting relatives to snack on, or given as

a gift, the eight compartments of the tray are filled with things such as preserved kumquats for prosperity, coconut for togetherness, longans to bring many sons, and red melon seeds for happiness.

4. Nian Gao. Nian gao means year cake, but gao sounds the same as the word for tall or high. Hence the cakes symbolize achieving new heights in the coming year.

The steamed sweets are made of glutinous rice flour, brown sugar, and oil. Some versions have white sesame seeds, red dates, or nuts in them (the dates are said to bring early prosperity.

5. Pomelo. This large citrus fruit is popular because it is thought to bring continuous

prosperity and status. The tradition comes from the way the Cantonese phrase for pomelo sounds similar to the words for prosperity and status.

6. Jai. This vegetarian dish is eaten because it’s part of the Buddhist culture to

cleanse yourself with vegetables. It’s also packed with good-luck foods: sea moss for prosperity; lotus seeds for children/birth of sons; noodles for longevity; lily buds to “send 100 years of harmonious union”; Chinese black mushrooms to “fulfill wishes from east to west”; and more.

7. Long Leafy Greens and Long Beans. Leafy greens, such as Chinese broccoli,

are served whole to wish a long life for parents.

8. Whole Fish. The Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for abundance. It’s important that the fish is served with the head and tail

intact to ensure a good start and finish and to avoid bad luck throughout the year.

9. Sweets. Serving desserts brings a sweet life in the new year.

10. Yuanbao (Jiaozi). In North China, everyone eats the jiaozi dumplings.

Families will make a dough and wrap it around pork and cabbage, and boil the dumplings, then serve them with vinegar and soy sauce. You can wrap them in the shape of an old silver ingot. During New Year celebrations jiaozi are called yuanbao, a reference to the ancient, ingot-shaped Chinese currency, and that eating them is said to bring prosperity. While making them, families sometimes tuck added good-luck foods like peanuts (to bring long life) into some of them.

NEW MEMBERSHIP RATES

At the last Committee Meeting held on the 29/01/2013, the Committee agreed to discontinue the multi-year Membership Renewals and only have annual renewals effective from 1st July 2013. For those Members that have already paid for multiple years, they will continue until their expiry date. Along with the change back to annual Membership Renewals, an updated Membership Application form will also be uploaded to the CWS website (www.chungwahnt.asn.au).

Family (includes 4 family members) $50 per year

2 adults and 2 children < 18 years or 1 adult and 3 children < 18 years

Each additional child < 18 years $7.50 per year

(Family membership)

Couple $40 per year

(includes Main member and spouse/partner residing at the same address)

Single $25 per year

(Applicant 18 years and over without dependents)

Concession Couple $30 per year

(where the Main member is 60 years & over)

Concession Single $15 per year

(Persons <or> 18 years who are full time students; Senior Citizens 60 and over)

The above rates are applicable to both Full and Associate Memberships.

Happy birthday

to Simmy Chin

from Alfreds Gifts

on her 60th Birthday

Brad Yuen

celebrated his

18th Birthday.

Congratulations Brad.

Kathleen and Warren Wong

on their wedding day.

Congratulations to the beautiful couple.

NT CHINESE MUSEUM TO RE-OPEN TUESDAY 5TH MARCH 2013

In 1992, the Chung Wah Society staged an exhibition at the Chung Wah Hall titled “Chinatown 1942” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. Following on from that, and in conjunction with the NT Museum and Art Galleries, the Society co-sponsored the “Sweet and Sour Exhibition” at the Museum at Bullocky Point for three years which eventually culminated in the development and opening of the Society’s own NT Chinese Museum in the Chung Wah Hall in 1996. The Chinese Museum underwent a major overhaul and expansion in 2006 as part of the major re-development of the Chung Wah Hall and was re-opened in its present location on 21 November 2007. The Museum has generated not only local but Australia wide interest particularly with ex-patriate Chinese who are wanting to find out more about their ancestral and family heritage in the Darwin of old. Our unique Family Trees exhibit has been the central point of interest in this regard. To other visitors, the displays have served to be a window to the exploits, contribution and cultural heritage of the Chinese people in the Northern Territory. The Museum has also generated much interest among the schools of Darwin who arrange excursions for their classes as part of their students’ Asian studies. For some years now, a small group of seniors volunteered their time to staff the Chinese Museum during the week for four hours per day. This has made it possible to open the museum to the public on six days per week (Tuesday - Friday) between the hours of 10.00am and 2.00pm, while the weekends were mainly covered by members of the Chung Wah Management Committee. In order to increase the number of volunteers and to encourage more members to learn and spread the story of the Chinese in the NT, we are inviting your valued assistance in this activity. So, I am making this personal approach to encourage you to give this some thought and join us in fulfilling this important facet of the Society’s activities. To find out more on what is involved, or on how you could contribute, please contact Adam Lowe on adam@chungwahnt.asn.au or 0411 631 726

UPCOMING CHANGE TO GATE ACCESS CODE:

The access code to the gates on Litchfield Street will be changed with effect from 8:00 am Monday 11 March 2013. We will advise Members of the new access code via email during the week of 04 March 2013. For those Members that require the gate access code and who do not have access to email, you will need to contact one of the CWS Committee Members instead.

THE CWS COMMITTEE WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS

Benjamin & Georgina Dornier and Family

William Chin & Jasmine Chow

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admin@chungwahnt.asn.au