Journal of Chinese Australia, Issue 2, October 2006

The Story of Yar Loong

Carol Holsworth

Redecorated Yar Loong on old head frame

[Golden Dragon Museum, AP0026]

In the 1970s a dragon's head, its squashed tail and fins were found in a solid well-built wooden box in a damp corner of the Bendigo Chinese Association building in Bridge Street. Wrapped around the tail and fins were numerous sleeveless vests. These white vests, with a large Chinese character for 'courage' on the front and red trimmings were unfortunately badly water stained and mildewed. Some vests had to be disposed of. The better ones were eventually placed in the archives of the Golden Dragon Museum while the less damaged vests were dyed a reddish colour and used until 1998 in the Bendigo Easter Processions. The dragon's head frame was in solid condition but the original covering of assorted materials was hanging loose and dangling from the frame. The moths and silver fish had enjoyed a major feast for many years.

The pastel colours of the gauze-like remnants seemed to suggest that this dragon was different from the dragons and lions that Bendigo people were familiar with. Body frame pieces and a camphor wood box full of long lengths of coloured materials used as dragon skirts were found in an upstairs regalia storage room. All the skirts, except one, belonged to day dragons like Loong that only required half skirts which tied onto the frames under the top separate scale units. The only full skin was a long silver coloured cloth that could cover a whole body frame with scales painted directly onto the material. This different skin was presumed to belong to the dragon in the box.[1]

Prior to the 1970s, the Bendigo Chinese Association's small ground floor room was used as a training gym with a boxing ring, plus meeting area for both young and old. The dragon's box had been too big to manoeuvre up the stairs to the regalia storage rooms, so it had been pushed into a corner as maybe no one felt they should throw it out. The main dragon pieces were well protected in this properly constructed wooden box. Things could be thrown against it or stored on top without causing any damage. It is possible that this dragon's head and tail sat in its box in the corner for over thirty years without being disturbed.

By the 1970s no one knew much about these dragon pieces. A night dragon called 'Yar Loong' had been seen in Bendigo but no one quite remembered when. Most importantly, no one remembered who had bought it or how it arrived in Bendigo.[2] Someone thought a dragon had once caught on fire, but there were no signs of burn marks on this dragon's head.[3] Others remembered a dragon going to Sydney.[4] So this poor skeleton was a mystery.

If this dragon was Bendigo's Yar Loong, why was he so ignominiously abandoned and forgotten for years? As time had gone by, maybe the Chinese in Bendigo did not need an extra dragon or a younger replacement for their Loong, or no one had the time to restore the poor dragon's head. Apparently, no other community had sought him either. The old dragon Loong, purchased in 1906, had continued to delight the annual Bendigo Easter Fair crowds well after the war years by undergoing numerous small and large patch-ups jobs. He had been freshened up with several coats of paint, a bit of re-gluing, re-tying and even a new skirt along the way. Prior to the Easter of 1938, Loong had even been lengthened by eighty feet by Mr Joe Him of Melbourne who was employed to recondition the Bendigo regalia.[5]

Tracking Yar Loong

My research on the story of Yar Loong has depended on newspaper reports almost exclusively written by white Australian journalists for a Victorian public. Journalists were seldom interested in where the regalia had come from, except to mention that the Chinese community had taken a great deal of trouble and had been helped by many Chinese who had come from the surrounding districts. From the 1860s onwards in Victoria, regalia was regularly loaned by one Chinese community or society for use in another Chinese community. Victorian Chinese residents have participated in many diverse processions, festivals, charity fetes, official welcomes to Governors and royalty, openings of hospitals and asylums, charity concerts as well as private Chinese functions. Specific items of regalia owned by certain Chinese communities in Victoria have therefore been very difficult to trace and follow. I am not sure if the local Chinese wished to take full credit for their local displays or whether the newspaper reporters were indifferent and just inclined to believe that processional regalia was just common Chinese property.[6]

Many local Chinese and visiting families actually took Bendigo costumes and regalia home with them if they were planning to participate in a Chinese festival elsewhere in Victoria, as once the regalia was boxed up for the year it was difficult to access. They hopefully re-appeared in their Bendigo spots the following year but this might also have been a cunning way of retaining that special position in the Procession.

In researching 'dragons' it is difficult to determine if the journalist was writing of a long dragon requiring many carriers or whether the 'dragon' is actually a Chinese lion team requiring just two members. Even early photographs seem to suggest that the cloaks covering a two-man lion team were possibly quite a bit longer than the modern versions. It is essential to read the advertisements to see if the length of the dragon is featured. Further, it is often hard to determine whether a photo or description is about a Bendigo, Ballarat or Melbourne dragon or whether lions and other regalia came from Ararat, Ballarat, Bairnsdale, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon, Maryborough, Melbourne, St Arnaud or even from out of the state.

Bendigo dragons

The Bendigo Chinese were determined, every time they participated in the Bendigo Easter procession, to out do the efforts of every local group or society. They never presented just a Bendigo Chinese residents' effort. They brought in Chinese from across the state who also brought their own community's regalia to help make the Chinese section the longest in the parade or at least the best manned and certainly the most culturally different.

The Bendigo Advertiser of 6 March 1939 headed its report of the March meeting of the Bendigo Easter Fair Society with startling news that the 'Chinese Community will have Special Dragon at Easter'. The report stated that the Chinese, in spite of the bad times with the drought and the war in China, would better their efforts of previous years. The President of the Chinese Society Mr Yin Kee, stated that 'at considerable expense a special illuminated dragon for the torchlight procession on Easter Tuesday was being imported from China'. Reference was made to Chinese coming to help from Echuca, Elmore, Castlemaine and from the metropolis and other districts. The Chinese said that this special effort was being made to thank the Dunstan Government for its recent subsidy assistance to the Chinese through their bad times due to the lack of water. Mr O'Hoy stated, 'We are making arrangements to import a dragon specially for the torchlight procession, and it will be, we hope, a surprise to you all. As the duty is high, and it will only be used for charity, we ask the committee to try and allow us to get it in duty free.' The dragon was said to be coming out on the Changte which was due in Australia shortly.

Although the article stated that a special dragon was to be imported from China at great expense by the Bendigo Chinese, I have found no reports or documentation between 1937-1939 that the Bendigo Chinese had raised money by subscriptions or were reported as having sent an order to China. In most years the Chinese either released little detailed information through the Bendigo Easter Fair Association as to their actual costs, or they reported their total Easter costs including their social and entertainment expenditures involved with the visiting Chinese who were assisting them in the Easter procession. The details about custom duty being high was probably a bit of propaganda. For some fifty years the Bendigo Easter Fair Association had been doing all the administration work in enabling all imported Chinese regalia for the Easter Fair to be brought in duty free. The secretary of the Easter Fair also organised the railway transportation of Chinese goods free of charge as this was a privilege reserved for those raising money for charity.

The Bendigo Advertiser followed this exciting new special dragon news with a report on 1 April 1939. 'Two huge Chinese dragons will figure in the display; it being the first time in any Australian city that these two dragons have ever appeared before the public in one exhibition.' This was a peculiar statement as the new dragon was supposed to be specially imported from China for the Bendigo torchlight procession, so how could it have appeared elsewhere with or without old Loong? Had the new dragon appeared somewhere else before being shipped to Victoria? Certainly Bendigo's dragons had travelled extensively in Victoria and interstate in the past and had joined processions with other dragons. The public was assured that the appearance of the dragons would be the highlight of the 1939 fair, and Chinese residents of the state were eager to view the outstanding effort of the Bendigo district Chinese community.[7]

A pre-parade report headed 'Brilliance of Chinese Display Most Complete In History of Fair' was even more ecstatic—and the procession had not yet even taken place. The new dragon, Yar Loong, would not just appear in the torchlight parade, but at least three times during the Easter holidays. This 140 foot dragon was said to be made to the special order of the Bendigo Chinese by Kim Gook Low of Canton, a recognised manufacturer of classical works of Chinese art using gorgeous silks. It was to be illuminated by several dry cells only for the Tuesday torchlight procession. He was also going to break Bendigo tradition by appearing at their Sunday charity 'Awakening of the Dragon' exhibition. This rave review even included the following astounding statement: 'This year will be the first occasion in which two Chinese dragons have appeared in one exhibition in the Commonwealth.' It is amazing how quickly the two dragons in the Melbourne Chinese parade for Federation celebrations had been forgotten. Bendigo Chinese also stated they would be assisted by more than 100 Chinese from Melbourne, Echuca, Kerang, Swan Hill, Elmore, Bridgewater and Castlemaine, certainly enough to man two dragons.

The report continued, saying that the:

Chinese community in Bendigo has displayed the finest qualities of citizenship since Bendigo was founded, and their part in assisting charities, through the medium of the Easter carnival, stands in Australia as one of the greatest acts of co-operation on the part of a people who have adopted another country as their home. The acquisition of the new dragon is how they have shown their appreciation of the people of this State. It has been purchased by the subscriptions of members of the Bendigo Chinese Association, and this year there will be one of the largest attendances of visiting Chinese which has ever graced a Bendigo Easter Carnival.[8]

Presumably the journalist was a new Bendigo Advertiser staff member and had not read the pre-1910 reports by his own newspaper about the hundreds of Chinese who had assisted in previous Bendigo Easter parades. In April 1939 the Chinese community were apparently now to be given exceptional acceptance, which possibly had much to do with the suffering in China due to the invasion by the Japanese and little to do with the importation of just an extra dragon.

The Bendigo Easter Fair Association highlighted the Magnificent New Dragon and the Monster Illuminated Dragon in their advertisements.[9] Monday's paper suggested that a crowd of 4000 people attended the Awakening of the Dragon charity performance, but there was no actual report of Yar Loong being seen or performing outside to the crowd. He was reported as being housed at the showgrounds and would be seen for the first time in the parade on Easter Monday. His carriers were to be dressed in totally white uniforms except for their coloured sashes. The Bendigo Advertiser's reports are confusing in their different details. The paper appeared to be modifying its previously much grander statements by reporting that 'As this will be the first occasion that two big dragons have been paraded in one pageant in Bendigo, to-day's Oriental display will be the most artistic and picturesque ever exhibited.'[10]

After all the weeks of preparation and dramatic reports, the public turned out in their thousands to watch their beloved Bendigo Easter Parade with its Chinese pageant, reported as having no parallel in the whole of Australia. The Chinese section was described as starting with a long line of flags and banners, prominent among which was the national flag of unhappy China. The new dragon was suddenly reported as being even longer than the old dragon Loong, although Loong was still given pride of place by preceding Yar Loong. It is possible that the Chinese were caught short of carriers for both dragons. As Loong was constructed in sections totaling 190 feet, he could have been shortened down at the last minute while Yar Loong had one long continuous skin of 140 feet and could not be shortened. A photograph of Yar Loong was published again accompanied by the statement that Yar Loong was recently purchased by the Bendigo Chinese community.[11] It is interesting to listen to later interviews by Lee Kim and Harry Excell with their descriptions of how extra carriers were obtained during this period. To encourage local non-Chinese to support the Chinese section, carriers were paid by the Bendigo Easter Fair Society with some men recruited in the last hour from the local hotel.[12]

The newspaper report headed 'Bright Torchlight Procession Draws Crowd to The Fair' gives us no actual indication of how Yar Loong was lit. 'Preceded by an excellent display of Oriental lanterns, some of which were in the shape of fish, shrimps, crabs, etc., the new 140 foot dragon, Yar Loong, looked resplendent in its bright lighting scheme, the adornments on the head being particularly striking.'[13] I have found that Yar Loong never appeared again in Bendigo until he was partially conserved some fifty years later.

Where did he come from?

On reflection it is hard to understand how the Bendigo Chinese could afford to buy a new dragon from China in 1939. The Chinese had already acknowledged the drought assistance they had received from the Dunstan Government. They were known to have sent large donations to support the war against the Japanese invasion plus probably larger than usual demands from their families in China. There were no reports that they needed to replace 'Loong', or that they believed they had an increased young Chinese manpower to regularly enter a second dragon in the Easter processions.

I stumbled on an article in the Melbourne Herald of 30 October 1939 headed 'Vandals wreck Chinese Carnival Dragon'. The dragon was part of a Melbourne charity performance to be given on 11 November for China Night. The 250 globes, which had been imported for the show, were torn from the dragon. Although costumes were stolen and two replicas of Chinese temples were smashed the organisers were reported as planning to go on with the show. The pageant was presented by the Chung Hwa Kung Hwai (Chinese Citizens' Society) with assistance from 150 Chinese from Bendigo and other parts of the state. The show was estimated to cost £700 with half of the net proceeds to go to Chinese charities.[14]

A newspaper report in the following week stated that experts from Sydney had come to assist in the assembly of the huge pageant.[15] If repairs were made or if a substitute dragon was used for the 'China Night' charity performance it was not announced. The dragon was still advertised as the mighty 140 foot illuminated dragon specially imported from China, though there is a possibility that the illumination was not reinstated for the China Night performance.[16] The dragon and the replicas of ancient Chinese temples, pagodas, birds, animals, fish and fruit were finally described as being previously imported from China for Sydney's big 150-year celebrations.[17] Could I assume there were two 140 foot illuminated dragons recently imported into Australia? One bought in 1938 by Sydney Chinese and another bought in early 1939 by Bendigo Chinese. Could these two communities afford to import two illuminated dragons of identical length within a sixteen month period?

Thirty-two years earlier in 1906, on the occasion of President McKinley's visit to California, the Sacramento Chinese had imported an illuminated dragon for their Chinatown procession. In 1938 the Sacramento dragon was taken out of mothballs and loaned to Los Angeles Chinatown for a charity event in aid of the China War victims—an event which sounds very similar to the charity event held in Melbourne in 1939. The Sacramento illuminated dragon's body was described as being made of painted gauze, and small candles were also placed inside throughout its entire length as to illuminate its serpentine body. This kind of dragon was only used in night pageants and gave a lantern effect that looked unique and mysterious.[18]

So by late 1939 a night dragon had now appeared at least five times in Australia. He had appeared at least twice in Sydney in 1938 for the 150th celebrations, two to three times in Bendigo for Easter 1939 and once in Melbourne in November 1939. It is even possible that a night dragon travelled to Ballarat for their 1938 Centenary celebrations as the Ballarat Chinese were reported as needing to borrow a dragon.[19] So there is the possibility that the Bendigo Chinese might only have borrowed the dragon they called 'Yar Loong'. The Sydney Chinese might have loaned their 1938 dragon to Victorian Chinese as a way of saying thank you for their assistance in 1934 on the occasion of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucesters' visit to Sydney. In that year, Chinese from Ballarat, Bendigo and Melbourne had assisted Sydney Chinese with a large quantity of regalia including dragons, banners, carved wooded carts and performers.[20] Quite a few Bendigo and Ballarat Chinese and their families had moved to Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s, so this important 1934 royal occasion was probably a great opportunity for renewed commercial, lodge, social and family visits.

I suggest that when some Bendigo men went again to assist the Sydney Chinese in January 1938 they were very impressed with the newly imported illuminated dragon. An illuminated dragon had never appeared in Victoria. Here was a great opportunity to out do every other community group in Bendigo. Moreover there would be little expense actually involved as Melbourne was requesting the use of the dragon to raise money for China's war victims. The Bendigo men could share the transportation cost of the head and tail while carrying as much as possible with them back on the train.

George Lee Kim with Yar Loong, date and location unknown

[Courtesy Golden Dragon Museum, AP0026]

Fifty years of neglect

It appears that Yar Loong was stored in the corner of the Bendigo Chinese Association rooms some time in late 1939 or the early 1940s and forgotten. One wonders what happened to the rest of the collection of lanterns, pagodas and costumes that were especially imported for Sydney's 150th celebrations and brought to Melbourne in 1939. Certainly the vests found in the Bridge St box were not the original ones as these were described as being totally white uniforms which would have suitably reflected any interior lighting. The white uniforms could even have been the ones reported as being stolen in Melbourne.

Why did the Sydney 1938 special illuminated dragon end up in Bendigo as an unwanted or unused dragon? Possibly the lighting mechanisms were too heavy and cumbersome, too prone to faults or did not produce such spectacular effects in the narrow parade routes of the post-war period. It is also possible that the night dragon might have been imported jointly by New South Wales and Victorian Chinese Associations who then found that they were not able to use him due to the Second World War. In Bendigo he might not have been used again because the Chinese who regularly came to assist in the Easter Monday procession did not wish to be involved in any processions in the evening, whether they had an illuminated dragon or not. They were intent on partying, gambling, socialising and eating and drinking at night time. Newspaper reports show that the Chinese were only involved in the Bendigo Easter Torchlight procession ten times between 1892 and 1940, and only twice with a dragon.

Most of the Bendigo regalia had to be reassembled each year and then packed away until the following year as storage was limited. Preparations for the Bendigo Easter Procession were traditionally started weeks in advance as volunteers were always in short supply and repairs were best made each year prior to the procession as the objects were being unpacked and reassembled. It was not unknown to cannibalise parts of regalia to enable repairs to be made to other objects, so maybe Yar Loong had been kept after the Melbourne China Night show or purchased second hand for this purpose.

A new life for Yar Loong

In 1996 the Y's Men Club of Kangaroo Flat kindly promised funds for the conservation of Yar Loong's head and tail. Restoration work involved Raphael Beh, Loretta Harris, Keith Jack, Roger Jack, Lyn Lougoon, Betty Luke, Joyce Tamblyn and many other volunteers who over the years had helped to bring it all together. It was only a partial restoration, as no attempt was made to reinstate any illumination so we are not sure what the striking adornments on his head looked like when lit up. The Kangaroo Flat Y's men were so pleased with the restoration project that they also bought new costumes for the carriers. Yar Loong has only come out three times since his partial restoration. First on the occasion of the opening of the Chinese gardens in 1996 and then for the New Year celebration of 1997. Yar Loong featured again in the special New Year celebrations at the Golden Dragon Museum for the start of the Millennium, that being the Year of the Dragon.[21]

Since 1997 at least Yar Loong's grand head and tail have been on permanent exhibition in the Golden Dragon Museum. His presence and story reflects the ups and downs of the Chinese community and the many hidden stories that are still to be discovered.

Notes

[1] Personal communication with J Jack, member of Bendigo Chinese Association, 2005.

[2] Robert Jack interview (unknown date c.1980s), Lyle Lougoon and Francis Toy interview (6 November 1991), Bill and Nancy Parkinson interview (27 June 1991), Neil Roxburgh's personal notes c.1980s, Golden Dragon Museum research room.

[3] Cyril Michelsen interview (February 1991), Golden Dragon Museum research room.

[4] Norma Fawdry (nee Wee Hee) interview (17 December 1990), Ron Wee Hee interview (date unknown), Neil Roxburgh's personal notes c.1990, Golden Dragon Museum research room.

[5] Bendigo Advertiser, 13 April 1938.

[6] C. Holsworth, 'Caring, sharing and tailing a dragon: The travels of Bendigo Chinese regalia', unpublished paper 2005; Golden Dragon Museum Newspaper database 1840-2006.

[7] Bendigo Advertiser, 1 April 1939.

[8] Bendigo Advertiser, 6 April 1939.

[9] Bendigo Advertiser, 6, 8 and 10 April 1939.

[10] Bendigo Advertiser, 10 April 1939.

[11] Bendigo Advertiser, 11 April 1939.

[12] George Lee Kim interview (12 January 1991), Harry Excell interview (17 May 1981), Golden Dragon Museum research room.

[13] Bendigo Advertiser, 12 April 1939.

[14] Herald, 30 October 1939.

[15] Age, 6 November 1939.

[16] Age, 9 November 1939.

[17] Age, 11 and 13 November 1939.

[18] J. Zee-Mon Lee, Chinese Potpourri (publisher and date unknown).

[19] Herald, 18 March 1938.

[20] Norma Fawdry (nee Wee Hee) interview (17 December 1990), Ron Wee Hee interview (date unknown), George Lee Kim interview (12 January 1991), Neil Roxburgh's personal notes c.1990, Golden Dragon Museum research room. Bendigo Advertiser 29 November 1934.

[21] Bendigo Advertiser, 8 July 1996, 9 December 1996, 29 January 1997, 10 February 1997, 7 February 2000.

About the author

Carol Holsworth has been the volunteer researcher at the Golden Dragon Museum for the past ten years. She is a science graduate, has worked in Western Australia, and had part time work in Canada, Nigeria and Kenya while raising a family. She has a long family connection with the Far East. Her father was an alien resident silk merchant in Kobe, Japan from 1919-1987 except for his service in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) during the Second World War and occupation of Japan.

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