Lion Tales is a CADCAI art project generously funded by the Flying Arts Regional Alliance to repair, restore and give new life to a set six old Chinese lions which had been used for community performances over many years.

To celebrate Chinese New year 2022, an exhibition of the newly restored and artist-treated Chinese lion masks, plus selected items from CADCAI’s Cairns Lit Sung Goong Temple collection will be installed at the Cairns Court House Gallery in Abbott Street.

The lions were acquired when a performing arts group from our sister city of Zhanjiang was invited to participate in the Cairns Festival Parade in 2005. From that visit, CADCAI acquired a set of eight Chinese lions and one dragon. The new lions enabled CADCAI to expand and develop the performance skills of its own lion team which has performed regularly at festivals and community events since that time. 

The exhibition  opens from Saturday 21 January  – 12 February 2022.  Admission is free so please get along to see it when you get a chance.

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Old lions with a new purpose 

Designed for competition, the Zhanjiang lions were compact and lightweight, and strengthened by using light sequin fabric over a thin layer of paper mâché instead of thick layers of paper over the bamboo frames of the traditional larger lions. The fabric provided strength and structure to the lion head and instead of thick sheep fur, they were accessorised with lighter, feather fur strips.

When a lion is acquired, it undergoes an eye-dotting awakening ceremony to “give it life”. During the restoration process, every effort was made to retain some of the original features including the eyes so we can see the fabric of our community and its celebrations through the eyes of the lions. Other features of the lions which were retained included the use of sequin fabric on the jaws and eyelids which were distinctive characteristics of this particular set of lions.

Since most of the lions were badly damaged, many of the bamboo strips in the frame were replaced and all the fur and trims were stripped so the structure of the lion could be strengthened and, in many cases, reinforced with cross-stitch netting to maintain its shape before layers of paper mâché could be applied. Once the head and ears were reconstructed, the lions were assigned to each of the three artists for illustration.

Upon completion of the artwork, coloured furs and lion accessories like beards and nose pom poms acquired from Zhanjiang, were used to complement the theme and colour schemes of each lion. Special trims were sewn onto coloured fur trims to bring out the special features around the nose, cheeks and horns. Red fur was used for the Chinese New Year lion to represent good luck, orange fur for the Chinese Zodiac lion to represent gold and prosperity for the lunar new year, yellow fur was chosen to represent the full moon of the mid-autumn festival, green fur represented the green leaves of the zongzi associated with the dragon boat festival while blue fur was used to represent the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and finally black fur was used to pay respect to the land and its animals, the black cockatoos, cassowary and tree kangaroo.

Each lion was custom-fitted with a collar with 5 coins representing the collaboration of Cairns & District Chinese Association Inc with the funding bodies and sister cities to complete the restoration.

by Lai Chi Chan

In 2020 CADCAI was grateful to receive a generous grant from the Copeland Foundation to restore our oldest surviving lion mask.

The mask is part of the nationally significant Cairns Lit Sung Goong Collection and is the oldest surviving performance lion used by the community before and after the temple closed it doors in 1966.

The mask (T146) is a bespoke object which was likely made in Hong Kong in the 1950s or early 1960s. The back of head is clearly marked with Chinese inscriptions which read as “Cairns”, “Chinese”, and “active lion brings good fortune”.

Typically constructed with a bamboo frame covered with papier-mache, it is representative of traditional mask-making techniques and material used in the mid-twentieth century. The head is painted with symbolic designs in festive colours of red, orange, yellow, green and black and white. Moveable parts: the lower jaw, lip, eyeballs and ears of the lion are attached with wire. A single horn on top of the head depicts an eagle or phoenix in flight, with coiled springs attached to the two wings to allow movement. This more elaborate feature differs from the fluffy contemporary lion we see today.

This mask is of great historical, social and cultural significance . Along with CADCAI’s collection of historical and contemporary lions, dragons, drums, cymbals and gongs it is integral to Cairns’ Chinese cultural traditions of festivals and performance.

Cairns based conservator Melanie Sorenson, Sorenson Art Conservation, has been tasked with the preservation treatment of this important project.

Happy new year! Xinnian Kuaile!

It’s time to bid farewell to the Rat and welcome the Chinese New Year of the Metal Ox, or Spring Festival as it known in China

Due to Covid-19, the Cairns Chinese New year Festival will be a bit different this year. The much loved street festival held which was held in Grafton Street (historic site of Cairns’ former Chinatown) will not go ahead this year.  However, other popular festival events will still be held, albeit scaled back to comply with current Queensland Health Covid-safety regulations.

These include :

• The New Year’s Day Fireworks – Cairns Esplanade Eastern Event (near the helipad)
• Chinese cultural performances and displays at the Pier Cairns Shopping Centre Market Place
• Exhibition at Cairns Museum: Lions and Dragons – The Sights and Sounds of Chinese New Year  
• Lantern Festival workshop and celebrations
• Chinese New Year Gala Dinner  
• Year of the Ox Yum Cha Lunch

Click on link below for more details

2021 FESTIVAL EVENTS

The CADCAI newsletter has a new name and a new look.

In this newest editon of the Dragon Herald you will find a message from President Mel Kingsley; read about the gift of medical equipment from the Cairns Chinese community, the celebration of Dragon Boat Festival – food and traditions, and the story of Tully’s last Chinese market gardener, Willie Poy (1875-1955)

Click on the link to open newsletter.

CADCAI is a proud supporter of the Hap Wah Project which recently erected a memorial headstone on the previously unmarked grave of Andrew Leon and Mary Leon at Cairns Cemetery. The unofficial unveiling of the headstone on 27 June 2020 celebrated the 100th anniversary of Andrew’s passing.  CADCAI acknowledges and thanks Julia Volkmar OAM for her valuable work and generous contribution to this research project. 

Andrew Leon was an important Cairns pioneer and community leader in the late 19th century. It is not known when Andrew first came to Queensland but he was in Bowen in 1866, baptised in 1868 and married an Irish woman Mary Piggott in St Mary’s Catholic Church in 1869.  The family followed the gold trail to Ravenswood, Millchester, and then Cooktown where he managed various Chinese enterprises including Sun Yee Lee & Co in 1875.

When Cairns opened as a port in 1876, Leon was one of the first Chinese to arrive.  Having taken the oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria to become a British subject in the Colony, Leon was able to purchase property and make significant agricultural acquisitions for the Hap Wah Co. He established and managed the 1,250 acre Hap Wah Plantation and Pioneer Mill between 1878 and 1882  – the first sugar plantation and mill in the Cairns District. The plantation also grew the first cotton ​export​ from the area ​in 1882​, the same year as their first sugar export. The other significant purchase by Leon in 1886 was an allotment in Cairns Chinatown which the Chungshan Lit Sung Goong temple was built and opened in 1887. 

 Leon was a Trustee for the temple. Having served the community as court interpreter from the 1870s through his elder years and assisting his countryman by interpreting on other matters, Leon was among the most highly respected men in both the European and Chinese communities of Cairns during the 1880 and 1890s.

This collaborative community exhibition features family photographs, objects and stories from Chinese Australians growing up in Cairns from World War to the 1960s.  If you didnt get to see it during Chinese New Year,  good news is that it is on display at Cairns Museum until 26 March 2020. Photograph features Phoebe Mow and Maud Way, Cairns circa 1955.

A highlight of this year’s 2020 Year of the Rat Festival was Connecting Ancient Cultures, a collaborative orignal dance performance by CADCAI’s senior lion troupe and our local Minjal Indigenous Dancers. The performance celebrated the unique links forged between Indigenous Australians and Chinese in Northern Australia long before the arrival of thousands of Chinese migrants during the Gold rushes of the 1800s. Funded by  Cairns Regional Council and RADF, this project will inspire new and innovative stories of shared experience and history

Gongxi facai! Happy Year of the Rat 2020!  Celebrations in Cairns kicked off with a bang with dragon and lion dancing and fireworks at the Lagoon on the eve of the New Lunar Year on 24 February.  This week, our Pioneers of Cairns Exhibition will be  on display at Cairns Central Centre Court until 3 February.  Check out the Chinese artefacts  dug up during the Rusty’s Market redevelopment, Colin Walter’s minature model of Cairns’ Chinatown (1890s) or pick up a CNY 2020 Festival program.