For Chinese restaurant families in Australian country towns, the lunar new year often means creating their own traditions far from the grand celebrations of big cities. Ruby Lee recalls that in the 1960s and 70s, her parents ran the Pagoda Cafe in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, working 14-hour days and opening every day except for lunar new year. That day, the family would celebrate at a local Pizza Hut because there were no good Chinese restaurants nearby.
Further north, Gary and Aneliesa Bong operated the Oriental Palace in Hervey Bay and worked through 23 lunar new years. They offered a banquet menu featuring pineapple fried rice topped with pork floss, served in a pineapple. To give their children a taste of tradition, Gary once hired a lion dance troupe to drive 3.5 hours from Brisbane, though they had to skip the firecrackers.
In New South Wales, Kam and Francis Chen ran the Rathmines Chinese Restaurant for 30 years. Kam decorated pot plants with red envelopes containing cash and sewed red scallop-patterned fabric to hang from the ceiling. When customers protested at its removal, she explained it would lose meaning if kept up all year. The family usually celebrated by enjoying extra dishes after work, such as white-cut chicken and braised pork belly.
In 2015, for the restaurant’s 10th anniversary, Kam threw a lunar new year party at the local community hall, attracting about 200 people. She hired a lion dance troupe from Newcastle but had to compromise on food, ordering roast beef, roast pork, and salads from a nearby butcher. After retiring in 2024, Kam and Francis spent last lunar new year in Malaysia with extended family for the first time in 30 years.
At Toy’s Garden Restaurant in Horsham, Victoria, owners Leon and May Har Toy kept an altar for deities and ancestors. Since the family ate most meals at the restaurant, they moved the altar there for convenience. One year, incense sticks were held in an Almond Roca tin filled with sand. The Toys retired in 2022, and the altar returned home.
