Chinese Market Gardening in Australia and New Zealand, 1860s - 1960s: A Study in Technology Transfer

Abstract

Chinese market gardeners were widely dispersed across rural areas of Australia and New Zealand by the late-nineteenth century and could be found in the most marginal areas for agriculture, from the rugged ranges of Central Otago to the deserts of Australia. Adapting practices they brought with them from China, particularly their skills in water management and intensive cultivation, and adopting developments in European technology, they successfully turned the challenges of life in such environments to their advantage. This thesis explores the history of Chinese market gardens and market gardeners in Australia and New Zealand from the 1860s to the 1960s. It interprets that history through the use and adaptation of some key theoretical and conceptual approaches in the social sciences: technology transfer and the diffusion of innovation, transnationalism and social capital. Applying these conceptual approaches, this study positions Chinese market gardeners and the agricultural practices they brought to new lands within the particular environmental, economic and social contexts they encountered and explores how the history of Chinese market gardening in Australia and New Zealand was shaped by such factors as political and legal institutions as well as organisational structures. It places this history within the context of longer term processes of social, economic, environmental and technological change. This study also interprets the history of Chinese market gardening as a process of ongoing interactions between different knowledge systems - indigenous, European and Chinese horticultural traditions. The study reveals remarkable continuity in traditional Chinese horticultural methods and how, at the same time, Chinese market gardening underwent technological change and adaptation in new environments.