Australian state announces funding for Chinese community culture museum in Sydney

SYDNEY, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has approved 2.2 million Australian dollars (about 1.54 million U.S. dollars) in funding for a Chinese community culture museum in the country's biggest city, Sydney.

The funding under the government's Creative Capital Program will support transformation of the Haymarket library near Sydney's Chinatown into the Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA), the state's first museum dedicated to the Chinese community culture and history of the Chinese residents.

The museum is scheduled to open to the public in 2023.

"This investment will refurbish the Haymarket library into a modern museum, presenting traditional and digital exhibitions. It will allow Chinese Australians to tell stories from their past, present and future," NSW Minister for the Arts Ben Franklin told Xinhua on Monday.

The museum building will keep its historical exterior, but the interior will feature more digital accesses. It will display collections related to the history of Chinese people in Australia and provide community engagement programs.

"This museum will highlight our history and the contributions of the Chinese community and showcase how our multicultural society works uniquely, " said NSW Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure.