Over the past 30 years the Whau has been through a transformation. The population has grown and diversified, bringing new cultures to our community. Today ethnic Chinese from a variety of countries are a significant part of our population. This has given us new foods and new celebrations on our calendar, but how do we get to know each other? Story Club aims to achieve this through sharing and celebrating our diverse cultural stories.

The Chinese of the Whau are very keen to connect with the wider community and share their culture so four groups offered to collaborate with Story Club, including: the Eco Elders of Auckland Environmental Protection Association, the Colourful Arts Group, the Chinese Bonsai Society and the Chinese Association of West Auckland. A selection of stories will be printed as posters and installed in Todd Triangle, New Lynn, 6th-30th October.

As many of our story tellers have little or no English, Story Club worked with translators to capture insightful descriptions about their lives and their culture. This collection of stories and photographs is an opportunity to overcome the language barrier and learn more about this fascinating group of people.
“ Coming to be reunited with our families, we have been delighted to discover how beautiful this new country is and we treasure our time here. We want to be of value and contribute to our community.We hope sharing our stories brings us closer together.” SiYong Diao, Eco Elder

Story Club culminated in a 6 week exhibition on Todd Triangle in New Lynn launched with a community celebration on the 6th of October 2018.

Story Club was led by Ann Poulsen with the support of photographer Elliot Collins and Victor Wang. Story Club gratefully acknowledges the support of the Whau Local Board and The Trusts Community Foundation.