1.2mln Australians have Chinese ancestry: NY Times

A report by the New York Times says that there are now about 1.2 million people in Australia with Chinese ancestry.

Chinese students studying abroad dressed in academic gowns pose for a graduation photo at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, on February 11, 2012. [Photo: IC]

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first Chinese migrants to Australia. Chinese-Australians are exploring their family archives to share their history.

Members of the Chinese Australian community have played a significant role in many parts of Australian life. Lin Lihua was the first Chinese Australian to be elected mayor of the city of Melbourne in 1999. Penny Wong, whose father was a member of the Hakka people, was the first Chinese Australian to be elected as a senator in 2002, before going on to become the country's finance minister. And Victor Chang, who was a world-leading heart surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplant surgery, was born to Australian-Chinese parents in Shanghai.