Hou Wang Temple, Atherton阿瑟顿侯王庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Australia · Queensland · Atherton · Herberton Road, Atherton, Tablelands Region

Coordinates

-17.2788, 145.4718 Map ↗

First built

1903 · Managed by the Queensland National Trust; entered on the Queensland Heritage Register on October 21, 1992 (No. 600010); operated as a museum following restoration completed in 2002

Heritage status

Queensland Heritage Register #600010(1992)

Overview

The Hou Wang Temple, Atherton, was built in 1903, dedicated primarily to Hou Wang, and constructed of local cedar, black bean timber, and corrugated iron; it is one of the oldest surviving original Chinese temples in Australia. What makes it most distinctive is its principal deity: there are only two or three temples worldwide outside China dedicated to Hou Wang, and this is one of them, part of the same rare cult's overseas distribution alongside the Hau Wong Temple in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. At the height of Atherton's Chinatown in the early twentieth century, the temple served more than a thousand Chinese residents, most engaged in maize farming and other agriculture; after the First World War Chinese agricultural leases were revoked, the community dispersed, and the temple fell into decline. Restoration was completed in 2002, and it is now operated as a museum by the Queensland National Trust, with an attached gallery and interpretive center, open six days a week. It was entered on the Queensland Heritage Register on October 21, 1992 (No. 600010). It is a folk-religious site of the Chinese agricultural immigrant community.

Highlights

• One of only two or three surviving Hou Wang temples outside China
• Built of cedar and black bean timber
• A surviving landmark of Atherton's Chinatown
• Queensland Heritage Register (1992)