Many people may have heard of Mei Quong Tart, a 19th century Chinese-Australian merchant, philanthropist and cultural ambassador.

But few may know that the prominent figure also provided space at his elegant teahouse in the heart of Sydney for women to gather in public and contribute to the development of the community, something not commonly seen at that time of the Victorian era.

Such instances of the country's history can be invaluable in understanding the role of Chinese Australians, academic Mei-fen Kuo said.

"It's important to think about what's important to be Chinese in Australia," she said.

Kuo, a lecturer in international studies at Macquarie University whose research includes Chinese diaspora history, was speaking at the launch on June 5 of the book Sinophone Australia, of which she was one of the contributors.

The book, launched at the Museum of Chinese in Australia, Sydney, includes a collection of primary sources — letters, essays, travelogues — written in Chinese and translated into English, spanning the country's gold rush era of the 1850s to the postwar reflections of the 1950s. Each chapter has an introduction written by a historian who studied the sources.