Diversity

Abstract

Examining the intersection of social class and ethnicity, in this chapter, I discuss the growing presence of wealthy Chinese residents and investors in Toorak and Mosman in recent years, and how it challenges their identification by many long-standing Anglo-Australian residents as ‘European villages’. The analysis highlights feelings of resentment and angst that are increasingly expressed through local urban planning conflicts related to density and heritage in residential development. But I also explore some of the practices and discourses through which residents seek to build new shared identities that overcome ethnic and other differences within the elite.