Beyond the Golden Pig: Using Marcy Norton’s ‘Modes of Interaction’ Framework to Explore How Broader Human–Animal Relationships Shaped the 19th‑Century Chinese Diaspora in Australia

Marc Cheeseman

Whether for food, raw materials, labour, or companionship, animals were crucial to non‑Indigenous settlers in 19th‑century Australia. Despite this, archaeological studies into human–animal relationships during this period remain rare, particularly for Chinese settlement contexts. In her 2024 book The Tame and the Wild, historian Marcy Norton introduced the concept of ‘modes of interaction’ as a way of characterising how different societies and cultural groups interact with non‑human animals. Norton uses this framework to explore the European colonisation of the Americas. Drawing from zooarchaeological and historical evidence from across 19th‑ and 20th‑century Australia, as well as relevant culinary and animal‑husbandry history, this paper presents preliminary work utilising Norton’s concept to explore how the ‘modes of interaction’ particular to southern Chinese migrants influenced—and were influenced by – the Australian context.