The Dragon Festival Ball, first held at the glamorous Trocadero Palais de Danse in 1938, remains one of the best-remembered historical events associated with Sydney’s Chinese community. Effectively a tradition-within-a-tradition, the ball’s debutante ritual, which began in 1941, has contributed greatly to the public memory of the ball, with striking images of the debutantes sustaining the Dragon Ball’s inclusion in smartphone walking tours, exhibitions and more. To date, however, neither the women who made their debut at the Dragon Ball, nor the hopes and dreams which compelled them to take part, have been accorded scholarly attention matching their prominence in historical representations of Sydney’s Chinese community. In this article, I focus on the memories of selected former debutantes and argue that recognising the complex meanings which these women attached to their debuts as young Chinese ‘girls’ living in White Australia is vital to understanding the Dragon Ball’s multi-layered historical significances.

端午节舞会于 1938 年首次在迷人的 Trocadero Palais de Danse 举行，至今仍是与悉尼华人社区相关的记忆最深刻的历史事件之一。始于 1941 年的舞会首次亮相仪式实际上是一种传统中的传统，为公众对舞会的记忆做出了巨大贡献，首次亮相的醒目形象使龙珠被纳入智能手机徒步旅行、展览等. 然而，迄今为止，无论是在七龙珠上首次亮相的女性，还是迫使她们参加的希望和梦想，都没有得到与她们在悉尼华人社区历史代表中的突出地位相匹配的学术关注。在本文中，