But first, the museum must expand.

Golden Dragon Museum general manager Anita Jack said it was already bursting at the seams and had been for some time.

“Whilst it’s all stored correctly and beautifully away in our archive system, we are at maximum capacity,” she said.

“We have a donor who has a collection and is quite keen to bring it here, but we’re just simply too full.”

Amongst the collection is the large piece of jade, which is currently housed in Adelaide.

“It could be here if we had the space,” Mr Jack said.

“If we had the next stage built we would have one of the best collections you have seen anywhere.”

The Golden Dragon Museum announced plans for an expansion costing more than $20 million at its 20th birthday celebrations last year. But Mr Jack said local, state and federal governments had been hesitant to commit funding to the project.

“We have a golden opportunity to get the lot but we’re too stupid to build the next stage,” he said.

“Eight years ago the Bendigo Chinese Association said for this next stage, we will promise one million dollars, which was $500,000 in cash, $500,000 in administration.

“We already had it then. Who is dragging their feet? Not us.”

The proposed expansion will include the construction of three levels of new space for the museum and touring exhibitions, plus a restaurant, gift shop, function space and internal courtyard gardens.

The outside shell of the building will symbolise the Chinese wheel of life, wrapping itself around the existing museum, creating the Sun Loong Gallery as the centrepiece.

Mr Jack said that once completed, the museum would become the property of the Bendigo community.

“It’s our contribution to society – we’re going to give it to the people,” he said.

Funding applications are still ongoing.