Reading Kate's blog, I decided to list some of her posts that were most relevant to my own research and writing.
"Barton could be so dismissive of his responsibility because, at that moment in time, domiciled Chinese men were able to bring in their wives and minor children under section 3 paragraph m of the Immigration Restriction Act. This provision was suspended by proclamation after only 15 months, and repealed in 1905, but during the time it was in force 88 Chinese family members, mainly wives, were allowed to enter Australia permanently. One of these was the wife of Kok Say, managing partner of the Hong Yuen & Co. store in Inverell. In mid 1902, Kok Say wrote to the government requesting a permit for his wife’s entry and stating his credentials – he had been naturalised in 1884 after arriving in the colony of New South Wales nine years earlier. In his words, ‘I have made my home here & have no intention of returning at any time to China’. His request was granted without issue and Mrs Kok Say arrived at Sydney from Hong Kong in November 1902".Hong Yuen is a very well know name. The link above will take you to the Australian Archives papers dealing with the application for Mrs Kok Say's entry. The image is drawn from Kate's paper.
12 December 2017 Communication and collaboration in the digital age. This paper presented at the Related Histories: Studying the Family conference, held at the National Library of Australia on 29 November 2017 provides a nice picture of some of Kate's work. My attention was caught by the involvement of Sydney merchant Quong Tart in cycling; I have been writing about cycling in my current Armidale Express history columns. The paper also refers to the work of Janis Wilton in Golden Threads. I hadn't realised that the website was no longer on line.
13 August 2017, New guide to researching Immigration Restriction Act records
1 March 2017, Can a Chinaman get naturalised?’
22 February 2017, Finding your Chinese roots. Includes a lot useful background material.
26 October 2016, Emma Tear Tack nee Lee Young. In this guest post, New England local historian Gill Oxley shares the interesting lives of Emma Tear Tack, nee Lee Young, and her reverend husband Joseph including their missionary work at Tingha and surrounding areas. It includes a link through to a 2010 paper by Ian Welch, The Methodist Chinese Mission in Australia, which provides background information on the work of the Mission. It includes some details (pp99-20) on Joseph's work that I have taken the liberty to quote in full:
"New England, northern New South Wales.
The work in Victoria gave rise to missions in other parts of Australia. The Rev Joseph Lee Tear Tack had accepted the post of Superintendent of the Chinese Mission in New South Wales and had established himself at Tingha, in the Glen Innes circuit to which Edward Youngman had been appointed as minister. Youngman took little interest in the work and his attitude was accepted by the other ministers in the area.75
The pattern was similar to that of Victoria with an early curiosity tapering off into disinterest. While four hundred had attended in the early stages, it was not long before it dropped to about twenty or so regular adherents. A church building was opened at Tingha in 1887 but the congregation continued to fall with less than ten men attending each Sunday and eventually attendance at worship was down to an average of three. The major reason was the constant movement of men in search of new tin workings. The movement of Chinese to the New England district was stimulated by the finding of alluvial tin, for which the gold-sluicing techniques worked just as well.
His main means of outreach was to conduct English language classes at Tingha on four evenings a week. These were well attended with about thirty men coming each night and through the contacts made in the classes, he succeeded in convincing thirteen men over the years to accept baptism.76
His greatest success came after he managed to borrow a horse from a Chinese merchant and could move more freely. He started preaching at the main Chinese centre at Emmaville where his congregation attracted about a hundred men every Sunday. He travelled regularly to Tenterfield, Inverell and Glen Innes. He was still tied physically to the property at Tingha but spent two full months at Emmaville and returned every month. He supplemented his own income through his English classes.77
In 1895, the Society decided to close the New England mission, and asked Tear Tack to open a new church in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, where a considerable Chinese population had developed.
75 Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Reports 1889:xvi and 1891:xix.14 September 2016, The curious case of Ernest Sung Yee. Fascinating post
76 Wesleyan Missionary Notices, London 1888:10
77 Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Reports 1893:xxi; 1894:xxi; 1895:xxviii"
16 June 2016, In memoriam. Hunter Valley Story.
15 January 2016, Building a DIY Trove list exhibition. A really valuable post focused on the Chinese in NSW.
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