tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post4790397594783648929..comments2024-03-11T18:46:56.863+11:00Comments on New England's History: The Chinese in Australia - introducing Francis Darby SymeJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-54898771977192366112015-02-24T09:22:03.492+11:002015-02-24T09:22:03.492+11:00Thanks Jim, very kind of you :) Prof. Chin (Singap...Thanks Jim, very kind of you :) Prof. Chin (Singapore) whose book on China's imperial maritime history I am editing (and the reason why I have become interested in F.D Syme) reckons a great many rubber plantations in Malaysia are still owned by the Syme's...felt there was a link there. I read the link to the Court documents you provided...again, very interesting,<br /><br /><br /><br />many thanks again and best regards, MatthewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-92019203743250346722015-02-24T06:07:12.042+11:002015-02-24T06:07:12.042+11:00Hi Michael. I can't remember. Returned to Engl...Hi Michael. I can't remember. Returned to England, I think. But I will do a check at the weekend. Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-43665732148473213262015-02-23T08:52:11.808+11:002015-02-23T08:52:11.808+11:00Hello Jim, thank you for this...just wondering if ...Hello Jim, thank you for this...just wondering if you knew whatever became of the villainous F.D Syme from the Amoy coolie riots etc? Many thanks in anticipation:<br />matthew.piscioneri@monash.eduAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-28330384715141092852014-03-06T21:57:34.060+11:002014-03-06T21:57:34.060+11:00It must have been, Neil.It must have been, Neil.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-39650556683092063002014-03-04T20:31:17.066+11:002014-03-04T20:31:17.066+11:00Christison as far as the school is concerned, thou...Christison as far as the school is concerned, though plenty of Whitfields, my father included, went there. The school dates itself back to 1859 as that is when it became what we might now call a state school. I was there for the centenary in 1959 at age 16 with my grandfather Roy Christison who was then the oldest surviving headmaster. A great day!Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-92216462066637856372014-03-04T20:04:01.994+11:002014-03-04T20:04:01.994+11:00My thanks, Neil. I hadn't read Jupp's book...My thanks, Neil. I hadn't read Jupp's book. I will do so. How interesting, though. I had come across Towns, but had no knowledge of the Whitfield connection! Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3005668431384229268.post-29030368445324642832014-03-04T11:12:48.614+11:002014-03-04T11:12:48.614+11:00I am sure you have consulted James Jupp's monu...I am sure you have consulted James Jupp's monumental <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wgoFxfSTfYAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false" rel="nofollow">"The Australian People"</a>. Pages 97 ff have interesting information and stats on the Chinese in Australia.<br /><br />Another figure very significant in the coolie trade and also the Kanaka trade was <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/towns-robert-4741" rel="nofollow">Robert Towns</a>, brother-in-law of William Charles Wentworth and man of many ventures. He died at Cranbrook in 1873. There is a strong connection with my father's home town of Shellharbour also, and with Shellharbour School of which my maternal grandfather was Principal in the 1930s. "On land granted by D’Arcy Wentworth, the first school in Shellharbour was opened by Captain Robert Towns in c1843 for the children of settlers brought to Shellharbour by Caroline Chisholm. Towns engaged Michael Hassen to teach these tiniest immigrants in a <br />slab hut located on the south-east corner of Addison and Wentworth Streets. Hassen stayed <br />at the school until his death in 1858 at which time the control of the school was taken over <br />by a committee of local men on behalf of the Board of National Education..."Neilhttp://neilcommonplacebook.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com