Wong Ah Sat

Last updated

Wong Ah Sat (黃實) (also known as Wong Sat) [1] was a Chinese Australian gold digger, farmer, and merchant.

Contents

Early life

Wong Ah Sat was born in Canton, China, in approximately 1837. He arrived in New South Wales, Australia in 1857. Little is known about his life and where he resided, until he married. Although, it appears he was trading in the Bathurst area since the 1860s (his account books show Chinese customers, and frequent provisions of credit, based in Bathurst). By 1864, he was on the Tuena goldfields (located between Bathurst and Goulburn, NSW). His marriage certificate to Amelia Hackney states: Usual town of residence: Tuena. Occupation: gold digger. He died in Bolong on 23 April 1916, and was buried in a Bolong private cemetery (his wife Amelia, and son Henry, were later buried with him).

Marriage to Amelia Hackney

Between 1857 and 1864 Ah Sat Wong met Amelia Hackney (the daughter of prosperous and well-educated family from Manchester, England, involved in the drapery trade). It was usual for European women to trade with Chinese retailers, social customs frowned upon anything more. Regardless, "family legend states that when the couple married in Goulburn on 19 March 1864, they did so with Amelia's brothers in hot pursuit of the couple." [2]

Shortly after they settled in the gold mining town of Tuena (approximately 70 kilometres south west of Bathurst), where they conducted butchery and general business selling Chinese and European goods to the locals. While in Tuena, Amelia gave birth to five of their children. In 1875, the Wongs moved south to the predominantly Irish and Scottish migrant settlement - Fullerton/Bolong (near Crookwell, New South Wales), where Amelia gave birth to another four of their children. Wong Sat was naturalised in 1879, allowing him to purchase approximately 4,000 acres, [3] the Wongs used the property to raise sheep and establish a general store to supply the local community of farmers and graziers.

Wong family store

The Wong family store supplied an extraordinary range of goods from Australia and overseas, from preserved fruit picked from the family's orchard to violin strings imported from Germany. When Ah Sat died in 1916, the Wong family closed and locked the store, with much of its contents within: original shop fittings, a variety of merchandise, account books and order notes. [4] In doing so, the Wong family created an unintentional time-capsule, giving an insight to better understand how Australian rural stores sustained their communities by providing access to merchandise from across the world and much needed credit in hard times. [4]

Wong family store, Bolong, NSW Wong Ah Sat store.jpg
Wong family store, Bolong, NSW

The contents and fittings of the Wong family store provide examples of aesthetic significance in the design, packaging and the manufacture of a late nineteenth century consumables and Chinese material culture. They also provide a tangible research tool for historians to explore the culture and politics of the Europeans and Chinese in Australia, [5] which has alluded to contradictions to the omnipresent anti-Chinese attitudes in late nineteenth century Australia that manifested themselves in the Lambing Flat riots and racists colonial legislation and the acceptance and assimilation of Chinese families in many regional communities. [5]

The Wong family store collection was presented to the Powerhouse Museum by Robert Wong in 2003.

Amelia Eve & Henry

Along with the many artifacts associated with the Wong store, a large number of photographs were also donated to the Powerhouse Museum. The photographs were taken by two of Ah Sat & Amelia's children: Ameilia Eve Hackney Wong and Henry Hackney Wong (both were enthusiastic amateur photographers). [6] The photographs they created include many portraits posing (well-dressed) in the rural landscape: mainly informal, outdoor portraits and rural scenes. [7] These photographs offer a rare glimpse into the Wong family's appearance, and personal effects.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bigga, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Bigga is a village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Lachlan Shire. It is in the Parish of Bigga, County of Georgiana. The name Bigga is thought to originate as a shortened version of the Biggs Grant. Bigga is on the western side of the Abercrombie Mountains. It is 91 km northwest of Goulburn and 52 km southeast of Cowra. Nearby towns are: Abercrombie River, Binda, Greenmantle, Grabine, Reids Flat, and Tuena. Nearby places are: Blanket Flat and Crooked Corner. These places were once towns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trunkey Creek, New South Wales</span>

Trunkey Creek is a rural village located in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia in Bathurst Regional Council. It is about 55 kilometres (34 mi) south of the city of Bathurst and about 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of the city of Goulburn on the Bathurst Goulburn Road. At the 2016 census, Trunkey Creek had a population of 120 people, almost unchanged from the figure of 122 people ten years earlier in the 2006 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales 421 class locomotive</span>

The 421 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Department of Railways New South Wales in 1965/66. These mainline locomotives were a follow on from the 42 class. The 421s retained the classic bulldog nose as with the other Clyde built GM and S locomotives at one end, but featured a flat-cab at the other end. In this respect, they are unique amongst bulldog nose locomotives in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Bathurst (New South Wales)</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Lake Bathurst is a shallow lake located 27 kilometres (17 mi) south-east of Goulburn, New South Wales in Australia. It is also the name of a nearby locality in the Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laggan, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Laggan is a small village on the traditional land of the Gundungurra people in the Southern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia in Upper Lachlan Shire. At the 2016 census, Laggan had a population of 358.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuena</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Tuena is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Lachlan Shire. It is located on Tuena Creek, tributary of the Abercrombie River, 269 km (167 mi) west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2016 census, Tuena and the surrounding area had a population of 59.

The Bathurst rebellion of 1830 was an outbreak of bushranging near Bathurst in the British penal colony of New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedda Morrison</span>

Hedwig Marie "Hedda" Morrison was a German photographer who created historically significant documentary images of Beijing, Hong Kong and Sarawak from the 1930s to the 1960s.

<i>Ping Pong</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Po-Chih Leong

Ping Pong is a 1986 British comedy mystery film directed by Po-Chih Leong. It stars David Yip, Lucy Sheen, and Robert Lee. The film was produced by Picture Palace Films for Film Four International. Sheen in her debut role plays Elaine Choi, a law clerk brought in to carry out the will of a prominent restaurateur. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

New South Wales experienced the first gold rush in Australia, a period generally accepted to lie between 1851 and 1880. This period in the history of New South Wales resulted in a rapid growth in the population and significant boost to the economy of the colony of New South Wales. The California Gold Rush three years prior signaled the impacts on society that gold fever would produce, both positive and negative. The New South Wales colonial government concealed the early discoveries, but various factors changed the policy.

John Shorter Pty Ltd, commonly known as Shorters, was an Australian manufacturers’ importing agency company, best known as the Australasian agent for the British ceramics firms Royal Doulton and Mintons. John Shorter Pty Ltd remained the Doulton agents in Australia until 1979, when Royal Doulton Australia was established. The family and business were, through two generations, major donors to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Ah Toy</span> Northern Territory businesswoman (1917-2001)

Lily Ah Toy was an Australian pioneer and businesswoman famous in the Northern Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John O'Meally</span> Australian bushranger

John O'Meally, known informally as 'Jack' O'Meally, was an Australia bushranger. He was recruited to join the Gardiner–Hall gang to carry out the gold escort robbery near Eugowra in June 1862, Australia's largest gold theft. O'Meally became a member of the group of bushrangers led by Johnny Gilbert and Ben Hall, which committed many robberies in the central west of New South Wales. Considered to be the most violent and hot-headed of the group, O'Meally was probably responsible for two murders during this time. The gang managed to evade the police for long periods and became the most notorious of the bushranging gangs of the 1860s. Jack O'Meally was shot and killed during an attack on the 'Goimbla' station homestead in November 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Lowry</span> Australian bushranger

Thomas Frederick Lowry, better known as Fred Lowry, was an Australian bushranger whose crimes included horse theft, mail-coach robbery, prison escape, and assault with a deadly weapon. Lowry briefly rode with the Gardiner–Hall gang, but soon afterwards formed his own gang with John Foley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Foley (bushranger)</span> Australian convict and bushranger

John Foley was a bushranger and associate of Fred Lowry. In July 1863 they robbed several mail coaches, including the Mudgee mail robbery which netted £5,700 in bank-notes. Foley was captured several weeks later with bank-notes from the Mudgee mail in his possession. He was tried at Bathurst and sentenced to fifteen-years hard labour. Foley was released in 1873; he settled in the Black Springs district near Oberon and led a respectable life until his death in 1891.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Cummins (bushranger)</span>

Lawrence Cummins, known informally as Larry Cummins, was a bushranger who operated primarily in the districts surrounding the Abercrombie River. In July 1863 he participated in the Mudgee mail robbery led by Fred Lowry and John Foley. Soon afterwards Cummins and his younger brother John carried out several robberies. They were identified and John Cummins was apprehended; he was accidentally shot and killed while being escorted by police constables. Three weeks later Cummins was captured with his associate Lowry, in an encounter with the police which resulted in Lowry’s death. Cummins was sent to Berrima Gaol in late 1863, from where he escaped in November 1866 with another prisoner. From December 1866 to April 1867 Cummins carried out a series of audacious robberies. In April, during an attempted robbery of Webb's store on the Fish River in company with John Foran, he received a wound in the face from birdshot. He was captured soon afterwards and sentenced to thirty years hard labour and sent back to Berrima Gaol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharpies Golf House Sign</span> Heritage-listed advertising sign in Sydney, Australia

The Sharpies Golf House Sign is a heritage-listed neon animated advertising sign in Sydney, Australia. It was built from 1958 to 1964 by Consolidated Neon, and sat atop a golfing business at 216 – 220 Elizabeth Street, Sydney from 1964 to 2007. It was subsequently taken down and donated to the Powerhouse Museum. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 November 2002.

Caloola is a locality in the Central West region of New South Wales. There once was a small village of the same name but it is a ghost town today. At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 88.


John Peisley, known informally as Jack Peisley, was an Australian bushranger who is believed to be the first bushranger born in Australia. He was a skilled bushman and horse-rider. While serving time at Cockatoo Island in the late 1850s for horse-stealing, Peisley became acquainted with Frank Gardiner. Peisley was granted a ticket-of-leave in December 1860 and soon afterwards commenced armed robberies in the Goulburn, Abercrombie, Cowra and Lambing Flat districts. He was highly mobile, riding well-bred horses and operating in districts familiar to him. Peisley’s criminal accomplices were often unnamed in newspaper reports, though Gardiner was a known associate. In December 1861 Peisley was involved in a drunken altercation, culminating in the shooting of William Benyon, who died from his wound. After his capture in January 1862 he was tried for Benyon’s murder and hanged at Bathurst in April 1862. Peisley achieved considerable notoriety within a short period and his activities and methods foreshadowed the spate of bushranging in the following years.

References

  1. "Wong Ah Sat – Biographical entry". Chinese–Australian Historical Images in Australia. La Trobe University. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  2. Museum, Powerhouse. "Mourning dress probably worn by Amelia Hackney". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  3. According to Wong Ah Sat's probate records, the acreage he owned stretched over two properties: Bolong and The Bar.
  4. 1 2 "What's in store?". Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 "NSW Migration Heritage Centre - 1870 Wong Shop Wagon". Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  6. "amelia eve wong | Search Results | Photo of the Day – Powerhouse Museum". www.powerhousemuseum.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  7. "Amelia Eve Wong, photographer - Photo of the Day – Powerhouse Museum". Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.