By Juanita Kwok Three buildings which are highly significant to the history of Sydney’s Chinatown have been newly heritage listed on the City of Sydney Council’s Local Environment Plan: 1) Goon Yee Tong, Loong Yee Tong and Loon Fook Tong buildings, 50-54 Dixon Street, Haymarket 2) Former Municipal Stores, 90-100 Hay Street, Haymarket 3) Kuo Min Tang building, moveable heritage and archival collection, 75-77 Ultimo Road, Haymarket In late 2023, Hector Abrahams Architects (HAA) were engaged by the City of Sydney to investigate the history and potential significance of the three buildings in Haymarket. HAA worked in co-authorship with Our Chinese Past President, historian Dr Juanita Kwok, who was engaged to conduct research and provide contextual histories of the buildings and advise on their significance and management. Following the development of the historical research reports, HAA was engaged to undertake a heritage assessment of all three sites and recommended that all three sites be heritage listed. On 15 December 2025,...Read More
By Juanita Kwok, 22 March 2025 Artist and architectural historian Dr Graham Lupp is one of the fourth generation of Lupps in Bathurst. Graham Lupp Photo: Graham Lupp collection. Graham’s father was the well-loved Bathurst piano tuner Hector Lupp. Hector Lupp Photo: Graham Lupp Collection Hector’s father was Louis Lupp, who was employed by Webb & Co. and managed the Lower Keppel Street store from 1904. Louis was also the Bandmaster of the [Bathurst] City Model Band. Hector was in the band too. Louis Lupp, bandmaster. Part of photo of City Model Band. Photo: Graham Lupp Collection. Louis Lupp’s father was John Lup [sic], who married Hannah Sibraa in Crookwell in 1889. According to the marriage certificate, John Lup was 42, Annah was 34. John, Hannah and family moved to Bathurst, where John worked as a market gardener. There is some evidence he worked at “Bradwardine” which at the time was owned by Francis B. Suttor. This was before Robert...Read More
By Juanita Kwok 11 March 2025 Photograph of Wong Sat by Tesla Studios, Source: Powerhouse Museum website, accessed 4 March 2025, https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/159277 Alongside Quong Tart, Wong Sat (1837-1916) is one of the best known early Chinese Australians. His life story became known when the collection of shop stock from the Wong family store at Bolong and related family artefacts and documents were acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in 2003. A Wong Collection exhibition opened at the Powerhouse Museum in 2003 and remained on public display for some years. Thomas Wong (grandson), his daughter Dawn Wong and nephew Robert Wong (great grandchildren) at the Powerhouse exhibition opening of the Wong Collection in 2003. Source: Powerhouse Museum. Although much is known about Wong Sat’s later years, according to Wong Sat’s great-granddaughter Dawn Wong, “the seven years between 1857 and 1864 are a mystery”. Wong Sat was a storekeeper in Tuena in 1864 at the time when Chinese miners who had been driven...Read More
By Juanita Kwok, 11 March 2025 Following on from my post on the Lambing Flat riots and the Chinese petitions, I am writing some posts about Chinese people who may have been at Lambing Flat at the time of the riots. One of these is Jenny Wright’s great-great-grandfather, Ah Chin. Jenny has been researching her great-great-grandparents Ah Chin and Sarah (nee Peaisley/Gale) for the last fourteen years. There is no gravestone to identify Ah Chin’s Chinese name and his village of birth, and Ah Chin is a name that appears quite commonly in newspaper archives. Jenny Wright with a copy of her great-great grandparent’s marriage certificate. Courtesy of Jenny Wright. While Jenny has not uncovered any hard evidence of Ah Chin’s entry point into the colonies, she believes that he arrived in Sydney and may have travelled to Lambing Flat. Some of those who were driven from Back Creek on 30 June 1861 found refuge on the Turon Goldfield. James...Read More
The Lambing Flat riots were a series of riots between 1860 and 1861, in which European miners violently drove Chinese miners and storekeepers from the Burrangong gold field. Lambing Flat, renamed Young in May 1861, was a part of this field, as was Sawpit Gully and Back Creek. The Chinese miners campaigned the New South Wales government for compensation for losses sustained in the riots. Two petitions — one addressed to the Governor and another to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly — have survived in two files in the Museums of History New South Wales State Archive Collection. The Lambing Flat petitions provide an account of the Lambing Flat riots from the perspective of the Chinese people who were driven from the fields and a list of some of their names, written in English and in Chinese. Museums of History New South Wales — State Archive Collection have kindly granted permission for petitions from the correspondence to be reproduced...Read More
