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 Gordon Edgell bought Bradwardine.
Hannah Sibraa’s first-born son was Samuel Sibraa, born in Tuena, 2 April 1869. Samuel’s father is unnamed on the birth certificate. Samuel also became a market gardener in Bathurst, where he died in 1919. Although Samuel Lupp was Australian-born, his gravestone is inscribed in both Chinese and English. It shows Samuel’s Chinese surname was Wong (Lupp is not a Chinese surname) and his ancestral village was Tai Hou Chung in Heung Yap (now known as Zhongshan). Samuel married Parkes-born Elsie Wah Sing and they had two daughters, one of whom was Mabel.
Samuel Lupp gravestone and translation from Chinese to English. The Chinese in Bathurst: Recovering Forgotten Histories, PhD thesis, Charles Sturt University, 2019. Translation by Ely Finch.
According to the information given on the marriage certificate of John Lup and Hannah Sibraa, John Lup’s father was storekeeper Wong E. ( or Wong Ee, depending on how you read the cursive writing). Graham Lupp does not know if and when Wong E. came to New South Wales.
Marriage certificate of John Lup and Annah Sibraa. Courtesy of Graham Lupp.
In April 1864, Chinese men assembled in Tuena from across New South Wales to sign a petition stating that they had been on the field at Back Creek on 30 June 1861 and had been driven from the field during the Lambing Flat riots of 30 June 1861 and lost all they owned. They were awarded compensation for their losses, which they were to be paid at Young. They had returned to Young, but owing to the distances travelled on foot, they arrived too late to receive payment. There are eleven signatories to the petition with the surname Wong. Amongst them is a Wong E. Yow and a Wong E. Ching. Was one of these John Lupp’s father Wong E?
Excerpt from Lambing Flat riots petition, 1864, Museums of History New South Wales – State Archives Collection: Department of Lands; NRS 7933, Letters received [Department of Lands and Public Works/Department of Lands I]. NRS-7933-1-[5/3673]-64/2663 | Lambing Flat riots petition, 1864.
A story has been passed down in the Lupp family:
“there was a lot of trouble between the Chinese and the whites out at Tuena on the goldfields and John Lupp was very instrumental in keeping the peace between the two because he was so well respected.”[1]
Might John Lupp’s father, storekeeper Wong E/Wong Ee have been at Lambing Flat on 30 June 1861 and have signed the petition in Tuena in 1864? There is no conclusive evidence, but I think the circumstantial evidence that I have presented here suggests he may have been.
This article is based on research undertaken for my PhD thesis. Follow this link to the thesis
The Chinese in Bathurst: Recovering Forgotten Histories – Charles Sturt University Research Output
To read more about the Lambing Flat riots petitions, follow this link. Lambing Flat Riots and Chinese Petitions – Our Chinese Past
With many thanks to Graham Lupp for sharing his family pictures and information.
[1] Author’s interview with Graham Lupp, 5 August 2008.