Researching Chinese in Victoria has been difficult because many communities have in the past accepted the political proposition that after 1901 the Chinese all went back to China and took their bones with them. So, little has been written on the Chinese residents of Victoria until the last twenty years when multicultural grants and changing political opportunities have made it almost mandatory to at least mention a past Chinese presence in most Victorian rural communities.
My research has shown that herbalists were the most successful Chinese immigrants in Victoria. They had very successful businesses that brought them into contact with many Caucasians and they often married Caucasian women. Chinese herbalists advertised in the local newspapers purely to attract Caucasian clients. They spoke reasonable English, did business with the local shopkeepers, were involved in local charity work and knew and understood the local social conditions.
Stawell like most Victorian towns appears to have had a continuous Chinese herbalist presence since the gold rush period and up until at least the 1940’s. Research shows that most Chinese herbalists also had a regular weekly or monthly circuit visiting their Caucasian customers in the surrounding countryside. They would advertise in the rural newspapers that they would be in rooms at a certain Hotel giving their forthcoming dates and hours for seeing patients. Their advertisements specified that they were ‘Chinese’ herbalists and listed their numerous testimonials from local well-satisfied Caucasian patients. These testimonials were certified by J.P’s. Even though a town had their own resident Chinese herbalist this did not stop other herbalists paying visits. Just like doctors, each attracted their own patients because of their specialties and reputations. Most Chinese herbalists would also fulfill written requests for medication and also posted back repeat remedies. It is also possible that these herbalists contacted Chinese on their circuits and because of their good English and Caucasian contacts helped arrange leases for stores, houses and land suitable for gardens. Some collected rents, carried letters and supplied contract labourers similar to services offered by some Chinese storekeepers.
Charles Lum arrived in Victoria in 1874 at the age of 19. Documentary evidence of where he was in Victoria until he was first registered in 1916 as a Chinese resident in Stawell is not known. It is likely that as old newspapers across the Western District are indexed we will find further advertisements for his Herbalist business. It is also possible that he was initially apprenticed to a general storekeeper to learn the English language and local social skills before he moved into his specialised herbalist trade. His second marriage was to Martha Elizabeth Burrows in Stawell in December 1916 by License. The marriage conducted by the Congregational minister took place at Lum’s residence on Napier Street. Mrs Burrows, the bride’s mother was present at her daughter’s marriage as well as at the births of her two grandsons, so she must have approved of her daughter’s marriage to a ‘Chinaman’.
Mr C.Lum’s advertised in the Stawell newspaper as a Chinese Herbalist in February 1919. It is interesting that these advertisements state that his Consultation Fee was one shilling to be donated into the Hospital Box. Legally Chinese Herbalists were not allowed to charge for Consultations as they were not registered Doctors but could collect fees for the herbal remedies they supplied. Lum’s marriage certificate states that his father was also medical man from whom he probably learnt his trade. Lum saw patients at his home at ‘Eyre Court’ Scallan Street, Stawell. By July and August 1922 he identifies himself as Dr C.Lum ‘Late Doctor in Chinese Army’ although he still could not be registered in Victoria as a medical doctor. How or when he served in the Chinese army is not known as he arrived at the age of nineteen. The fact that the local doctors and the hospital tolerated this use of this professional term means that he was well respected in the community just like James Lamsey, herbalist in Bendigo later referred to himself illegally as Dr. James Lamsey. The Ararat Advertiser of August 8, 1922 carried his advertisement announcing that he could be contacted at the Turf Hotel, Ararat from 9 to 6pm on the 24th and 25th of August, so Ararat was on Charles Lum’s herbalist circuit.
The National Archives of Australia has documents relating to some correspondence Charles Lum had with the Collector of Customs relating to immigration restrictions in the period 1903 – 1924. Our Charles Lum might be the Charles Lum Sing who was issued with an Alien registration certificate #4779 on 3rd June 1919 at Thursday Island on his trip to China. Thursday Island was either the first or last port of call for Australian Immigration and Customs officials to board all ships entering or departing the East Coast of Australia, as all ships had to pick up a local pilot there to travel through the Barrier Reef. There is no evidence of Mrs Lum or either of their children going to China or applying for a CDET (Exemption from Dictation Test on re- entry into Australia). It would have been very unwise for Martha Lum to have visited China with her children as the clan or family elders could have claimed the children as Chinese citizens and refused to allow them to return to Australia.
The obituary for Mr C. Lum of June 1923 reads: ‘A great amount of regret was expressed at the passing of Mr C. Lum, the well known Chinese Herbalist, of “Eyrecourt”, Scallan street, Stawell, the sad event occurring on Thursday morning. Deceased had worked up a big business throughout the Wimmera district, and was much liked by clients generally. He had not enjoyed good health for some time, and serious complications arose some three weeks ago. He was a public spirited man, and always displayed a readiness to assist any worthy object when the opportunity arose. He was always ready to assist the Stawell Hospital, and made large contributions annually to its fund and same generous spirit was manifested in regard to other institutions. Born at Canton, China, he came to Australia some 49 years ago, and did a great amount of travelling about before he eventually settled in Stawell. He was 66 years of age at the time of his demise. On many occasions he gave exhibitions of legerdermain at public gatherings, and greatly interested audiences with his cleverness. His genial manner and public spiritedness earned for him great popularity, and sympathy is felt for the widow and two young children in their bereavement. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon, and was largely attended.’
His remains were encased in a polished oak casket with silver mountings. Rev G. S. Lloyd read the burial service. The coffin bearers were Messrs H. Pickering, J. Anyon, R. Peacock, W. Clarke, R. Bushick and F. Kingston. Mr F. Crouch carried out the mortuary arrangements.
This is a wonderful obituary that any medical man’s family would have been grateful to receive. The most astounding part is the lack of any Chinese as pallbearers. Were the coffin bearers all friends of his wife’s family? Could they be local business-men, Councillors, or members of the Stawell Hospital Board? Now I am not sure if most of you know the meaning of ‘legerdermain’. The Macquarie Dictionary’s definition is: sleight of hand; trickery, deception; any artful trick. Reports in the local newspapers often give engaging reports of charity concerts with detailed reviews. There might be some charming hidden details of Charles the magician, or Charles the entertainer.
By February 1924, Mrs Lum is reported in the local newspaper as having disposed of her property which presumably means ‘Eyre Court’ and she was leaving Stawell, probably for Geelong or Melbourne. In 1924 Mrs M.E. Lum applied for naturalisation. Many would comment that Martha Lem nee Burrows had been born in Stawell of British parents and surely she was British. On marrying, Martha like all women of that period, became part of the goods and chattels of her husband who was Chinese as he had not obtained naturalisation. So the law recognised Martha Lum as taking her husband’s Chinese nationality. She would not have been informed in writing that she lost her British citizenship but she would not have been able to vote and her name does not appear on the Electoral rolls between 1916 and 1924.
After her husband’s death in 1924 she applied for Naturalisation. The National Archives of Australia have her application, letters of support, Memorialisation, Swearing of the Oath of Allegiance, in all, over eight pages of government formalities to recover her nationality. Many widows, registered as aliens, did not bother about changing their nationality until the start of WWII when they found that they could be put in concentration camps or would not automatically obtain a ration card. Mrs Lum was obviously very aware that to protect her two young boys from possible claim by her husband’s clan or from being abducted and smuggled out of Australia she had to reclaim her British citizenship so that the Government could legally protect her family’s interests. Cases of children of mixed marriages being held in China or smuggled out of Australia had created quite an interest after being reported in the Argus, Age and the Sydney Morning Herald during this period.
Little research in the past has been done on Chinese residents of Stawell as Ararat has been seen as the main Chinese center. According to the compulsory registration of all aliens in 1916 there were known to be 21 Chinese in Stawell including Charles Lum. His relative James Ah Lum is not listed as he may not have been living in Stawell at that time but most importantly in 1903 he had obtained his naturalisation. James Ah Lum appears to take over Charles’ herbalist business and died in Stawell in 1929.
The only male witness to Charles Lum’s marriage was a Din Hee ( Din Kee) who has turned out to be a very important person. Ten Doo Lee was also a herbalist in Stawell who in 1916 married Lydia Mary Clark who had been born at Campbell’s Bridge, Callawadda. Their son was born in Stawell in late 1916. How long Lee had been a resident of Stawell is unknown and more research is required to follow this family. In 1913 the ‘Chinese Times’ newspaper published in Melbourne, produced a calendar for their readers which was distributed as part of their December edition. It was a full two page spread and around the border were names of various Chinese shopkeepers and businesses organised by country or state from around the Pacific rim including Vancouver, San Francisco, Chile, New Zealand and the Eastern Australian states. It is fascinating that the only Chinese person listed from Stawell is Din Kee of Napier St.
Also in Stawell was the Ly Cum (Li Cum) family who were Drapers on Dawson Street. Ly Cum was a wealthy Chinese who was naturalised in 1885. He owned enough property or investments that he was eligible to be listed on the Victorian Federation Referendum Roll of 1899, with a select group of Caucasians from Stawell. His wife Lydia was on the Electoral Roll of Stawell in 1903 and 1908. Another interesting Chinese family was Mee Young Lowe and his wife Mary, who are both buried in the Stawell cemetery with their adult sons William and Samuel. James Mee Young was born in 1864 and arrived in Victoria in 1870 as a 6 year old but no further information is presently available. I know little about this family except that both Mary and James were first registered as Chinese at Stawell East in 1916.
So besides the market gardeners who would have employed many single Chinese labourers over this 50 year period there were some well to do mixed-marriage families who were permanent residents of Stawell. They were involved in the community and contributed in many ways to the later strength of this rural town. Some of these families still have descendants in the Western District and their sons fought for the British Empire in the Second World War. Their surnames have not distinguished them as being Chinese and so later historians have overlooked them. You can understand the difficulty researchers have with names like Lee, Lum, Young, Lowe, Kee and Cum. Were they English or Welsh surely not Chinese?
You are visiting Chinese Rural Victoria blog. All Contents by Carol Holsworth Jan 2009.
This book was originally planned as a short story about Bendigo’s special leper, Ah Woo, who in 1900’s lived near the White Hills Cemetery at the Ironbark Chinese Camp. We thought he was our last leper but there was so much more to this Victorian story that it was not complete without research on all the lepers in other Victorian communities and the different levels of authorities that controlled their environment. Ah Woo was responsible amongst many other duties of assisting with all the Chinese funerals and burials in the district during his seven years of residence. He would have visited our cemetery on many, many occasions. He probably hoped to be buried near the prominent brick funeral tower and under the beautiful weeping branches of the evergreen peppercorn trees which were then only 20 years old. Much has changed since his time and we must try and preserve the past. We owe it to all the pioneers buried in this beautiful peaceful rural cemetery.
