The ‘Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage Project’ at UWA takes a biographical approach by weaving snippets from historical sources to uncover stories about Chinese people who came to Western Australia.
In addition to a publicly accessible research portal, the project will also involve a series of podcasts, an exhibition,
events and a book.
This series of articles profiles many surprising stories being discovered and recorded as part of this history project.
This article examines: Peter Wong’s Fight to Stay in Australia
by Lucy Hair
Throughout 1939, Peter Wong featured regularly in newspapers all over the nation. He was campaigning for his right to remain in Australia.
Wong Kam Yen, commonly known as Peter, he was born in China in January 1919. His father, Felix, had lived in Broome for almost a decade but had returned to China at the beginning of 1918 and sailed back to Broome when Peter was only six months old.
Peter arrived in Western Australia as a toddler in May 1921 with his mother and half-sister. As his mother and sister were also Chinese-born, they were granted an exemption to remain in Australia with the possibility of a one-year extension. The correspondence at the time made it clear that a stay of longer than two years was unlikely. Further extensions were granted, which was not typical of the time for families, but we are finding other examples of this through our research.
Lee See, Peter’s mother, had two more sons who were both born in Broome. By 1926, the authorities indicated that no further extensions would be granted, and Felix’s family would have to return to China. Peter’s older half-sister had returned to China in 1925 and in February 1926, Lee See sailed back to China taking her youngest Australian-born sons, Fred and Charlie, with her.
Peter remained with Felix in Australia and was granted extensions to receive an education in Australia. He attended local schools in Broome and then in Perth when he and Felix moved in 1927.
Peter attended CBC Perth, Perth Boys’ School and took many classes including accountancy at Perth Technical College. While he was a student progressing well and attending regularly, he was allowed to remain in Western Australia.
After his father Felix died in 1935, Peter ran his father’s restaurant – Café Canton – in William Street. Younger brother Fred who had returned to WA in 1934 assisted him operate the business. At the time of their father’s death, Peter was not quite 17 and Fred was only 13. Despite being young and left with a quite considerable debt, Peter and Fred managed to turn the situation around within two to three years, when the business began running at a profit. Peter was also sending money to his mother and brother in China during this time.
By 1939, Peter was 20 and had finished studying. The expectation of authorities was that Peter would return to China. Newspaper articles show us that Peter enlisted the sympathy of the media as well as asking several prominent educators and community leaders to speak on his behalf for his right to remain in Australia.
Peter’s case raised some interesting questions about identity. Having lived in Western Australia for almost his whole life and educated in Australian schools, Peter was very much part of the Chinese community that existed around the Northbridge area at the time. While Peter clearly embraced both his Australian and Chinese cultures, the immigration policies at the time dictated that he would have to return to China.
After spending most of 1939 facing the threat of deportation, he was finally granted a ten-year extension at the beginning of 1940. In a clear indication of his commitment to Australia, Peter enlisted at the start of WWII. By contrast to his battle throughout 1939 with immigration authorities, his ethnicity did not appear to be a significant issue when he enlisted. Peter served in the RAAF for several years in various capacities.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore the UWA research database and other aspects of the project at: www.chinese wa.net/.
As research material is being added constantly, the project team would love to hear from anyone with information about early Chinese migrants.
