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: Quan Sing – a tale of two brothers
by Lucy Hair
In the late 1880s, brothers Quan Sing Yee Chun and Quan Sing Yee Lock arrived in Western Australia. They were very close in age and both arrived when around the age of 20 in 1886 and 1888 respectively. It is likely that they both worked for See Sing & Co. in Cossack for a few years before moving to Derby to establish their own business.
Quan Sing & Co. commenced as a small, single-storey general store in the early 1890s. Family history suggests that Quan Sing referred to the name of the store – it may mean ‘Lucky Traders’ – rather than the family name. The brothers both ran the store and built it into a successful business. Later they purchased a block of land and constructed a much larger two-storey building for their business.
Quan Sing Yee Chun married Ah Wing Kimbly in China before moving to WA. We do not know if Ah Wing Kimbly came out at the same time as Yee Chun or a few years after. She must have been one of the first Chinese women in Western Australia. She and Yee Chun had 13 children together, with 11 surviving infancy.
Before 1901, it was permissible for the wives and children of Chinese men to migrate to Western Australia. That said, only a handful made the choice to migrate. The 1901 Census figures indicate there were only 16 Chinese-born women in Western Australia. As most Chinese men worked here as contract labourers (usually three years) the majority returned to China and their families after their work contracts expired.
Yee Chun and Ah Wing Kimbly’s large family were very much part of the Derby community. The family then settled in Carnarvon around 1920 and many of the family remained in the area for decades.
Quan Sing Yee Lock’s personal life was very different to that of his brother. It appeared he had no wife or partner in his earlier years. He had moved to Carnarvon with Quan Sing Yee Chun around 1920. They travelled together to China around 1929. Yee Chun died while they were away and Yee Lock returned alone to deliver the sad news to his brother’s family.
Ah Wing Kimbly, died in 1934 in the Carnarvon Hospital around the same time Yee Lock moved to Port Hedland. Quan Sing Yee Lock married Cheong Mon Hong in Port Hedland and they had two sons: Hedland Yee Lock (b. 1935) and George Hedland (b. 1937).
Immigration restrictions in the 1930s were stringent, unlike the more flexible conditions in the 1880s when Ah Wing Kimbly arrived. By 1933, the number of Chinese-born people in Western Australia was 705. It fell to less than 400 people by 1947.
While his brother was able to have a large family and remain in Australia, Yee Lock’s wife was expected to return to China when her entry exemption expired. Under the immigration restrictions, Cheong Mon Hong faced deportation. Cheong Mon Hong and Yee Lock’s two Australian-born sons were eligible for Certificates of Exemption from the Dictation Test and could therefore re-enter Australia later. Their mother was unlikely to be able to enter Australia again. In April 1937, Yee Lock, his wife and two sons departed Port Hedland for China via Singapore aboard the SS
Gorgon. It was perhaps the only option available to him to keep his family together.
Quan Sing Yee Chun and Quan Sing Yee Lock had similar professional lives. They operated several successful businesses together and separately in at least three WA towns over many decades. Their own family experiences, separated by several decades and under very different immigration regulations, were entirely different.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore the UWA research database and other aspects of the project at: www.chinesewa.net/.
As research material is being added constantly, the project team would love to hear from anyone with information about early Chinese migrants.
