MOW SUNG

Description

Biographical informationMow Sung was born in about 1864 in Hong Kong. He migrated to Western Australia in June 1893. He was about five feet six inches in height.

He was working as a market gardener and owned a portion of Wellington Location 41. He was leasing 6 acres of land at Bunbury from 1893 to 1907 (A). He was recorded as a greengrocer at Bunbury in 1917 (B).

He travelled overseas twice: May 1903 to March 1909; and December 1915 to December 1917. He left Western Australia permanently in February 1924 (D).

According to the "Streets of Bunbury" in 2021:
"Mow Sung was known as the Chinese gardener of Sampson’s Town. His garden patch was very fertile and neatly cultivated. In 1906 his garden was threatened with destruction when the local authorities ordered Sampson’s Road aqueduct to be filled in. His particular plot was called ‘Sampson’s Swamp’ as, during the winter, the ground was very moist. His house, which he shared with four other Chinese men, came under attack by the Health Board that same year. It was reported to be in a ‘very unsanitary condition’ with ‘garbage from the garden kept close to the house, and the refuse from the kitchen thrown at the back door. The front was partly covered by an accumulation of old sacks, dirt and filth. The inside was in a very dirty condition. William Spencer reported that the house consisted of a couple of posts and a few bags. The health inspector went as far as to claim that it was ‘the most unsanitary place he had yet to visit in Bunbury.’ The outhouse was reported as ‘one of the worst of its kind’ and was in ‘a very dilapidated state.’ As the area was swampy and lacked drainage, the health inspector reported that the rotting vegetable matter would create a very offensive smell to the residents in the vicinity when the swamp dried up in summer. While all these claims against Mow’s house are likely accurate, it is no surprise they lived in poverty, given they were expected to work very long, hard days and receive very little money in return for their work, preventing them from being able to afford or construct more than a rudimentary shelter. In 1906 Mow read a letter to the Municipal Council in a request for a drain. His letter was referred to the works committee. The issue arose due to recent changes to the roads that removed the drains.

'I respectfully ask your consideration of what is virtually a hardship for me. I am the lessee and ratepayer of garden in Sampson’s Road and have another ten years to run and owing to the small existing wooden drain being covered up by filling in my garden will be flooded out next winter. I respectfully point out that this is the first request I have made and as a ratepayer, ask your consideration and humbly request that you will insert a drain along the roadway so that the threatened loss of my livelihood may not become a reality. Thanking you in anticipation for your equitable decision’ - Mow Sung.

Mow had to continue to fight to get the drain.

'At the risk of appearing tedious, I must refer to my case again. The filling up of the roadway and covering up of the existing box drain will have the effect in rainy weather of throwing all the stormwater back on my garden. All that I respectfully ask for, and I think I am equitably entitled to it, is that you put in a surface drain as deep as the old box drain so as to carry off the storm waters, not to drain my whole garden. As a ratepayer I respectfully ask your favourable consideration of my request, as unless it is done my garden will be ruined and my means of livelihood gone. Through ruin will stare me in the face unless you grant me this request, still I am loath to revert to extreme measures.' - Mow Sung.

Mow’s plight was again referred to the works committee.

Other nameMow Sung (differentiated name)Date of birth1864

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