WONG CHEONG (1)

Description

Biographical informationWong Cheong (1) was born in about 1874 in Hong Kong. He migrated to Western Australia in 1899. He was five feet four and a half inches in height.

Wong Cheong, under the name of Wong Shee Hong, was caught up in a court case in 1905. In the early 1900s he was a partner in a market garden in Northam, known as the Ying Wah market garden, together with three of his brothers Wong Ging, Wong Quang, and Wong Pee. In 1902 he, Wong Quang and Wong Pee were unable to attain certificates of domicile and so departed on a boat to Hong Kong without paperwork. Wong Ging was left running the market garden. In late 1904 the other three brothers left from Singapore on the SS Charon as stowaways after bribing a crew member, stated to be Eng Seng. During the voyage, Wong Pee was allegedly hidden in a box, died, and his body was thrown overboard.

Wong Cheong and Wong Quang were discovered by customs officials, along with six other Chinese stowaways, upon arrival at Fremantle on the 13th January 1905. They were prosecuted as illegal immigrants. When they were released from custody, Wong Ging took them back to Northam, pending further proceedings against them. When the police investigated, they were told about the death of Wong Pee and charged Eng Seng, and two other Charon crew members, with murder. The case was much reported in newspapers but, after a long court case, the crew members were found not guilty due to lack of material evidence of a murder - no body was able to be produced. The brothers were ordered to pay 707 pounds and 10 shillings in damages and were forced to sell the Ying Wah market garden to pay for their debts.

He travelled overseas from February 1909 to September 1911 (D).Other nameWong Cheong 1874- (differentiated name)Wong Shee Hong (also known as)Date of birth1874

Document

AAC-Box-007-7-0198

Box-007-Green-Box-0099

Tragic Story of Smuggled Chinese - Stowaways from Singapore 30 Years Ago - by Alec Gollan

Person

WONG GING

WONG PEE

WONG QUANG

Organisation

Ying Wah Market Garden, Northam

Photograph of Wong Cheong aged 32 in 1909 from his CEDT paperwork (source: NAA: K1145, 1909/13)

Employment

Job titleLaundrymanDate employed[date unknown]

Family

SiblingWONG GINGWONG QUANGWONG PEE

Connections

Subject (organisation)Ying Wah Market Garden, NorthamSS CharonSubject (place)PerthNorthamSubject (topic)Chinese heritage in Western AustraliaLaundryMarket gardeningRelated collectionAnne Atkinson CollectionRelated linkNAA CEDT File 1909NAA War Registration File 1916-1920 <Not digitised #4283761>

Item information

ContributorSchool of Social SciencesSource of informationAsian immigrants to Western Australia, 1829-1901 (Atkinson, 1988)

Significant place

RelationPlace of birthPlaceHong KongDate1874

Significant place

RelationImmigrated toPlaceAustraliaDate1899

UWA Collected

WONG CHEONG (1)

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA