WONG CHEW (2)

Description

Biographical informationWong Chew (2) (aka Awong Chou or Wong Chu) was born in January 1881 in Canton, China. He migrated to Western Australia in 1900. He was about five feet three inches in height. His wife and son remained in Hong Kong. He was the younger brother of Wong Bue.

He worked as a market gardener in Suburban Road, South Perth (B). He was one of the last market gardeners to work the foreshore in South Perth. He maintained a market garden at Lot 7 on Suburban Road, with his brother, Wong Bue, up until at least 1951. Even after Wong Bue's market garden was bulldozed to allow redevelopment of the foreshore in 1951, it seems that Wong Chew (2) continued to live and perhaps garden in the same area (South Perth Rates Book 1957).

He travelled overseas twice: February 1916 to July 1917; and February 1924 to January 1927 (D).

In 1948, he asked permission to have his son visit him in Western Australia for six months to undergo medical treatment for a cataract (G).

In 1957 he was recorded as the last Chinese market gardener on the South Perth foreshore. By this time the Hurlingham Polo Ground development had collapsed and he had moved back there and was growing vegetables in the same area where he had grown vegetables for many decades with his brother, Wong Bue. He was still living there when he returned to live in Hong Kong in 1968 (M).

He was the subject of a short story by T.A.G Hungerford, 'Wong Chu and the Queen's Letterbox'. Other nameWong Chew, 1881- (differentiated name)AWONG CHOU (also known as)WONG CHU (also known as)Date of birthJanuary 1881