Different Sights Immigrants in New England A thematic history of immigrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds on the New England Tableland. Janis Wilton 2009 Different Sights: Immigrants in New England Janis Wilton NSW Migration Heritage Centre Sydney First published 2009 by NSW Migration Heritage Centre NSW PO Box K346 Haymarket NSW 1238 Australia www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au The Migration Heritage Centre at the Powerhouse Museum is a New South Wales Government initiative supported by the Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural New South Wales in association with Heritage Branch, NSW Department of Planning Locked Bag 5020 Parramatta NSW 2124 Australia and Heritage Futures Research Centre, University of New England Armidale NSW 2351 Australia National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in Publication Wilton, Janis, 1951- Different Sights: Immigrants in New England: A thematic history of immigrants From non-English-speaking backgrounds on the New England Tableland ISBN 9780980564921 (pbk.) Immigrants – New South Wales – New England Tableland – History New England Tableland (N.S.W.) – History 994.03 © 2009 Janis Wilton This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for trhe purposes of research, study, criticism or review, or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Every effort has been made to locate owners of copyright for the images in this book. All photographs are © Janis Wilton unless otherwise stated. FRONT COVER: (clockwise from top left) Kwong Sing Store, Glen Innes; Hanna’s Arcade, Armidale; Sing Wah Restaurant, Tenterfield; Tenterfield Saddler (established by Charles Pavel). PREFACE Different Sights provides an introduction to the rich and diverse history of immigrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds on the New England Tableland. It shares stories about the work which brought individuals and families to the region, where and how they settled, and the lives they created for themselves. It offers insights into how they were received and how they, in turn, perceived their new social, cultural and geographical environments. It identifies some of the themes and patterns which emerge from their histories, invites visits to the sites and places of their experiences, and presents objects and items that convey aspects of their stories. It is complemented by an online database where you can seek more detail on specific sites, places, objects and people, and where you can also offer to add your stories. Visit and browse the online database at: http://hfrc.une.edu.au/heritagefutures/neimmigrants CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Defining New England Traditional owners Migrants Themes Sheep and Cattle 6 Chinese indentured labourers German farm labourers and shepherds Italian POWs, a Danish farm labourer and a Japanese feedlot Gems and Minerals 22 Gold Tin Entrepreneurs Grain, Vegetables, Tobacco and Grapes 32 Free Selectors Market gardeners Tobacco farmers Wine growers Alternative farming Making and Selling 52 German tradesmen and proprietors Chinese storekeepers Lebanese hawkers, haberdashers and barbers Greek cafes, cinemas, hotels and fruit shops Chinese restaurants A French café, a Dutch carpenter and a Czech photographer Body, Soul and Mind 81 Doctors, herbalists and an Indian oculist An Italian bishop, temples, and a mosque Schools, Italian classes and a German Vice Chancellor Community, Creativity and Heritage 101 A German club, a state parliamentarian and football A Chinese band, a Polish poet and Japanese potters Family stories, ethnic community histories and local museums Ending and Beginnings 118 References 120 Acknowledgements This thematic study draws on the work and knowledge of a wide range of individuals and organisations. It acknowledges in particular the long standing and committed work of local and family historians from throughout the region and beyond, and of the history organisations and museums that exist because of their devoted and volunteer labour. Their work is reflected in the bibliography and in the acknowledgement of sources and information provided throughout the text. The research informing this study has particularly benefitted from the work done by Graham Wilson specifically for this project and for his willingness to draw on over thirty years’ research in the region. Thanks also to Ken Halliday, Eve Chappell and the team at the Land of the Beardies History House, Ann Hodgens and the members of the Inverell District Family History Group, Daphne Struck at Tenterfield Centenary Cottage Museum, Ron Pickering and the volunteers at Wing Hing Long Store and Museum in Tingha, and Bill Oates at the University of New England Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. All gave generously of their time and knowledge. Thanks also to Bruce Baskerville, Joe Eisenberg, Andrea Fernandes, David Kent, John Petersen, Stephen Thompson and Graham Wilson for reading and commenting on the text; to Michael Maher and Armidale IT Solutions for work on the database; and to the NSW Migration Heritage Centre, the Heritage Branch NSW Department of Planning, and the Heritage Futures Research Centre at the University of New England for financial and infrastructure support. INTRODUCTION If you walk along the main street of Tenterfield in northern New South Wales, look above the awnings that shade the footpaths and read the surviving signage, you will see ‘Kneipp. Established 1892. Saddle and Harness Emporium’ and ‘Paragon Buildings’. And, at street level, ‘Sing Wah Restaurant’ and ‘Uncle Tom’s Chinese Cuisine’. An hour south along the New England Highway is Glen Innes. There on the main street you will see ‘Kwong Sing and Co’, ‘Dragon Court Restaurant’, ‘A Meyer’s Bakery’, ‘Paragon Café’, ‘Schmidt Jewellers’, ‘Shen Yen Restaurant’ and ‘Yim Thai Restaurant’. In the town’s local museum, the Land of the Beardies History House, you will see a display about German-born local entrepreneur, Johnathan Utz and tools used by Chinese carpenters who worked at the Kwong Sing store. In Uralla, further south along the New England Highway, on a visit to McCrossins Mill Museum you will encounter a re-creation of a Chinese temple. To the west of the Highway, at Tingha in the Wing Hing Long Store you can experience a Chinese-Australian owned general store from the early to mid twentieth century, and in the Emmaville Mining Museum you can view – and sometimes handle – samples of the minerals and gems whose discovery brought bursts of people from many different cultural backgrounds to the area. These are a few of the tangible reminders of the presence of immigrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds on the New England Tableland in northern New South Wales. They are, however, reminders that are often overlooked in the marketing of each locality’s heritage sites and items. For this marketing and, at least until recently, within local histories themselves, the main focus has tended to be on settlers – mainly male – from English or Scottish backgrounds who have played their part as pioneers who explored and tamed the land, established settlements, built business enterprises, contributed to civic life or gained notoriety of some form on a national stage. The heritage sites most often promoted are public and stately buildings dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.1 Different Sights aims to texture these public representations of heritage and to enrich the history of the New England Tableland with the histories of immigrants who come from different backgrounds and whose experiences offer different perspectives on aspects of the region’s history. To do this, 1 Browsing current local council tourist websites and brochures provides examples. See also Heather Burke, Meaning and Ideology in Historical Archaeology, New York, 1999, pp. 200-209, who analyses the Armidale Heritage Walk and reaches similar conclusions. 2 Introduction Different Sights steps back from the emphases created through heritage tourism, looks beyond the recognised and advertised heritage sites, calls on the assistance and stories of local residents and families, and uses the modern historian’s recognition of the rich range of sources for piecing together the past. In the process, different sites gain significance, silences are penetrated, new stories surface, familiar themes lose their certainties. Defining New England Over the almost two hundred years of European occupation of the region, the name has been applied to differently defined geographical, political and administrative areas and imaginings.2 Throughout, the central core has remained the New England Tableland and it is this geographical area which is the primary focus of this study. This area encompasses the towns of Walcha and Uralla to the south, goes up the New England Highway through Guyra and Glen Innes to Tenterfield, and west to Inverell. New England Tableland, showing its position in New South Wales and Australia.3 2 Alan Atkinson, ‘What is New England?’ in High Lean Country, Alan Atkinson et.al. (eds), Sydney, 2006, pp.10-20. 3 Adapted from Atkinson et.al.(eds), High Lean Country, Sydney, 2006, p.xiv. Introduction 3 Traditional owners The traditional owners of the New England Tableland are the Aniwan, Dunghutti, Gamilaraay, Gumbayngir and Ngarabul people. Their long attachment to this country is evident in the oral traditions within Aboriginal families, surviving rock art and the documentation created by sensitive archaeological digs.4 The attempts to displace them echo in the