Trophies in the Window: CHINESE DEPARTMENT STORES, RUGBY LEAGUE AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN NEW ENGLAND

Rodney Noonan is an independent researcher and has written several articles on Chinese-Australian history.

In late winter 1933, the Glen Innes Rugby League 'decided to make a comprehensive display of all the trophies' it had won that season and exhibit them in the 'main window' of Kwong Sing & Co. department store - the employer of the town's representative halfback Charlie Chong.1 Twelve months later, after winning the 'coveted Barrett Shield', the Inverell Rugby League displayed its prized new trophy in the window of Hong Yuen & Co. department store. 2 Hong Yuen employed several Chinese-Australian players, and its proprietor Louie Mew Fay (known locally as Harry Fay) was official patron of the Inverell Rugby League and sponsored the Fay Cup from 1932 to 1936. Tommy Wong Young, owner of the Sam Kee store in neighbouring Tingha, sponsored the Sam Kee Cup from 1935-39,. while Yow Sing, whose name adorned Emmaville's Yow Sing & Co. store, served with Michael Bruxner (the state's deputy premier and Country Party leader) as foundation vice-presidents of the town's second rugby league team, the Emmaville Magpies, in 1935.3 The myriad Chinese stores throughout the New England region of northern New South Wales (NSW) were a legacy of the nineteenth-century mining booms. Gold and tin had attracted thousands of Chinese miners to the area, many of whom remained after the booms subsided. By the 1930s, the White Australia policy had been in place for three decades and the Chinese Australians in New England, who were employed in many of the industries traditionally associated with early Chinese settlement in Australia, had unquestionably encountered persistent racism. However, as Gregor Benton observes, 'reducing the Chinese experience to victimhood plays

Sporting Traditions, vol. 26, no. 1 CMay 2009), pp. 1-19. © Australian Society for Sports History. 2 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

down the extent to which Chinese overseas shaped their own destinies and took an active part in the host society and economy'.4 This article explores the participation of Chinese Australians in rugby league (and other aspects of New England society) during the Depression years, as well as their social, financial and political links with other communities among the Chinese diaspora in Australia and overseas. Donating trophies to rugby league (and women's hockey) had broader social and commercial implications than helping Harry Fay and Tommy Young promote their respective businesses. Inter-town sporting contests injected funds into the economy of the host town, not only boosting financial turnover for the sponsor but also numerous other local businesses. The Invereli Chamber of Commerce adopted the slogan 'Be Loyal, Buy Locally' in 1932 to encourage consumers to support the town's businesses5 and the extra revenue generated in lnverell by Fay Cup matches perfectly complemented this campaign. Furthermore, sporting teams were closely linked to notions of community identity and Chinese Australians were visible members of those communities, whether in Uralla's town band, Tingha's Salvation Army or as fallen Anzacs commemorated on Inverell's war memorial. Engaging with the non-Chinese community did not infer a disavowal of Chinese cultural practices. The Fay and Young families made trips to China in the 1930s, while less affluent families, unable to afford overseas travel, continued to observe Qingming and celebrate Chinese New Year, cook Chinese food, and speak Chinese at home with parents or grandparents who had migrated from China.6 Community networks too, enhanced a sense of cultural identity, and helped many Chinese Australians find work with New England's Chinese stores during the Great Depression. Chinese Australians and Sport In his influential study of Australian sport, Brian Stoddart claimed that despite extensive Chinese migration to Australia 'there is little if any evidence of their having become involved in Australian sport'.7 Subsequent studies have provided that evidence but Stoddart's statement was nonetheless an accurate reflection of the lack of relevant research to that time. Two years before Stoddart's book, Jennifer Cushman observed that Australian historians were 'more [concerned] with Australian attitudes towards Chinese' than with exploring 'how the Chinese situated themselves within the Australian social and political order' and urged scholars 'to relocate the Chinese experience within the Chinese community itself'. 8 Later cultural historians have conducted the community-based studies that Cushman advocated and a variety of sports featured in Paul McGregor's exploration of Chinese- Australian social clubs in Melbourne, 9 Robyn On's discussion of the Darwin Chinese Recreation Club,10 and the interviews in Diana Giese's oral history Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 3

project. 11 Henry Chan praised the accomplishments in cricket and table tennis in a volume on Chinese-Australian history but lamented that 'there has not yet been a Wallaby or prominent League player of Chinese descent'.12 This may not be correct: Charles Little speculates on the probable Chinese ethnicity of Bill Hong, who represented NSW in 1931 during his four-year rugby league career.13 Chinese Australians were not one of the eight ethnic groups considered in Sporting Immigrants, the major study to date on sport and ethnicity, although three individuals were mentioned: cricketers Hunter Poon (also known as Ander Poon) and Richard Chee Quee, and Australian Rules footballer Wally Koochew. 14 Andrew Honey discussed a Chinese soccer team that twice toured Australia in the 1920s while exploring the impact of the White Australia policy on sporting contact with non-European nations,15 while Richard Cashman noted the same tour, as well as the performances of Poon, Koochew and lesser-known individuals in rugby union, rugby league, Australian Rules and amateur boxing.16 More substantial studies have since been undertaken by Rob Hess, Julia Martinez and Sophie Couchman. Hess reveals that Chinese miners and gardeners opposed each other in three Australian Rules matches in Ballarat during the 1890s and Chinese players were involved in fundraising matches in Melbourne in 1899.17 Martinez notes that Chinese Australians played in Darwin's Australian Rules competition until segregation was introduced, after which they helped establish a multi-racial soccer association in 1927.18 Couchman demonstrates that Chinese Australians have a lengthy association with competitive cycling, particularly in Bendigo in the 1920s and 1930s, and at Wangaratta, in northeast Victoria, in the late 1890s.19 A gender imbalance is evident in the few women cited: the table tennis players Chan mentioned at the 2000 Olympics and Robyn On's reference to an Olympic torch runner in Darwin in 1956. However it should be noted that cricketer Hunter Poon's teenage daughter Daphne Poon played at the 1946 Australian Tennis Championship. 20 She provides an early instance of female sports participation at an elite level and demonstrates the value of biographical research into the families of known sports figures. The same is true ofJim Sam, the amateur boxer identified by Richard Cashman. Jim Sam's brothers Norman and Percy Sam, and their nephew George Loo Long, were all involved in rugby league. 21 Indeed, either Jim or Norman Sam, whichever was nicknamed 'Doc', represented NSW against Queensland in a rugby league match between Australian troops in Egypt in early 1915. 22 Chinese-Australian sporting teams and. individuals may well have been overlooked in studies of Australian sport as they were not prominent in the areas of greatest population density: the five mainland state capitals. Rather, existing research indicates players and teams emerged from large towns or 4 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

region areas with a history of Chinese settlement: communities in Ballarat, Bendigo, Darwin, northeast Victoria, north Queensland, or in the case of this study, New England. Chinese Comn1unities in New England The Chinese who arrived in New England in the mid-nineteenth century were not a monolithic entity but members of two geographically and linguistically distinct communities. Hokkien-speaking labourers and shepherds from Xiamen (in Fi.tjian province) arrived in the late 1840s and early 1850s but were soon outnumbered by Cantonese-speaking miners from Guangdong province, lured by the gold boom at Rocky River in 1856, and the tin boom at Tingha and Emmaville in the 1870s. The Guangdong miners reputedly 'looked down on' the Xiamen labourers 'because they had married Australian girls', whereas the Guangdong miners sought spouses back in China. 23 There was still a significant Chinese presence in New England in 1903, the year Commonwealth legislation prohibited Chinese (and other non- Europeans) from being naturalised. The Chinese temples in Emmaville, Rocky River and Tingha were all active, while the numerous market gardens, medical practitioners and general stores were critical to the region's infrastr11cture. Dr Ah Foo, one of Armidale's nvo Chinese herbalists, died in 1903 after many years as a physician and prodigious fundraiser for the local hospital. His brother was a storekeeper in Glen Innes, 24 where there were at least two other Chinese stores. 25 Inverell had five Chinese stores in 1899,26 four ofTingha's five general stores were Chinese in 1902, 27 while Emmaville had at least two Chinese stores. 28 Encouraged by the substantial Chinese-Australian population in New England, Liang Qichao visited the region in January 1901 and established a branch of Kang Youwei's Baohuanghui [Protect the Emperor Society] in Tamworth. Liang, one of the leading Chinese intellectuals of the twentieth century, rose to prominence as Kang's protege during the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. Exiled from China after the emperor was deposed, Kang and Liang sought refuge and financial assistance among the Chinese diaspora in Asia, Australia and North America. Tamworth's was one of Leu branches of the Baohuanghui founded across Australia during Liang's visit29 and consolidated New England's rich tradition of Chinese political engagement: during the 1880s, Tingha had hosted a branch of the Revolutionary and Independence Association of Australian Chinese. 30 This regional activism was evident again in the 1930s, both in Harry Fay's fundraising for the Chinese war effort and in the political awakening of Arthur Gar Lock Chang, who was sacked for attempting to 'form a "partnership" of Chinese workers'. Chang and his father arrived in Australia in the mid-1930s as bonded workers and 'worked for a slave-driving fellow- Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 5 villager' at a Chinese store in Tingha. Under the bondage system, workers were only entitled to change jobs by working for 'another "eligible" employer in the ethnic Chinese economy' and after Chang was fired, he discovered his new employer was equally exploitative. His early employment experiences in northern NSW propelled him into a lifelong struggle for workers' rights. 31 Commercial networks within the Chinese diaspora were possibly even more prominent than the political ones. W. Warley & Co. listed nineteen joint owners when it was founded in Glen Innes in 1903, only five of whom lived locally. Twelve lived in Sydney's Chinatown, with one each in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.32 Many of the district's other transnational business relationships were facilitated by Kwong Sing's founder Wong Chee, one of the five founders of the Sincere & Co. department store chain (which opened branches in Hong Kong in 1900, Canton in 1912 and Shanghai in 1917) and who later co-founded the seven-storey Sun Sun department store in Shanghai. Wong Chee was manager and principal shareholder of Kwong Sing from 1886 until he permanently returned to China in 1912 to assume an executive position with Sincere.33 When Wong Chee's successor at Kwong Sing, Percy Young, left Glen Innes for China in 1926, Wong Chee procured his appointment as manager of Sincere's branch store in Tianjin. Hong Yuen's proprietor Harry Fay, who once worked for Wong Chee in Glen Innes and later married his daughter, acquired shares in Sincere, as well as several other companies in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Fay also developed domestic business relationships with Chinese partners, including part ownership of Sydney's Nankin cafe. 34 Working-class Chinese Australians utilised these extensive diasporic networks too, many securing jobs with the plethora of Chinese stores in New England. Some workers found stable employment during the Depression with one particular store, while others would 'do the shop circuits - [Inverell], Glen Innes, Tamworth and all around'.35 Several of the workers who moved to Inverell and Glen Innes swelled the rugby league ranks, and some married into local Chinese-Australian families. Sport, Economics and Identity Consistent with rugby league's working-class origins, the first match played in New England was between miners from Dangarsleigh and Hillgrove in 1908. The game's growing popularity over the next fifteen years extended to larger towns, and competitions were established in Tamworth in 1911, Tenterfield in 1918, Armidale in 1919, Glen Innes in 1921 and Inverell in 1923. 36 Each centre conducted its own premiership competition: generally two or more first grade teams from larger towns, with additional sides provided by smaller neighbouring towns. Premiership competitions were complemented by occasional inter-town representative matches for trophies sponsored by local businesses. 6 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

During the Depression, some compet1t1ons contracted because the distance between towns was prohibitively expensive for weekly matches. The Inverell Rugby League had hosted a first grade competition in 1930 that included teams from Bingara, Delungra, Tingha and Warialda, but announced at the beginning of the 1931 season that 'the cost of travelling has made impossible the association with outside teams and consequently the League has restricted its competition for 1931 to town teams, with inter-town matches interspersed wherever possible'. 37 The increasing focus on inter-town matches led to a proliferation in cups and shields available for challenge by towns within a certain distance from the sponsor. (Some trophies had additional age or weight restrictions.) Challenge matches were hosted by the town defending the cup or shield, and the more prestigious trophies provided a significant boost to the host town's economy. When Glen Innes challenged New England for the Robinson Shield in June 1932, approximately 700 visitors travelled to Armidale for the match and 'spent in close proximity to £750',38 an extravagant sum for a single Sunday in the Depression. Having proudly displayed the Barrett Shield in the window of Hong Yuen in 1934, Inverell stoutly defended its prized trophy in 1935, and one business owner estimated that each Barrett Shield match Inverell hosted was 'worth easily £100 a week to businessmen in the town'. 39 The accruing financial benefits prompted many towns to recruit paid players from Sydney to sustain their success. This initiative polarised supporters of the game throughout New England and the Inverell Rugby League convened a special meeting in June 1932 to debate whether to 'import players from the city to win its matches, and thereby bring revenue to the town' or preserve its sense of community identity so that 'the representative team remain representative of the town'. The league's president believed 'importations from the city would ruin the sport' and 'eliminate the keen spirit that should predominate an inter-town match in which the talent and prowess of one town is pitted against another'. He was successfully opposed by a consortium of business owners, some of whom were league officials, who surreptitiously pooled funds to hire a professional player.40 Despite the victories and economic stimulus that accompanied imported players, not all fans welcomed the change, and in 1933 one supporter proposed that Inverell and Glen Innes play a town of origin match, in which only locally-born players were eligible for selection.41 The tension between commercial imperatives and community sensibilities also emerged in Uralla later in the decade. Uralla was part of the Armidale- centred New England competition but after winning the 1935 first grade grand final, the defending premiers hosted very few matches in 1936. Instead, most home games were transferred to Armidale, for which Uralla received a compensatory payment of £10 per match. The strategy alienated many fans, one of whom complained in a letter to the local newspaper: Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 7

What about the local football public? Are we to be considered? Are most of us interested in football in Armidale or do we want to see a match in Uralla? Most of us are not bloated capitalists with cars and can't afford to go to Armidale, whereas we do our best to support football in Uralla.42 Transferring home games to Armidale helped keep Uralla solvent but eroded its support base and the club was unable to muster sufficient players for the 1937 first grade competition. When the team was revived in 1938, it played all its home matches in Uralla. Harry Fay and the Fay Cup At a special general meeting of the Inverell Rugby League on 18 April 1932, the league's president 'exhibited to admiring officials and players a splendid silver trophy, in the form of an inter-town challenge cup, which Mr Harry Fay (of Hong Yuen and Co.) had presented to the League'.43 Four weeks later, the Inverell Rugby League announced that the Fay Cup was 'now open for competition among towns within 100 miles radius oflnverell'.44 Although other Inverell businesses had previously sponsored the weekly premiership competition, none had donated an inter-town trophy. Fay had opened Inverell's first supermarket, Fay's Cash & Carry, next to Hong Yuen in 1929,45 and sponsoring the Fay Cup was an effective form of advertising, particularly as 'the profitability and viability of the stores . . . depended on attracting local non-Chinese customers'.46 By the late 1930s, Fay's retail empire included branches of Hong Yuen in Moree, Warialda and Texas, as well as another Fay's Cash & Carry in Texas.47 Sponsoring an inter-town trophy promoted the Fay/Hong Yuen brand beyond Inverell into towns throughout northern NSW and southern Queensland. Hong Yuen in Inverell (like Kwong Sing in Glen Innes) extended credit to many of its shoppers during the Depression, just as it had during the four- year drought at the end of World War I. This too enhanced Fay's reputation among non-Chinese customers and engendered a loyalty that lasted decades, countering the intimidatory tactics of a rival Inverell storekeeper who stood outside Hong Yuen, recording the names of those who entered and taunted them for 'going to that chow'.48 Louie Mew Fay was born in Sydney in 1892 but raised in Dutou village (in Guangdong province) after his parents moved back to China in the late 1890s. He returned to Sydney in 1910 following the loss of the family's savings in an attempt to 'assist family finances and restore family honour'. After initially working in Chinese furniture stores and vegetable markets, Fay utilised the extensive Chinese community networks to secure a job at Kwong Sing in Glen Innes. He worked there until 1912, when his employer Wong Chee embarked for China, at which point Fay began working at Hong Yuen in Inverell and adopted the name Harry Fay.49 He visited China in 1916 and married Wong 8 sporting TRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

Chee's daughter Ruby. Following their wedding, Harry and Ruby Fay returned to Inverell where they remained for the rest of their lives. 50 Nonetheless, the family retained close links with China. In addition to Fay's aforementioned business investments, his wife and children spent a year living in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dutou in the early 1930s. Following the outbreak of war between China andJapan in 1937, Fay immediately collected over £2000 for the Chinese war effort during a three-day fundraising trip through northwest NSW. 51 Fay's daughter Marjorie was crowned Queen of the Allies by Sydney's Lord Mayor before an audience of 2600 people, after entering the Allies' Day quest as Miss China in 1942 and raising more money than any of the other nine candidates. 52 Twelve months later, Hong Yuen donated blankets and towels to a fundraising competition for Inverell's China Day Appeal. 53 The Fay family's commitment to the Chinese war effort enticed the Director for the Chinese Ministry for Information to visit Inverell in 1944 where he was entertained by the town's dignitaries at a lavish public function that culminated with the mayor toasting 'the ideals of the Chinese'. 54 Fay was equally supportive oflocal causes. He supplied decorations for the Oriental Ball held during Inverell Week (an initiative intended to lift town morale and raise money for the hospital),55 contributed to the ambulance service, and served on a committee that raised money for a boys' hostel (enabling outreach students to attend school in Inverell). 56 Fay was also a major benefactor of local sports. He was the official patron of the Inverell Rugby League for the majority of the 1930s, having previously sponsored a women's hockey tournament in Inverell on 3 June 1929: Fay donated a trophy, known as the Fay Cup, which was contested by teams from Inverell, Tingha, Moree and Delungra, while Glen Innes featured in a social match. 57 Hong Yuen entered teams under the store's name in Inverell's cricket and tennis competitions in the 1930s, and Fay donated prize-money for a sports carnival at Ashford in 1938. 58 In the 1950s, he was elected president of the Inverell Jockey Club. 59 The first Fay Cup rugby league match was played between Inverell and Tingha on 25 June 1932. The trophy - a silver cup with handles and a lid, attached to which was a circle containing a rugby league ball - was exhibited in front of the grandstand and Fay officially kicked off to start the match. 60 The Fay Cup was the most frequently contested inter-town trophy in Inverell in 1932 but never quite held the same privileged status in later years. Nonetheless, Inverell never lost a Fay Cup match, although it was once stripped ofits trophy for fielding an ineligible player. Residential rules required players to live in a town for 28 days before they were eligible to play in representative matches and when Inverell played Bingara on 9 July 1932, it selected a player on his 28th day of residence: still several hours short of qualifying. The Fay Cup was awarded to Bingara but Inverell successfully reclaimed the trophy in a return match at Bingara three weeks later. Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 9

Tabie 1 Resuits of All Known Fay Cup Matches

Date Host town Result

25 June 1932 lnverell lnverell 7 Tlngha 2

2 July 1932 lnverell lnverell 39 Bundarra 0

9 July 1932 lnverell lnverell 22 Bingara 5

30 July 1932 Bingara lnverell 12 Bingara 3

6 August 1932 lnverell lnverell 44 Black Mountain 6

13 August 1932 lnverell lnverell 25 North Armidale 10

1 July 1933 lnverell lnverell 40 Uralla 2

8 July 1933 lnverell lnverell 26 Bingara 0

4 August 1934 lnverell lnverell 24 Armidale 6

1 June 1935 lnverell lnverell 7 Moree 0

11July1936 lnverell lnverell 24 Tenterfield 3

18 July 1936 lnverell lnverell 15 Tlngha 8

Tommy Young and the Sam Kee Cup The origins of the Sam Kee Cup are unclear and there are no known photographs or descriptions of the trophy. Country Rugby League Record stated in May 1935 that 'the Fay, Sam Kee and Tingha Shields will be up for grabs this season', 61 an announcement that pre"dated Ron Pickering's first reference to the Sam Kee Cup by two years. 62 Tingha's weekly newspaper, the Tingha Advocate, ceased publication in 1932 and no match reports from 1935 have been discovered in neighbouring towns' newspapers. However, the GuyraArguscovered three Sam Kee Cup matches in 1936, after which the Inverell Times (Pickering's chief source of information) began providing Sam Kee Cup results. Sam Kee established his eponymous store in Tingha in 1872, 63 but it was under the ownership of Tommy Young when it began sponsoring sporting events in the 1930s. Tommy Wong Young was born in Sydney in the mid-1880s and later moved to Tenterfield with his Chinese-Australian wife Amy, where their son and three daughters (one of whom was blind) were born between 1914 and 1918, 64 after which the family moved to Tingha. In the early 1950s, Tommy Young was involved in the corporate development of the Gold Coast and his Cathay Restaurant 'boasted the largest and most colourful neon sign' in Surfers Paradise. 65 JO sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

Like Harry Fay, Tommy Young retained contact with China. He travelled to China alone in 1908 and with his family in 1931. 66 During the Second World War, his home served as a 'gathering place for the Chinese community in Tingha and the district. On Sundays . . . they may have twenty to thirty Chinese to dinner coming from as far afield as Inverell and Bundarra'.67 Young's influence in Tingha was evident when 'the whole town rallied around [him] in his efforts for Miss China', collecting about £150 for Marjorie Fay's fundraising quest. 68 Aside from their retail role, Tingha's Chinese stores served a social and industrial function as one of the very few employment options for young women who remained in town after finishing school. 69 This was not the only manner in which the stores contributed to the broader community. The Sam Kee store sponsored women's hockey and men's rugby league, initiatives that promoted the store but also brought revenue into the town. Whereas hockey's Fay Cup was known for its multi-town carnival, hockey's Sam Kee Cup operated under the same challenge system as rugby league trophies and spanned the period 1934-39. The Sam Kee store began sponsoring rugby league a year after it began sponsoring hockey. Tingha residents had raised funds for the Tingha Shield (an inter-town trophy) during Tingha's first year of rugby league in 1928.70 Tingha Shield matches became the town's most anticipated rugby league event from 1931 following Inverell's exclusion of Tingha from its first grade premiership competition because of travelling expenses. Tommy Young's donation of the Sam Kee Cup in 1935 added a second inter-town trophy and thus provided a significant stimulus to Tingha, increasing rugby league opportunities for the players and generating greater turnover for local businesses.

Table 2 Results of All Known Sam Kee Cup Matches

Date Host town Result

28 June 1936 Ting ha Guyra 6 Tingha 0

26 July 1936 Guyra Guyra 11 Skeleton Creek 7

2 August 1936 Guyra Tingha 7 Guyra 7

11 July 1937 Ting ha Tingha 25 Tenterfield 5

10 April 1938 Ting ha Tingha 15 Guyra 5

8 May 1938 Ting ha Tingha 15 Guyra 5

23 July 1939 Ting ha Tingha 12 Guyra 3

20 August 1939 Tingha Tingha 21 lnverell 6 Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 11

Representative Players While boarding at Sydney's Newington College in preparation for studying law at Sydney University, seventeen-year-old former Tingha resident Otto Kong Sing was proclaimed 'one of the best [rugby union] half-backs in the colony', as well as 'an enthusiastic cricketer' who had 'lately been fairly successful with the bat',71 One of the first Chinese Australians to be recognised for his sporting achievements, he later became a barrister in Hong Kong72 but is largely remembered today as the younger brother ofJustine Kong Sing whose paintings were exhibited at the Royal Art Society ofNSW between 1905 and 1911 and London's Royal Academy in 1915-16.73 By the early twentieth century, Chinese Australians in New England were establishing themselves in both rugby codes: Emmaville's Kos Ah Hee was selected for the Northwest rugby union representative team against New England at Armidale in June 1912,74 while Tenterfield's Hilton Gunn was fullback in an inter-town rugby league match against Glen Innes inJune 1919. Hilton Gunn and his older brother Norman played for North Tenterfield in the town's first grade premiership competition and Hilton captained North Tenterfield to victory in a knockout carnival in 1923. Both brothers also served as administrators on the general committee of the Tenterfield Rugby League in 1920.75 Five players descended from Xiamen labourers represented Tingha in its debut rugby league season. Brothers Arn, Namaan and Vivian Suey, and their cousinJack Little (the son ofHannah Suey) were grandsons ofJames Suey, while Lew Hay was the grandson ofJoseph Hong Hay. The players all shared common Irish ancestry: James Suey had married Margaret Battersby and Joseph Hong Hay had married her sister Ann. During that 1928 season, Tingha defeated Delungra in the first Tingha Shield match on 29 July and beat Bundarra in the final of an end-of-season knockout competition on 1 September. The three Suey brothers formed the nucleus of the Tingha forward pack for several seasons, and both Vivian and Namaan Suey played for the Northwest regional team against Armidale on 25 August 1928. The Suey family was regarded as 'the backbone of the Salvation Army' in Tingha76, which conferred significant social standing. The Salvation Army had a vast membership in Tingha and exerted 'a big indirect influence on the whole tone of the town', such that its support was deemed necessary for any festival, function or social event.77 Inverell's Guan brothers were the grandsons of the Xiamen labourer James Guan and his second wife Matilda Page. (Guan's first wife Elizabeth was another of the Battersby sisters.) Second rower Clarence John' Guan was an automatic selection in Inverell's representative team for inter-town matches and also played for the Northwest regional side in its 76-0 loss to NSW at Inverell on 19 June 1929. John Guan was one of six Inverell representative 12 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no I MAY 2009

players that went on strike in 1933 to protest their administration's lack of financial support. Representative matches were the game's major revenue stream during the Depression, but representative players, some ofwhom were unemployed, were required to buy their own shorts, boots, shouldercguards and shin-guards. The Inverell Rugby League began the 1933 season with a credit balance of £132 and the striking players successfully negotiated a £2 clothing allowance for each representative player, a resolution that prompted the league's outraged vice-president to resign in protest.78 George Guan played first grade with Oxfords and Norths in Inverell's premiership competition and in the absence of a weekly competition in 1937, was included in Inverell's squad for inter-town matches.79 Both Guan brothers enlisted in the army in the Second World War and served overseas. John survived but George was killed during the Fall of Singapore while serving with the 2/30th Battalion. 80 He was the second generation of the family killed in action. His uncle, Lieutenant Charles Guan, was killed in the Second Battle of Albert in August 1918 while serving with the 4th Battalion. 81 Hong Yuen employees Ernest Sue Fong and Thomas Loy, each of whom later married one of Harry Fay's daughters, were also members of Inverell's 1937 inter-town squad. Ernest's father George Sue Fong arrived on the Palmer River goldfields in north Queensland in the 1870s, after which he mined for tin in New England and eventually opened a store in Emmaville. The Sue Fong children grew up in the 1920s serving Chinese tea to elderly Chinese customers, learning limited Cantonese, observing Qingming and Chinese New Year, and listening to the Chinese band play at the Emmaville races. George Sue Fong died in 1931 and following the sale of the family store eighteen months later, Ernest Sue Fong spent two years as a tin miner and woodcutter in Emmaville before lack of work prompted him to seek a job at Hong Yuen. 82 Thomas Loy was employed at Hong Yuen purely because of his rugby league ability. Born and raised in Queensland, Loy knew very little about his family's background in China as his parents never discussed it. He left school al lhe age of thirteen and spent seven years working as a drover, cane-cutter and road-labourer before venturing south in the winter of 1934 to visit his sister Rubee in Inverell for a two week holiday. She had moved there from Brisbane in 1932 when her husband William Manwar secured a job at Hong Yuen. Manwar played rugby league in Inverell's premiership competition and after Loy played alongside his brother-in-law in a club match, he was immediately selected for Inverell (under an assumed name to circumvent residential qualification rules) in an inter-town match at Armidale the following day. Harry Fay then offered the young winger a job at Hong Yuen to retain him for future representative matches. 83 Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 13

The Sydney-born Yum brothers also sought jobs in New England during Lhe Depression. Reg Yum worked at Kwong Sing in Glen Innes, while Eddie, Charlie and Albert 'Abbie' Yum worked at Hong Yuen in Inverell. A fifth brother, Ernie Yum, had an accountancy practice in Sydney and periodically travelled to Inverell to audit Hong Yuen's books. He died in Inverell hospital in November 1943 from injuries sustained in a car accident on the Tingha- Guyra road while visiting Inverell for a routine audit. 84 Ernie Yum is a seminal figure in Australian sport. He helped establish the NSW Chinese Tennis Association in 193685 and was one of the inaugural inductees into Australian baseball's Hall of Fame,86 having hit the winning run for NSW in its 1-0 victory in the 1939 Claxton Shield final. Ernie's younger brother Sydney also represented NSW in baseball during the 1930s. 87 Another brother, Eddie Yum, the first of the family to find work at Hong Yuen, helped found Inverell's inaugural baseball competition in 1931.88 Charlie and Abbie Yum were members oflnverell's Nine Stone rugby league team that defeated Bingara for the McKenzie Cup on 4June 1933, 89 while Abbie was also in the Centrals side that won Inverell's 1934 first grade grand final. 90 One of the try scorers in the grand final was his Queensland-born teammate Victor Sue See who marriedJohn and George Guan's cousin Phyllis Guan.91 Reg Yum worked at Kwong Sing with Charlie Chong, another Chinese Australian originally from Sydney. 92 Chong was embroiled in controversy after his first match in the Glen Innes premiership as both Easts and Wests claimed he resided in their territory, prompting a compromise motion that he play for Skeleton Creek. 93 Chong remained with Easts but rarely featured in club football in 1933, his only season in Glen Innes, as he was soon playing for the town's representative side. His selection delighted local fans, one of whom claimed 'there is not a man in Glen Innes today who gives such a perfect pass', 94 while another declared Chong 'might easily make a scrum half equal to the best Glen Innes has had'. 95 The Robinson Shield match between Glen Innes and New England in September 1933 was considered 'the greatest game of the season'. 96 Chong was halfback for the victorious Glen Innes side and Bill Tet Fong was hooker for the visiting New Englanders (the New England first grade competition consisted of teams from Armidale, Guyra and Uralla). It was a memorable year for the Tet Fong brothers, who claimed two of the five player awards at Uralla's annual presentation ceremony: Bill Tet Fong won a trophy as the club's best forward and Sam Tet Fong received a blazer as its most consistent player. 97 The Tet Fong brothers were born and raised in Tingha where their father, herbalist Fah Sue Tet Fong, settled after migrating to Australia in 1891 at the age of 41. He left his sixteen year-old wife behind in China for nine years and she only joined him once he had successfully established a medical practice, after which she opened a cafe in Tingha. 98 The brothers moved to Uralla in 14 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

the 1930s, but their sister Victoria Tet Fong remained in Tingha, where, after just one month's training, she was appointed as the only teacher at Tingha's Aboriginal school. 99 Bill Tet Fong was hooker for Uralla when it won the 1935 New England first grade grand final and was frequently selected in the New England representative team from 1932 to 1935. He was appointed as one ofUralla's two auditors in 1935 and his brother George served on the club's general committee the same year. 100 Uralla was unable to field a team in 1937 but when the club was revived in 1938, Bill Tet Fong was elected as its treasurer.101 He served as both treasurer and secretary in 1939, during which he established a sinking fund for injured players and negotiated with Uralla's mayor to erect lights at Hampden Park for training purposes.102 The Tet Fong brothers rarely played together as they were both hookers and in competition for the same position. Except for a handful of matches at lock, Sam Tet Fong only played first grade when Bill was unavailable. However, Sam Tet Fong was the first choice hooker for Uralla's Nine and a Half Stone representative side, which won the Crewe Cup in June 1932 and successfully defended it for two seasons. His career highlight was the 1933 reserve grade grand final when euphoric Uralla fans carried him from the field on their shoulders after he scored a try in the closing minutes of Uralla's 10-0 victory over Rocky River. 103 Sam was also an accomplished musician who listed his occupation as grocer and cornet player when he joined the army in World War II.104 In all probability, he was a member of Uralla's town band with his brother Harry, a prominent Uralla cricketer, whom the band elected as its librarian and one of its two vice-presidents at its annual meeting in 1938.105 Tingha halfback Norman 'Chook' Cue was in the Northwest regional team that played Glen Innes on 17 April 1938, while his younger brother Warren Cue was a member of Tingha's reserve grade and Ten Stone team in the late 1930s.106 West Armidale fullback/winger Mick Hong was in the New England Seconds representative team that played in curtain-raisers to several challenge matches in 1936,107 while Arthur Ah Cue was halfback for Texas (where Harry Fay had extensive business interests) when it travelled to Tenterfield for a challenge cup match in 1937.108 Many more Chinese Australians featured in first or reserve grade teams in New England during the 1930s but did not play at representative level. Conclusion Little over a decade ago, Chinese Australians were unable to command a single chapter in Sporting Immigrants. This article, coupled with existing studies on Australian Rules and cycling, and the obvious potential for further research in these and other sports, suggests that Chinese-Australian sports history could now easily sustain an entire book. Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 15

Recent scholarship on Chinese-Australian history has endeavoured to illuminate the lives and stories of individuals previously erased as members of a faceless minority grouped under the banner 'Chinese'. This article has continued that focus on individuals, profiling Chinese-Australian sponsors and representative players, but going beyond their rugby league achievements to briefly consider their families, occupations, hobbies, political activities and business interests. Amidst the racism of White Australia and the economic hardship of the Depression years, Chinese Australians in New England maintained an ongoing attachment to Chinese cultural practices and diasporic groups, while further consolidating their place within the wider Australian community.

Notes

The author would like to thank Diane Archer, Chris Curtin, Noel Manwar, Marina Mar, Ron Showyin and Abbie Yum for their generosity and assistance.

1 Glen Innes Examiner; 15 August 1933, p. 5. 2 lnverell Times, 29 August 1934, p. 6. 3 Glen Innes Examiner; 9 May 1935, p. 3. 4 Gregor Benton, Chinese Migrants and Internationalism: Forgotten Histories, 1917-45, Routledge, London, 2007, p. 72. 5 lnverell Times, 13 July 1932, p. 4. 6 Janis Wilton, Golden Threads: The Chinesein Regional New South Wales, 1850-1950, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 2004, passim. 7 Brian Stoddart, Saturday Afternoon Fever: Sport in the Australian Culture, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1986, p. 174. 8 Jennifer Cushman, 'A "Colonial Casualty": The Chinese Community in Australian Historiography', Asian Studies Association of Australia Review, vol. 7, no. 3, 1984, pp. 100-01. 9 Pau! McGregor, 'Chinese? Australian? The Limits of Geography and Ethnicity as Determinants of. Cultural Identity', in Jan Ryan Ced.l, Chinese in Australia and New Zealand, A Multidisciplinary Approach, New Age International: New Delhi, 1995, pp. 5-19. 10 Robyn On, 'The Chung Wah Society: Past and Present', in Glenys Dimond Ced.), Sweet and Sour: Experiences of Chinese Families in the Northern Territory, Museum &Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 1996, pp. 39-49. 11 Diana Giese, Astronauts, Lost Souls and Dragons: Voices of Today's Chinese Australians in Conversation with Diana Giese, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1997. 12 Henry Chan, 'Becoming Australian: An Afterword', in Sophie Couchman, John Fitzgerald and Paul McGregor Ceds), After the Rush: Regulation, 16 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

Participation and Chinese Communities in Australia, Otherland, Melbourne, 2004, pp. 241-42. 13 Charles Little, 'Asia Minor League', Loosehead, vol. 1, no. 2, 1998, p. 15. 14 Phillip Mosely, Richard Cashman, John O'Hara and Hilary Weatherburn Ceds), Sporting Immigrants: Sport and Ethnicity in Australia, 'vVaiia 'vVaiia Press: Sydney, 1997, pp. 179-80, 189. For a brief biography of Koochew, see Tony De Bolfo, "'China Blue": The Wally Koochew Story', http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu .au/stories/koochew. htm, accessed 16 April 2009. 15 Andrew Honey, 'Sport, Immigration Restriction and Race: The Operation of the White Australia Policy', in Richard Cashman, John O'Hara and Andrew Honey (eds), Sport, Federation, Nation, Walla Walla Press: Sydney, 2001, pp. 26-46. 16 Richard Cashman, Sport in the National Imagination: Australian Sport in the Federation Decades, Walla Walla Press: Sydney, 2002, pp. 145-51. 17 Rob Hess, "'A Death Blow to the White Australia Policy": Australian Rules Football and Chinese Communities in Victoria, 1892-1908', in Sophie Couchman, John Fitzgerald and Paul McGregor Ceds), After the Rush: Regulation, Participation and Chinese Communities in Australia, Otherland, Melbourne, 2004, pp. 89-106; Rob Hess, 'Chinese Footballers and Female Players: Discontinuous and Marginalized Histories', in Bob Stewart, Rob Hess and ~v1atthevv f'~icholson (eds), Football Fever: Grassroots, Maribyrnong Press, Melbourne, 2004, pp. 31-50. 18 Julia Martinez, 'Separatism and Solidarity: Chinese and Aboriginal Sporting Connections', in Penny Edwards & Shen Yuanfang (eds), Lost in the Whitewash: Aboriginal-Asian Encounters in Australia, 1901-2001, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, 2003, pp. 103-13. 19 Sophie Couchman, 'Riding with the Best of Them: Chinese Australians and Cycling in Australia', in Clare S. Simpson Ced), Scorchers, Ramblers and Rovers: Australasian Cycling Histories, Australian Society for Sports History, Melbourne, 2006, pp. 57-76. 20 Adelaide Advertiser, 21 January 1946, p. 3. Additional matches covered in next two issues. 21 Wyalong Advocate, 3 June 1919, p. 2; 22 September 1922, p. 1. 22 Referee, 26 May 1915, p. 12. 23 Elizabeth Wiedemann, Holding Its Own: The lnverell District since 1919, lnverell Shire Council, lnverell, 1998, p. 217. 24 Evadene Swanson, 'Chinese Immigrants in New England', Armidale & District Historical Society Journal & Proceedings, no. 11, 1968, p. 33. 25 Janis Wilton, 'Chinese Stores in Rural Australia', in Kerrie L. McPherson Ced.), Asian Department Stores, Curzon Press, Surrey, 1998, pp. 92-93. 26 Elizabeth Wiedemann, World of Its Own: lnverel/'s Early Years, 1827-1920, Devill Publicity, lnverell, 1981, p. 187. 27 Wiedemann, World of Its Own, p. 85. Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England l 7

28 Ian Lobsey, The Creek: A History of Emmavil/e and District, 1872-1972, Emmaville Centenary Celebrations Committee, Glen Innes, 1972, pp. 37-38. 29 Gloria Davies, 'Liang Qichao in Australia: A Sojourn of No Significance?', East Asian History, no. 21, 2001, p. 107. 30 John Fitzgerald, Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2007, pp. 85-89. 31 Benton, Chinese Migrants and Internationalism, pp. 87-88. 32 Wilton, 'Chinese Stores', p. 93. 33 Fitzgerald, Big White Lie, pp. 192-98. 34 Wilton, 'Chinese Stores', pp. 109-11. 35 Janis Wilton, Hong Yuen: A Country Store and Its People, Armidale College of Advanced Education, Armidale, 1988, p. 22. 36 Ron Pickering, Tingha's 100 Years of Football: Rugby Union 1890-1927, Rugby League 1928-1990, Pickering, Tlngha, 1990, p. 18; Lynton Rhodes, 70 Years, 1918-1988: A History of Rugby League in Tenterfield, Tenterfield Rugby League Football Club, Tenterfield, 1988, p. 6. 37 lnverell Times, 11 May 1931, p. 2. 38 Glen Innes Examiner, 21 June 1932, p. 4. 39 lnverel/ Times, 15 May 1935, p. 2. 40 lnverell Times, 17 June 1932, p. 3. 41 lnverell Times, 30 August 1933, p. 4. 42 Ural/a Times, 18 June 1936, p. 1. 43 lnverell Times, 20 April 1932, p. 4. 44 lnverell Times, 13 May 1932, p. 4. 45 Wiedemann, World of Its Own, p. 188. 46 Wilton, 'Chinese Stores', p. 102. 47 Wilton, 'Chinese Stores', pp. 104-05. 48 Wilton, Hong Yuen, p. 21. 49 Wilton, Hong Yuen, p. 5. 50 Wilton, Hong Yuen, pp. 30-31. 51 Wilton, Hong Yuen p. 58. 52 Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August 1942, p. 8. 53 lnverell Times, 6 August 1943, p. 4. 54 lnverell Times, 10 November 1944, p. 4. 55 lnverell Times, 29 September 1933, p. 8. 56 Wilton, Hong Yuen, p. 61. 57 lnverel/ Times, 5 June 1929, p. 8. 58 lnverel/ Times, 26 August 1938, p. 8. 59 Wilton, Hong Yuen, p. 61. 60 lnverel/ Times, 27 June 1932, p. 4. 61 'lnverell Items', Country Rugby League Record, vol. 1, no. 6, 1935, p. 7. 62 Pickering, Tingha's 100 Years of Football, p. 31. 18 sport1ngTRADITIONS VOLUME 26 no 1 MAY 2009

63 Helen Brown, Tin at Tingha, Brown, Armidale, 1982, p. 108. 64 National Archives of Australia CNAA): ST84/1 Certificate of Exemption from Dictation Test, 1931/489/91-100; NAA: ST84/1, 1931/490/1-10. 65 Alexander McRobbie, The Fabulous Gold Coast, Pan News, Surfers Paradise, 1984, p. 85. 66 NAA: ST84/1, 1908/1-10; NAA: ST84/1, 1931/489/91-100; NAA: ST84/1, 1931/490/1-10. 67 Margaret Jean Baker, 'A Sociological Survey of Tingha', Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, University of Sydney, 1943, p. 58. 68 Baker, 'Sociological Survey', pp. 77-78. 69 Baker, 'Sociological Survey', p. 83. 70 lnverell Times, 30 July 1928, p. 8. 71 Australian Town and Country Journal, 23 March 1889, p. 40. 72 Wiedemann, Holding Its Own, pp. 216-17. 73 Australian and European Miniatures, Art Gallery of r-.Jew South Wales, Sydney, 1992, p. 4. 74 Lobsey, The Creek, p. 67. 75 Rhodes, 70 Years, pp. 6-12. 76 Baker, 'Sociological Survey', p. 49. 77 Baker, 'Sociological Survey', pp. 34-36. 78 lnverel/ Times, 2 June 1933, p. 7. 79 lnverel/ Times, 30 April 1937, p. 4. 80 lnverell Times, 5 October 1945, p. 4. 81 NAA: 82455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, Guan, Charles Henry. 82 Wilton, Hong Yuen, pp. 47-54. 83 Wilton, Hong Yuen, p. 45; Noel Manwar, letter to author, 16 July 2008. 84 lnverel/ Times, 3 November 1943, p. 3. 85 NSW Chinese Tennis Association, http://www.nswcta.org.au/ about us.html, accessed 14 September 2008. 86 Australian Baseball Federation, http://www.baseball.com.au/ ?Page=15246, accessed 14 September 2008. 87 Joe Clark, A History of Australian Baseball: Time and Game, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2003, pp. 54-56. 88 lnverell Times, 17 June 1931, p. 3. 89 lnverell Times, 5 June 1933, p. 4. 90 lnverell Times, 16 July 1934, p. 4. 91 New South Wales Registry of Births Death & Marriages, Marriage Certificate, 1935/20843. 92 Ron Showyin, letter to author, 2 April 2008. 93 Glen Innes Examiner; 13 June 1933, p. 2. 94 Glen Innes Examiner; 25 July 1933, p. 5. 95 Glen Innes Examiner; 29 July 1933, p. 5. Rodney Noonan Chinese Department Stores, Rugby League and the Great Depression in New England 19

96 Glen Innes Examiner; 19 September 1933. p. 2. 97 Ural/a Ttmes. 5 October 1933. p. 5. 98 Brown. Ttn at Ttngha. pp. 101. 145. 99 Wiedemann. Holding Its Own. p. 177. 100 Ural/a Ttmes. 4 April 1935. p. 3. 101 Ural/a Ttmes. 31 March 1938. p. 3. 102 Ural/a Ttmes. 4 May 1939. p. 3. 103 Ural/a Ttmes. 21 September 1933. p. 7. 104 NAA: 8883 Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers. 1939-47. NX134697. 105 Ural/a Ttmes, 19 May 1938. p. 4. 106 Pickering. Ttngha's 100 Years of Football. pp. 32-34. 107 Guyra Argus. 11 June 1936. p. 2; Armidale Express. 7 September 1936, p. 2. 108 Tenterfield Star, 24 June 1937. p. 7.