MS 9059 Papers of Kwong Sue Duk (1853-1929)
Summary
Creator: Kwong Sue Duk
Title: Papers
Date range: 1891-2001
Reference number: MS 9059
Extent: 14cm (1 box) + 1 folio box and 1 elephant folio
Administrative Information
Access
Restricted
Provenance
The collection was donated to the National Library in several
instalments by descendants of Kwong Sue Duk, during the period November 1996 to
February 2002.
The papers of Kwong Sue Duk and his descendants include a diary, in
Chinese, written by Kwong Sue Duk at the end of the 19th century; genealogical
histories of his 2nd, 3rd and 4th wives; letters (some in Chinese), written
between 1930 and 1954 by a son, Kwong Kong Lim, at one time Chinese
Consul-General of the Philippine Islands and containing family news and a large
group of photographs, one album of which is arranged in sections for
descendants of each wife.
Also included is the 1901 christening jacket of May (Mui Ying) Kwong,
daughter of Kwong Sue Duks 4th wife, a family tree of the descendants of
Kwong Sue Duk, a video of the life of Kwong Sue Duk entitled Kwong Sue Duk:
a man of family and interview transcripts for interviews held in April
1997 with Hamilton and Dorothy Chan. Dorothy Chan was the granddaughter of
Kwong Sue Duk. The interviews were undertaken for the Australia-China Oral
History Project by Ms Rosalie Hiah.
Arrangement
The material in this collection is listed and described by folder or
item number.
Related Material
Material held by the Manuscript Section of the National Library:
- The papers of Arthur Calwell (MS 4738, Series 12, Box 40) feature one
folder relating to applications by Kwong Sue Duk for copies of birth
certificates.
Material held by the Oral History Section of the National Library:
- Interview with Paul Campbell, school principal, on his involvement
with the Kwong Sue Duk family history project. Campbell talks about his
involvement in the Kwong family history project and his work as the producer of
the video, Kwong Sue Duk : a man of family. He talks about the
reunions of the descendants of Kwong Sue Duk and the development of the
suggestion to produce a video, initially as a souvenir for the Cairns reunion
and finally as a commercial product. Interviewed by Diana Giese on May 7, 1996
in Cairns. (ORAL TRC 3448)
- Interview with Denise Lee Long. Lee Long talks about the organisation
of the 1984 Kwong family reunion and her relationship to Kwong Sue Duk; what it
means being Chinese; the project to bring back the ashes of Kwong Sue Duk;
memories of great-grandmother, Lykin; her personal experiences of racism and
her home life. Interviewed by Diana Giese on May 12, 1996 in Mt. Molloy,
Queensland. (ORAL TRC 3451)
- Interview with Jenni Campbell, teacher, on her involvement with the
Kwong Sue Duk family history project. Interviewed by Diana Giese on May 13,
1996 in Cairns, Queensland. (ORAL TRC 3452)
- Interview with Warren Lee Long, marine biologist and Director of the
Kwong Sue Duk family history video project. Lee Long speaks of his
long-standing interest in Chinese culture stemming from his school days, how he
learnt to take pride in his Chinese ethnicity and how he learnt Chinese
cultural traditions from his family. Interviewed by Diana Giese on May 15, 1996
in Cairns, Queensland. (ORAL TRC 3453)
- Interview with Roma Leong. Leong talks about her earliest family
memories; travelling to Hong Kong with family from Queensland and living there
for four years; returning to Queensland; starting school; taking up clerical
work; her marriage in 1949; the family of Kwong Sue Duk and a trip to her
ancestral village near Shekki in southern China. Interviewed by Diana Giese on
February 22, 1997 in Cairns, Queensland. (ORAL TRC 3567)
Kwong Sue Duk was a Chinese herbalist and entrepreneur. He was born in
Guangdong Province, Southern China in 1853. As a young man, he spent several
years in the Californian gold fields, returning to China to study traditional
Chinese medicine. Kwong Sue Duk migrated to Australia with his first wife in
1875 and established a general store in Darwin, trading under the name of Sun
Mow Loong. He went on to establish extensive business interests in Queensland,
the Northern Territory and Victoria, and his reputation as a healer became
known throughout Australia, particularly on the gold fields. Kwong Sue Duk
played a major role in establishing a place and acceptance for the Chinese in
Australia.
Kwong Sue Duks family was eventually to include four wives and 24
children and his over 800 descendants are to be found today in eleven
countries. Kwong Sue Duk died in Townsville on 17 February 1929.
Box 1
Folder
1 Letters from Kwong Sue Duks son Lim (in English), 1930-1954
Early family photographs
2 Letters (in Chinese), 1891 and 1930
3 Transcripts of interviews with Dorothy and Hamilton Chan, 1997
4 Account book (in Chinese) kept by Kwong Sue Duk, c1903
5 Letters (in Chinese) from Kwong Sue Duk, 1920s
6 Genealogical histories (in Chinese) of Kwong Sue Duks 2nd wife,
Chen Ngor Kwei (1867-1924), whom he married in 1886 and his 3rd wife, Yuen Yuk
Lau (1870-1936), whom he married in 1887
7 Copy of a family tree, compiled by Kwong Sue Duks son, Victor
Lists of family histories from the village in which Kwong Sue Duk was born
Copy of the ACT Chinese newspaper, containing an article reporting
on the 2001 Kwong Sue Duk family reunion in Canberra
8 Genealogical history of Kwong Sue Duks 4th wife, Wong Kwei Far
(1878-1938), whom he married in 1899
Folio Box 1
Item
1 Diary of Kwong Sue Duk (in Chinese), late 1900s
2-3 Letters from Kwong Sue Duk to his family (in Chinese), 1925
4 Newspaper cutting of a photograph of Kwong Sue Duk and his family,
1922
5 Photograph album compiled by Kwong Sue Duks son, Victor,
arranged in sections for the descendants of each of Kwong Sue Duks four
wives
6 Loose pages from a family photograph album
7 Copy of the Kwong family video Kwong Sue Duk: a man of
family, 1996
8 Christening jacket of May (Mui Ying) Kwong, first daughter of Kwong
Sue Duks 4th wife, Wong Kwei Far, 1901
Elephant folio
Genealogical chart of the Kwong Sue Duk family tree, produced in
2001
February 2002 |