Chinese History

In 1861 just on 30% of the  Araluen district’s miners were Chinese… and they tended to live in their own enclaves…

• Long Flat (at Majors Creek)
• At the bottom of Bell's Creek Waterfall
• At (one of the six suburbs of Araluen) Mudmelong

Here are three separate stories of the Chinese in the gold fields.

Wealth was the drawcard, but being poor most had to borrow from Cantonese merchants for their passage. 'Group prices' were lower so they travelled in hundreds. Once here, they kept to themselves partly for 'comfort', partly because the country was so alien and partly because they all worked the mullock heaps that European miners had left for more promising new areas. But successful they were with their traditional methods of waterwheels and pumps.


Much of the wealth they won went back to their families. The Chinese (then as now) were great gamblers ‘though they gambled on Fan Tan more so than the horseraces. Some allegedly smoked opium as was their custom at home – and who knows what went on (the miners certainly didn’t although they suspected many strange things) in those Joss Houses?

When they had accumulated enough wealth they went home (and told stories about their exploits and the almost unbelievably strange and wondrous things they saw).

But not all fitted into this majority pattern. Here is the story of Quong Tart (1850-1903), a Marco Polo in reverse (in that he came from Asia to 'the west').

Quong Tart of the Crystal Button

Quong Tart arrived as a boy from Canton to be with his uncle at Bell’s Creek gold field where he started (aged 9) working in Mr. Forsyth’s store. Quong Tart must have inherited his father’s mercantile genes. His acumen and intelligence were noticed by the Simpsons who (amongst other things) employed 210 Chinese miners. They all but adopted Tart. He learnt mining and acted as an interpreter. At age 14 he was given the present of a lease. He struck gold… and his star started to rise.

Quong Tart was an anglophile. He dressed as an English gent and owned a race horse. He was naturalised in 1871. He then went in partnership with this first patron, Forsyth, became a Freemason and an active and respected member of the community.


He and his brother opened 'tea rooms' in Sydney that became a social highlight. He married a scarlet woman (a young teacher from Braidwood, Margaret Scarlett) and travelled the state as a de facto Consul for China promoting trade and smoothing over racial conflicts that flared from time to time. He was awarded Mandarin of The Crystal Button And Peacock Feather (the equivalent of a British knighthood).

This dynamic and productive man was attacked by a burglar with a lead pipe in his office in The Queen Victoria Building. He died a year later. The waste was palpable.

The following recipe for the 'Quong Tart', was devised by Jen, Nat and Angela from Cafe Altenburg in Braidwood, it is delicious, try it out for yourself...

Quong Tart
The base of the tart was made to a traditional Scottish shortbread recipe (for his Scottish foster family in Australia and the idea of a Chinese man of impeccable dignity choosing to wear a kilt on occasion):

4ozs caster sugar
8ozs butter
12ozs plain flour

Rub butter and sugar together until it looks like a crumbly pastry mix and then add flour. Chill and press into a flan tin. Weigh down with beans (it will slump a lot more than a conventional pastry mix so be generous) and bake in a mod oven and once it has semi-baked, remove the beans and paper, brush with a small amount of lightly beaten egg white and bake until reasonably crisp. Allow to cool and sprinkle with a small amount of caster sugar before filling it.

Fill with a custard filling (for the prevailing Englishness of Australia at the time and the tone of his famous tearooms):

4 eggs (or 2 eggs and 2-3 egg yolks)
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons of caster sugar
a good splash of vanilla essence
A squeeze of mandarin juice (optional)

Whisk eggs together and stir milk, cream and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Combine the two and pour into shell. Bake in a mod - cool oven (160º C or so) for about an hour – but check that the exposed pastry edge isn't burning (cover the edge with foil if necessary). When just set remove from oven and allow to cool.

Decorate with rings of mandarin (for his Chinese family's high Crystal Button status) and slices of kiwi fruit (formerly known as Chinese gooseberry) so it looks a bit like an orange and green target.

Brush with a glaze of warmed, strained marmalade – so it's all shiny and pretty.

Our last story has a happier ending…

The Nomchongs, Who Stayed & Thrived

Chee Dock Nomchong arrived in Australia in 1877 and opened a general store at Mongarlowe with his brother Ah Fuon. When his brother died Chee Dock moved to Braidwood. In 1886 he went back to China and returned with his wife, Mary. The Nomchongs won the respect of the local community because of his compassion and quiet help to those in trouble. The Nomchong store was a treasure trove of things rural and domestic. His inventories provide a deep insight into the lifestyle of the day: farm supplies, hardware, groceries, vegetables, fruit, petrol and oils – the store also bought skins, eucalyptus oil and wattle bark (for tanning).



The Great Depression of the 1890’s rocked the business. His fourteen children pitched in and saved the business. Chee Dock introduced motor lorries to the district. He died in 1941, aged 87. His grandson, Edward (Eddy) Nomchong will be happy to supply you with electrical and white goods from his Wallace St. store.

* Image Acknowledgements - credit page