chinesesettlers

Research showed that Forday, born in Canton , had left Cooktown for China aboard Changsha on August 12, l915 and returned to Townsville in March 1918; on arrival back in Australia he had been exempted from the dictation test under the Immigration Restriction Act 1901-1908, the White Australia Policy. The Forday name brought back fond memories from Darwin of Chinese - Australian, Timmy Forday , whose father, just 11, came out from China in 1888 to work for an uncle who ran a store for miners in Cooktown. His name was Lee For Dai, but somehow the shipping authorities gave him the surname Forday during the voyage to Australia. Timmy's mother, his father's second wife, Kim Sing Fong, was born in Darwin. Timmy had a varied career in the newspaper and printing industry. Starting as a linotype operator/ compositor at the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, he worked in Cairns, Innisfail, Townsville, Mackay, Sydney, and Brisbane. For a time he produced the Chinese Chimes, run off on a Gestetner, the front page of which was a stencil designed by Brisbane herbalist Willy Sou San that usually included a dragon and Chinese symbols. Young Australian-Chinese across the nation received the publication. An adventurous person, Timmy went to New Guinea and worked on the South Pacific Post. With gusto and chuckles, he often told how he decided to move back to Australia when the Papuans told him they would " eat " him when they gained self-rule. Not wanting to become a Chinese takeaway, he headed for Darwin. In Darwin, he was doing his washing at the back of the NT News one night when a large python slid through the window and Timmy took to his heels, a workmate chased the snake about the building with a speargun. Timmy's mates in the boisterous News factory often yelled out there was a python on the premises which felt Chinamen were very tasty. Source: littledarwin.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-chinese-in-north-qu... An enterprising couple , Timmy and his wife had several business ventures , one being a toy shop at Parap trading as Tim the Toy Man with the Humphrey B. Bear of TV fame franchise . When the star bear visited Darwin for Timmy the Toyman police had to control the crowd. Timmy opened a video business and set up a centre for the many reporters covering the Azaria Chamberlain case .

This is a handwritten notice, the body of which is in Chinese characters, informing Chinese miners about the 'Gold Fields Regulations' and 'Gold Fields Act'. The notice is 15 columns wide with approximately 25 characters running down each column. Below the heading, in smaller script, is written 'By Order / of the Commissioner / J.G. McDonald Esqre / Charters-Towers / May 1st 1873' and 'Translated by / James McHenley / Anglo-Chinese Linguist'. The edges of the paper are worn in places and there are pin holes in each corner. Acknowledgements: Reproduced courtesy of State Library of Queensland. Written by James McHenley. - This translated notice was meant to inform the rapidly increasing numbers of Chinese miners of the mining regulations in force in 1873 on the Charters Towers goldfield. - The majority of Chinese miners would not have been able to read this notice because they came from impoverished backgrounds such as farming, where literacy rates in terms of written characters were low. - Many people on the gold fields at the time, including the Chinese miners, could not read or write. Anyone reading, translating or scribing for somebody else had to be trustworthy, as they were relied upon to be accurate and honest. - As indicated on the notice, the law in operation on Qld gold fields in 1873 was the 'Gold Fields Act', a New South Wales Act dating from 1857, and its accompanying regulations. - In 1873 the official in charge of administering the Act and regulations at Charters Towers was Commissioner J G McDonald and, as the image shows, he ordered that this notice be prepared. - The 'Anglo-Chinese Linguist' who prepared this notice was James McHenley who, after graduating from a Scottish university, had studied Canton dialects and the written Chinese language at a college in China for three years. Source: fusecontent.education.vic.gov.au/d15f22e5-8ec2-4747-9c55-...

I believe that the term "Joss" has been found to be a derogatory term.

Marjorie Earl When describing historic images in our collection we use descriptive information that might accompany the photograph, as in this case as well as more contemporary subject headings. The term "Joss" does now have deragatory overtones, but it was the term in common usage at the time this photograph was taken, when joss houses were part of the architecture and culture of the Chinese community in Queensland. Our catalogue records also reflect the term "Chinese Temple" which we have added as a tag to this record. Thanks for your comment.