Music, war and broken families both feature in Paula and Fay’s family histories but the thing that connects them most of all is a town. Ballarat.
In this episode Sophie speaks with family historian Paula Herlihy, whose grandfather was adopted when her great grandfather left her great grandmother with a large family to raise. We discuss an oral history recording with Fay Anderson whose grandfather was a prominent Ballarat herbalist, F.S. Goon, who later settled in Hong Kong.
Further reading:
- Paula Herlihy, ‘Frederick William Tucker, originally Frederick William Ah Kew (1882–1950)‘, Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria website.
- The 2FC Studio orchestra, ‘Home to Ballaarat‘, The HEHR Archive, 2024.
- Goon family photographs, Chinese Australian Historical Images in Australia.
- Rey Tiquia, ‘“Bottling” an Australian Medical Tradition: Traditional Chinese Medicine during the Australian Federation‘, in After the Rush: Regulation, participation, and Chinese Communities in Australia 1860-1940.
- ‘Stories of Chinese Anzacs and Chinese Australian WWII Soldiers‘, Museum of Chinese Australian history website.
- Chinese-Australian WWII fighter initially rejected from RAAF because he wasn’t ‘substantially European’, ABC Radio Melbourne, 2020.
- ‘King Yin Lei historical mansion‘, Wikipedia.
- ‘Medicine – Traditional Chinese‘, Chinese Australian Historical Images in Australia (archived), further reading and resources about Chinese herbalists.
- Oral history recordings with Chinese Australian in Australian public collections, compiled 2023, hosted by CAFHOV
Featuring:
- Dr Sophie Couchman, Professional Historian and Curator
- Paula Herlihy, Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria
- Fay Anderson (1934-2014) interviewed by Sophie Couchman for the Museum of Chinese Australian History in 2011.
- Music composed and performed for the podcast by Dr Wang Zheng-Ting.
- Final audio mastering by Nat Grant.
Full Transcript
Transcript in progress. Available soon.
This episode was created with in-kind support from the Museum of Chinese Australian History, the Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria, Dr Sophie Couchman and Nikolaus Yee.
This project gratefully acknowledges the Local History Grants Program and Public Record Office Victoria, supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund.
Sophie Couchman 
