Family History

Ep 6: Sophie and Nik on Chinese Australian Whispers

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Dr Sophie Couchman and Nikolaus Yee
Sophie on her first day at school in Singapore (Courtesy S. Couchman)
Nikolaus with his Dad in Melbourne (Courtesy N. Yee)
Marie, Paula, Sophie, Peter, Terry

In this episode you have an opportunity to meet Nik. Nikolaus Yee is my nephew and has helped edit and bring this podcast series to fruition. Nik’s father was born in Myanmar to Chinese parents and he came to Australia in the early 1980s. In creating ‘Chinese Australian Whispers’ Nik and I listened to all the interviews and oral histories. We found we had a few things we wanted to say about them too!

Further reading:

Featuring:

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.

Ep 5: Ting and music

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Dr Sophie Couchman and Dr Wang Zheng-Ting
Dr Wang Zheng-Ting with a sheng
Hulu, Chinese instrument (Wikimedia)
Chinese Music in Australia – Victoria

Wang Zheng-Ting composed and performed the music for this podcast. In this episode Sophie Couchman talks with him about his research as an ethnomusicologist and how being Chinese Australian has shaped his musical development.

Further reading:

  • Wang, Zheng-Ting, Chinese Music in Australia – Victoria, 1850s to mid 1990s, Melbourne: Australia Asia Foundation, 1997.
  • Wang, Zheng-Ting and Doggett, Anne, ‘Chinese music on the Victorian goldfields, Victorian Historical Journal, 78 (2), 2007: 170-186.
  • Wang, Zheng-Ting, ‘The Gangzhou Yueju Quyishe’ in Nicholas Ng (ed), Encounters: Musical Meetings Between China and Australia, Toowong, Qld: Australian Academic Press, 2012: 3-19.
  • Wang Zheng-Ting on Spotify.
  • 2016 National Folk Festival Concert performed by Wang Zheng-Ting and the Australian Chinese Music Ensemble at the National Library of Australia.

Featuring:

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.

Ep 4: Peter and William on bananas

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Sophie Couchman and Peter Liefman, 2024
William Sang Fong, 2010 (MCAH)
Sang Goon & Co stencil (Coffs Harbour Regional Museum)
Tim Young & Co stencil (Coffs Harbour Regional Museum)

Bananas are, and were, big business but also dangerous. They were integral to the family fortunes of Peter and William.

In this episode Sophie speaks with family historian Peter Liefman, whose grandfather was a large wholesale banana merchant with connections to lawyer William Ah Ket. We discuss an oral history recording with William Sang Fong who worked in the fruit and vegetable wholesaling business with his father.

Tim Young & Co banana stores 247-249 Franklin Street Melbourne (copyright held by Leong family)
William ‘Bill’ Fong, Wholesale Fruit Merchants’ Association, 1934 (Melbourne Markets)
Sang Goon & Co letterhead, 1934 (NAA)
William and Ivy Fong, 1913 (Courtesy P. Liefman)

Further reading:

Featuring:

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.

Ep 3: Paula and Fay on Ballaarat

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Sophie Couchman and Paula Herlihy
Fay Anderson, 2010 (MCAH)
Frederick William Tucker (born Frederick William Ah Kew), c1887 (Courtesy P. Herlihy)
F.S. (Frank Shum) Goon, undated (MCAH, F. Anderson collection)

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.

Ada Elizabeth Goon (nee Mahlook), late 1930s (MCAH, F. Anderson collection)
Hartpury Court, Elwood, 2024
King Yin Lei, Hong Kong
Frederick Tucker during WWII (Courtesy Paula Herlihy)

Further reading:

Featuring:

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.

Ep 2: Marie and Wally on general stores

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Sophie Couchman and Marie Hammond, 2024
Wally Kwan, 2011 (MCAH)
George Woon, undated (Courtesy M. Hammond)
Kwong family rural general store network (Golden Threads)

Rural Australia, family businesses and rebellion connect Marie and Wally’s families but there is much that is different about their families’ experiences too.

In this episode Sophie speaks with family historian Marie Hammond, whose father worked as a market gardener, cabinetmaker and finally ran a general store in Red Cliffs (Vic). We discuss an oral history recording with Wally Kwan whose father ran a general store in Stanthorpe (Qld) which was part of the large Kwong Sing & Co network of rural stores.

Stanthorpe, Qld, 1950s (Vintage Qld)
Red Cliffs, Victoria, 1945 (SLV)

Further reading:

Featuring:

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.

Ep 1: Terry and Alex on market gardens

Chinese Australian Whispers podcast
Dr Sophie Couchman and Terry Young, 2024
Alex Woon, 2011 (MCAH)
Terry Young, 1959 (Courtesy T. Young)
Alex Woon enlistment photograph, c1938 (NAA)

Market gardens, hawkers and the Queen Vic Market connect two Chinese Australian families in Coburg in Melbourne, Australia and Wonggaili, Xinhui, Guangdong (旺嘉里, 新会, 广东) in southern China.

In this episode Sophie speaks with family historian Terry Young, whose grandfather was a market gardener and his father a worked at the Queen Victoria Markets. We discuss an oral history recording with Alex Woon whose father, Alexander Ah Woon, also worked in the Queen Victoria Markets.

Alexander Woon, undated (Courtesy B. de Silva)
Kongmoon area, 1940s
William Ah Young and his brother Wah Lok, c1925 (Courtesy T. Young)
Alexander Woon’s name seals (Courtesy B. de Silva)

Further reading:

Featuring:

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.