Chong Chew

Chong Chew in 1904 NAA ST 84/1, 1904/31-40

Chong Chew's name does not appear in any of North Sydney Council's records or in Sands Directory, Sydney's residential and commercial almanac.

There was a Samuel Ah Chew who operated stores in Lane Cove from the 1890s through to 1910 but it is unlikely this was the same man (Explore Records).

The Chong Chew who applied to leave Australia temporarily on 2 February 1904 gave his address as 'Waterfall North Sydney', and his occupation as 'gardener', on his Certificate of Domicile – the document that allowed him to re-enter Australia. Chew, it seems, worked on one of the gardens in present-day Cammeray alongside the creek that ran to Willoughby Falls – the 'Waterfall' he referred to on his Certificate (St Leonards Map West). Chong Chew declared that he had a share in a garden which indicates a financial stake in the lease.

Chew returned to Australia in April 1905. That was a relatively short trip. Some men stayed away for three or more years, attending to family business or even visiting wives left behind in China. The brevity of Chew's trip was probably a good thing. The Cammeray market gardens were destroyed after subdivision for suburban allotments in 1907.

Thirty-six year old Chew had come to Sydney in 1890 in his early 20s. He must have made an impression upon those he met with his striking features and stature. At just under six feet (182 cms) he was unusually tall, even by the colonial average. Despite being in Australia for 14 years by 1904, Chew had kept his traditional Qing-era queue (ponytail) and even wore it loose for the Customs portrait where others wound theirs around the head.

Life had not been easy for the market gardener. His Certificate of Domicile noted small pox scarring and a large scar on his neck – presumably the result of an accident or violence. The photographs taken by Australian Customs as part of this documentation provide a rare portrait record of a Chinese North Sydney market gardener.