Mei Quong Tart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mei Quong Tart (梅光達; pinyin: méi guāng dá) (1850-1903) was a leading nineteenth century Sydney merchant and importer from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities, and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment in Australia.
Contents |
[edit] Public life
A prominent businessman, he owned a network of tearooms in the Sydney Arcade, the Royal Arcade and King Street. His crowning success was the ‘Elite Hall’ in the Queen Victoria Market, now the Queen Victoria Building. He was also a community leader, well connected with the local political and social elites. An acting consular to the imperial Chinese government at the time, the Chinese Emperor made him a Mandarin of the fifth degree in 1887, in acknowledgment of his services to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia.
He was an active philanthropist, and often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for recipients ranging from the Benevolent Society home at Liverpool, to the newsboys of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon and Burwood.
He also had progressive ideas about Sydney social politics. His tea rooms were the site of the first meetings of Sydney's suffragettes, and he devised new and improved employment policies for staff. He advocated for the rights of Chinese Australians, and campaigned against the opium trade.
[edit] Early life
Quong Tart was born as Mei Guangda in 1850 in the village of Longtengli, in the Guangdong province of China [1]. His father was a fairly successful merchant [2]. He immigrated to Australia in 1859 with his uncle to work on the goldfields around Araluen and Braidwood in regional New South Wales. Once at Braidwood, Quong Tart becau working for Thomas Forsyth, a Scottish storekeeper. A few years later, Quong Tart was taken in by the wealthy Alice Simpson, who was charmed by his Scottish accent [3]. Under the Simpsons, Quong Tart learnt to behave as a proper English gentleman [4].
At aged 21, Quong Tart became a British subject, with a small fortune developed from investing in gold claims. At 31 he returned to Taishan, China at the request of his family, and set up operations for a tea trade to Sydney. Once returning to Sydney, he established a chain of tea shops and tea rooms, the first public tea rooms in Sydney.
In 1886 he married a young English school teacher, Margaret Scarlett. Her family, although friends with Quong Tart's, did not approve of the union and her father refused to attend the wedding [5].
[edit] Personal life
Quong Tart had six children, who he baptised in different denominations to avoid charges of prejudice [6].
Quong Tart and his family lived in his mansion, Gallop House, in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield, while his daughters attended the nearby Presbyterian Ladies' College, being the first Asian students to attend the school.
He was well known as a uniquely Victorian character, being a Chinese Australian who adopted the dress and manners of an English gentleman, all while performing Scottish songs on his bagpipe. He is distinguished as the first Chinese person in Australia to be initiated into the Society of Freemasons.
Despite the virulent anti-Chinese agitation in Australia at the time, Quong Tart was ‘as well known as the Governor himself’ and ‘quite as popular among all classes’ in NSW (Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1897).
[edit] Death
In August 1902, Quong Tart was brutally bashed with an iron bar and robbed of a few pounds at his office in the QVB, a crime that shocked Sydney. The attacker Frederick Duggan, described as a "dim-witted thug" [7], was jailed for 12 years, a light sentence in which police believed was a simple robbery gone wrong. After the attack he never fully recovered, and died at his Ashfield home 11 months later, in July 1903, aged 53. His funeral, held on July 23, 1903 featured the "who's who" of Sydney, and was widely covered in the newspapers. 200 Chinese men escorted the coffin from his Ashfield mansion to a train which transported the funeral party to Rookwood Cemetery [8]. There, thousands of Sydneysiders gathered to pay their last respects. Quong Tart was dressed in his ceremonial robes of a Mandarin of the Blue Button, under his masonic apron.
Many believe that his attack and consequential death was more than a burglary mishap. Letters from his Chinese friends indicate that many of them had suspicions about Quong Tart's death, believing that it could have been arranged by "the Western people" or by other jealous Chinese businessmen [9].
As a commemoration, in 1998 a statue was erected for him in Ashfield.
[edit] Tea rooms
At the end of 1889, Quong Tart opened the Loong Shan tea room at 137 King Street in Newtown, Sydney. The tea and grill rooms occupied the ground floor, while on the first floor there was a reading room. It soon became one of Sydney’s favourite meeting places. The site of Quong Tart's Tea House at 137 King Street is now part of the Glasshouse shopping complex, home to the Tea Centre.
With the construction of the Queen Victoria Market building being completed in 1898, Quong Tart saw it as an opportunity to expand his business and set up a tea room with an additional cloak and smoke room.
Quong Tart’s Elite Hall in the Queen Victoria Market Building was formally opened by the Mayor of Sydney, Matthew Harris, in 1898. The tea rooms were on the ground floor near the centre of the markets, fronting George Street. A plush-carpeted staircase led to the function hall on the first floor. The Elite Hall had capacity for nearly 500 people and included a stage with an elaborately carved proscenium. At the other end was the Elite Dining Saloon, described as having ‘elegant appointments’.
Another of his tea rooms was located at 777 George St.
[edit] Centenary celebrations
To mark the centenary since Quong Tart's passing, an exhibition was held in the Queen Victoria Building during July and August 2004, titled, "No Orginary Man. Sydney's Quong Tart: citizen, merchant & philanthropist". Curated by Dr Nicola Teffer, it featured information and photographs documenting Quong Tart's comprehensive life in China and Australia and was coordinated by the Quong Tart Commemoration Committee. A 32 page illustrated catalogue was also made available.
The Powerhouse Museum also held a 3 day international conference at the start of July, "Quong Tart and his time, 1850-1903" which featued a multimedia performance held at the University of Technology, called "Tales of a Tartan Mandarin - The Story of Quong Tart".
The QVB Tearoom and the Tea Centre on King St also arranged a special menu item of "quong tarts", a unique fruit tart, to celebrate their historial link with Mei Quong Tart.
[edit] Further reading
- Australian Mandarin: The Life and TImes of Quong Tart, by Robert Travers; Kangaroo Press 1981
[edit] References
- Australian Storytelling site
- Sydney's Queen Victoria Building website (site of Tart's shop)
- About Quong Tart, from the City of Sydney
- racism-No-Way fact sheet on Quong Tart
- Historical Exhibit - "No Ordinary Man. Sydney’s Quong Tart: citizen, merchant & philanthropist"
- Chinese Australian Historical Society biography
- Chinese Australian Historical Images and Biography
- Sydney Morning Herald article about Quong Tart's funeral and life
- Digital copy of 'The Life of Quong Tart
- ABC Western Australia Radio Statewide article
- Australian Dictionary of Biography on Quong Tart
