- Occupation
- housekeeper and storekeeper
- Alternative Names
- Tock, Chun See Mrs
- 陈色 (Chinese characters)
Details
Chun See’s Certificate for Exemption from Dictation Test (CEDT) form indicates that she was born in 1870 and arrived in Australia when she was twenty years old in 1890. On arrival she lived at 136 Little Bourke Street where she lived for the next twenty-four years. In 1915 she moved to 64 Lonsdale Street. This property was a grocers store called Ling Heong, run by Ah Tock, which sold fruit and vegetables.
As there is no evidence of her marriage to Leong Chuey Tock, they were probably married in China. Together they had seven children: George or Leong Cheong Poy, Joyce May, Tony, Frank, Lum, Violet and Alexander (who appears to have died as a small child). Lin Dip (born 1905), Ching Mouy (born 1906) and Chin Goot Chong (born 1909) are listed in the birth records and probably refer to either Tong, Frank, Lum, Violet or Alexander, provided there were no other infant deaths.
As well as raising a family, Chun See also worked as a housekeeper and is believed to have been employed as a storekeeper in Ling Heong. Character references on her CEDT application describe her as ‘very hard working’ and an ‘honest and industrious citizen’. After living thirty years in Melbourne, Chun See moved to Hong Kong with her husband and family. Despite applying for a CEDT, there is no evidence that she returned to Australia after 1920.
Sources used to compile this entry: Couchman, Sophie, ''Oh, I would like to see Maggie Moore again': Selected women of Melbourne's Chinatown', After the Rush: Regulation, Partcipation, and Chinese Communities in Australia 1860-1840 (Otherland Literary Journal), vol. 9, 2004, pp. 171-190; births, deaths and marriages; NAA(Vic), B13/0, 1920/12371.
Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University
Related Subjects
Children
Family
Grandchild
Husband
Related Concepts
Related Places
Archival Collections
Chinese Museum
- Shirley Millard collection; Chinese Museum [ Details... ].
Published Resources
Journal Articles
- Couchman, Sophie, ''Oh, I would like to see Maggie Moore again': Selected women of Melbourne's Chinatown', After the Rush: Regulation, Partcipation, and Chinese Communities in Australia 1860-1840 (Otherland Literary Journal), vol. 9, 2004, pp. 171-190. [ Details... ]
Images
-
-
- Title
- Chun See (Leong Chuey Tock's wife) and three children
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1896 - c. 1898
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Chun See Tock and unidentified Tock daughter
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 24 March 1923
- Place
- Hong Kong - Stubb's Road
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Mrs Chun See Tock
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1920
- Place
- Australia - Victoria
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Mrs Leong Chuey Tock [Chun See Tock?]
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 1890s
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne?
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Mrs Leong Chuey Tock with Violet Tock and Joyce May Tock
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- 1910s - 1920s
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
Created: 3 April 2005, Last modified: 8 March 2006
