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Chinn, Maa Mon (c. 1845 - 1923)

Gallery

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    Maa Mon Chinn and eldest son Harry (Tung Chow) Chinn, circa 1888, c. 1888, courtesy of Colour print created by the Museum of Chinese Australian History c1980s.
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    Maa Mon Chinn and eldest son Harry (Tung Chow) Chinn, circa 1908, c. 1908, courtesy of Copy print created by Museum of Chinese Australian History c1980s.
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    Members of the Chinn family, c. 1903, courtesy of Copy print created by Museum of Chinese Australian History c1980s.
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    Oddfellows Lodge, Weldborough, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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Born
c. 1845
China
Died
18 May 1923
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
miner and storekeeper
Alternative Names
  • Chinn, Maa Mon (also used)
  • Ma Wen Zhen (pinyin)
  • 馬文振 (traditional Chinese characters)
  • 马文振 (simplified Chinese characters)

Details

Maa Mon Chinn (1846-18.5.1923) was a highly respected clan headman, storekeeper and tinminer who lived in Weldborough, North East Tasmania, for most of his life.

He came to Tasmania from Guangdong province with his father, and older brother, Maa Pahn, in the 1860s, to make money from tin mining. At that time Maa Mon Chinn was in his mid-teens. They were among the first Chinese to emigrate to Tasmania.

Lula Kow Yonn (aka Lula Mak) (1870-1951) migrated directly from Guangdong to the isolated Chinese tin-mining community of Weldborough in 1886, at the age of 16, betrothed to marry Maa Mon Chinn, who was then 40 years old. Over the next 22 years, they had a family of seven sons and four daughters. As tin-mining declined, most of the family migrated to Melbourne in the 1910s.

Sources used to compile this entry: Museum of Chinese Australian History collection.

Prepared by: Paul Macgregor, independent researcher

Family

Published Resources

See also

  • Miller, G. and Miller, S., Of Rascals and Rusty Relics: An Introduction to North-East Tasmania, OBM, Hobart, 1979. Details
  • Scott, Joan, Celestial Sojourn: The Chinese on the Tinfields of North East Tasmania, St Helens History Room Association, St Helens, 1997. Details

Images

Title
Maa Mon Chinn and eldest son Harry (Tung Chow) Chinn
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1908
Details
Title
Maa Mon Chinn and eldest son Harry (Tung Chow) Chinn
Type
Painting
Date
c. 1888
Place
Australia - Tasmania
Details
Title
Members of the Chinn family
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1903
Place
Australia - Tasmania - Weldborough
Details
Title
Oddfellows Lodge, Weldborough
Type
Photograph
Details

Created: 16 March 2003, Last modified: 29 September 2008