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were left stranded to find their own way down south. Charlie eventually found his way to Sydney where he was
reunited with his family. He was able to find a job with the shipping firm of James Patrick and Co as a chauffeur
for Captain Phillips where he remained for approximately a year. He was forced to leave, as the wages were so
poor and insufficient to feed and clothe his growing family of boys. He then moved onto a two-hectare block of
land in Botany with two friends where they established a market garden. They grew a variety of vegetables for
the markets and his sons were able to enjoy a relatively stable, healthy lifestyle. After a few years there the family
purchased a fish and chip shop in the suburb of Glebe where all the boys were required to hand peel so many
buckets of potatoes each before and after school. Charlie and his family returned to Darwin in 1946 when the Army
relinquished the cordial factory back to the original owners.
On their return to Darwin they lived in Smith Street west until 1951 when their home in Lambell Terrace was
built. They were to remain there for many years until a long deserved holiday in 1966, when they travelled for a
year to many countries. Their life was interrupted again in 1974 with Cyclone Tracy. As with the 1937 cyclone and
the Second World War, it was a major upheaval. Their new home in the northern suburbs was totally demolished
as were the majority of the homes in the area and had to be rebuilt.
Charlie’s love of photography dominated a large part of his time – taking as well as developing and printing his
own photographs. There is a large collection of family photos. He was a keen moviegoer in his earlier years and
had a permanent booking at the Star Theatre in Row J, where he especially enjoyed the Wednesday night westerns.
His later years were devoted to his garden, growing, nurturing and pruning his large garden that he maintained
right up to the time of his death.
He was involved in the Chinese community and was Vice President of the Chung Wah Society for a number of
years. He often took part as a drummer for the popular Lion Dance troupe.
In 1995 Charlie and Myrtle celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary with their sons and families, quite an
achievement for two Territory born pioneers. On 24 January 1996 Charlie passed away after a sudden illness
survived by his wife Myrtle, his sons, 13 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Family information.
GLENICE YEE, Vol 3.
HOUNG ON YEE, MYRTLE (KIM LAN) (1914– ), homemaker and matriarch, was born on 29 June 1914 at
Brocks Creek in the Northern Territory. Her parents were Fong Ding and Fong Wong See from Canton in China.
She was the youngest daughter in a family of six boys and three girls, all of whom became prominent and respected
Chinese business people in their own right. The confusion of different surnames for the one family arose from the
practice of Chinese writing their surnames first, followed by their given name. In the Fong family it resulted in
three of Myrtle’s brothers having different names. They were George Lim, Harry Loong and Charlie On. The two
youngest brothers were able to retain their correct surnames, Ernest Fong and William Fong. Her sisters were
Ethel and Florrie. Her parents were to lose a son, Phillip, at the age of twelve years. Myrtle is recorded on her birth
certificate with the Chinese name of Kim Lan.
Her earliest recollections are of her childhood in Pine Creek and living in premises purchased by her parents
from the Chinese merchant Yet Loong. Yet Loong had used this building as a food store and she has vivid
memories of enormous cooking utensils and woks still there. The floors were half ant bed with the remaining half
of timber and the ceiling had a large hole that was used to store goods in a loft. This was common with many of
the old buildings where a pulley system was used to haul goods up. Collecting fresh water was a chore that she
helped her older sisters with and it entailed climbing down a ladder in a well and then into a tunnel to bucket out
the water. This was a frequent occurrence whenever the level of the water was low. The water from the well was
the only drinkable water and even then was rather cloudy. Another chore she remembers clearly was the stripping
of the sugar cane leaves and rolling over the vines of the sweet potatoes after school to stop them spreading too
far. The family maintained a vegetable garden for their own consumption and all had to give a helping hand.
The garden consisted of sweet potatoes, yams, black eye beans and peanuts.
Myrtle started school at six years of age but she only attended intermittently, as she was required to help her
elder sister, Ethel, care for her child Walter. Her teacher was Mrs Carruth, the permanent teacher at the Pine
Creek School, who received help from Ern Tambling who was a travelling teacher who moved from area to area.
She retained fond memories of her scant schooling and of her Queensland reader containing the story of ‘The Little
Match Girl’. She recalls that some of her school friends were from the Ah Toy, Cox, and Stevens families.
At the age of 11, after the death of her father in Pine Creek, the family moved to Emungalan (on the north bank
of the Katherine river) where Myrtle was to help her brother George Lim. George had a general store and she was
required to assist him while at the same time learning to drive his car. At the age of 13 or 14, although not old
enough to obtain her driver’s licence, she was freely driving around in George’s old Chevrolet with the apparent
blessing of police Sergeant Wood. She recalls that there were only a few cars in the area at the time, one belonging
to the O’Shea family and one to Lizzie Tang. It was Myrtle’s job to drive to the Bond Shed to collect goods for
the store.
She was much in demand by her older brothers and her next move was to Mataranka with her mother to help
Charlie. Charlie had a general store and bakery in Mataranka and her job in the bakery was to put the loaves of
bread in the oven and then bring them out when cooked. This was extremely hot and tiring work, the work constant
as it was the only bakery at Mataranka at the time.
She came to Darwin at the age of 16 for an arranged marriage to Charlie Houng On Yee. Charlie was born
in Darwin on 7 July 1905, the son of Yee Hang Pew, a well-known herbalist. He had returned to China at the age