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After facing the invasion in China by the Japanese they were to experience the horrors all over when Darwin
was bombed on 19 February 1942. The family was evacuated to Adelaide where with other members of their
family they opened a restaurant in Rundle Street. They worked seven days a week to be able to support the
extended family and they were to remain there until they were able to return to Darwin in 1949. In Adelaide three
more children, Gordon, Sylvia and Michael were born. Her son Ray had joined the Royal Australian Air Force and
her daughter Darwina recalls her mother continually singing ‘Onwards Christian Soldiers’ in Chinese.
Together with the well-known Lee brothers and their families, who were also evacuees from Darwin, they
purchased a red truck, to travel back together. On their return to Darwin, Sue Wah and her husband Sam together
with the family of Albert Fong and Harry Chan opened a Chinese restaurant in the Don Hotel. Sue Wah and her
husband worked and cooked in the kitchen. After spending a few years working at the Don they moved to the
old ‘stonehouses’ in Cavenagh Street. Sue Wah purchased the property for 3 800 Pounds, the same price that
the previous owner received when it was resumed by the government. This was later known as the Sue Wah
Chin building built in the 1880s by another Chinese merchant Kwong Soo Duk for his family. It was used as a
residence, warehouse and a variety of shops and was built of stone quarried at Larrakeyah using Chinese labour.
It was in the 1990s still the original building except the roof, which was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy and replaced
with a skillion roof.
It was in 1954 that Sue Wah her husband and her large family returned to the Cavenagh Street premises to
operate their own store dealing mainly in men’s wear and Chinese goods. This was a thriving business with all
lending a hand. With the Darwin Primary School across the road, there was a continuous stream of children buying
salty plums, a great favourite with all Darwin children. This store is still being operated today by family as it was
many years ago and is a landmark in the central business area.
It was 1956 before Sue Wah Chin was naturalised. Her husband, Sam, died in 1968 leaving her as the matriarch
of her large family of 11 children, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. Sue Wah lived in the old
stone house from when she first acquired it, working in the store, tending to her garden and caring for her large
family. The younger children all attended Darwin schools, with Gordon and Michael attending teachers’ college in
Adelaide. Michael continued on with language studies and obtained his Law degree also.
Sunday mornings were a special time in her 90s when all gathered for Sunday breakfast and where Sue Wah,
still independent, enjoyed cooking special dishes. She observed special Chinese days when special foods were
prepared. It was a time for the family to get together and enjoy the goodies. Her time was still spent writing in
Chinese to relations overseas, in her beloved garden and enjoying the company of her family.
She celebrated her 94th birthday with her children and many descendants arriving from the southern states.
Australian Archives, Australian Capital Territory, CRS A1/1 33/8696; R Chin & D Fong, information to author.
GLENICE YEE, Vol 3.CHIN TOY (1863–1947), tailor, storekeeper and businessman, was born in 1863, the third son of a family of five
sons and one daughter of Chin Toa See of Toi Shan district, China. This district in the Kwangtung area was where
the majority of the original travellers from China came from. This was the home of many Sze Yaps, Hakka, and
Heungsans who later lived in Darwin. The family spoke the Sze Yap dialect. Chin Toy’s mother, Chin Toa See,
remained in China and died there in 1929 at 102 years of age.
Although illiterate, Chin Toy left home when he was about 18 to find work in Hong Kong where he spent two
years in a tailoring apprenticeship. After befriending a businessman there, he accompanied him to Palmerston
(Darwin) in early 1883. On arriving in Australia Chin Toy began work for an uncle who operated the tailoring
store of Wing Cheong Sing & Company, which was situated in ‘Chinatown’ at the corner of Cavenagh Street.
On completing two more years of his apprenticeship and qualifying as a cutter, Chin Toy left and opened his
first business with his brother Chin Man Yee as his partner. Eventually after some disagreement with his brother,
Chin Toy branched out on his own. He had managed to save a little money and with just a pair of scissors,
he opened the store of Fang Cheong Loong & Company, which was situated at the end of Cavenagh Street behind
Christ Church (now the Anglican Cathedral) where he also resided. This store specialised as merchant tailors, and
general outfitters but expanded into grocery, fancy goods and an import and export business.
He was to include his sons in the business and to offer a one fifth partnership to Chin Fon, who was the father
of the late Harry Chan. As Chin Toy was illiterate, he left the management of the administrative side to Chin Fon.
What started as a small business soon prospered and with much hard work ended up as one of the leading retail
stores in Darwin. Chin Toy is remembered as a kindly and sociable business person, small in stature, always
hovering inside the door of Fang Cheong Loong with a smile on his face, and with a pocketful of cigars always
ready to offer one to prospective customers. Chin Toy as a prominent merchant was part of a delegation who
called at the Residency to present a letter of protest, and also on another occasion to join the other businessmen
such as Yet Loong, Wing Cheong Sing, Wing Wah Loong and others to welcome the South Australian Governor,
Sir George Le Hunte, to Palmerston in 1905.
The import and export section of Fang Cheong Loong involved the exporting of pearl shell meat and trepang
(both considered delicacies to the Chinese) to Hong Kong and Singapore and the importing of other Asian products
to Darwin. He was also involved in the financing of the Reuben Cooper’s cypress pine timber mill at Milingimbi
in the Northern Territory.
The Chinese merchants at this time encountered much discrimination and hostility, with none being accepted
into government positions or on the wharf. At the Darwin Hospital they were restricted to a special Asiatic Ward
but regardless of how many obstacles that came their way, they continued to work hard and thrive. Despite the