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born in 1889, Sue Quen Lee in 1897 and Sue Ching Essie Yuen was born in 1902. Two other sons died in infancy.
They were to adopt another son, Soon Fook who although he remained in Hong Kong with Wong See’s parents,
was very much part of the family. As Wong See was an only child, she left a son to help care for her own parents.
Their youngest daughter Essie was to keep in close contact with her adopted brother until her death in 1991.
Moo worked on the Darwin to Pine Creek railway, which commenced in 1886 and was completed in- Wages at this time were approximately two Shillings and six Pence per day. He also carted timber from
Port Essington and went into market gardening. He was a quiet unassuming man, working hard to provide for
his family. As was the tradition of the early days, the men were the providers and left their wives to raise and
discipline the children. Although food was not plentiful, they managed to raise their family in a loving environment
where respect, honesty, and caring and sharing for others were all important. Their mother Wong See taught these
values them. It mattered not that they were not rich momentarily; the close family unit was of greater importance.
A mealtime was the ideal time to teach children respect and manners. In a Chinese family, children would not
begin eating until grandparents and parents were first seated and had commenced eating. In the Chinese custom of
eating with various dishes of food placed in the centre of the table, it would not be polite to reach across another
person to pick a particular piece of food that you would find appealing. Elbows on the table would bring a frown
from parents as would arguing and fighting. A meal table was a special time for the family to get together and share
news of the day’s activity, a quiet time. These were some of the values that Wong See taught her children. She was
a strict and stern parent, with very high morals and values and she would not tolerate anything less. Her daughters
in particular instilled these same values into their children and I as a granddaughter have tried to pass on these same
values to my own children.
Although she had very little money, she was renowned for her honesty. Acting as a go-between, bearing gifts
between the bride and groom’s family in a Chinese wedding, always resulted in a gift of a red packet containing
a small amount of money as thanks. Acting in this capacity on one occasion, Wong See was mistakenly given
the wrong red packet. On discovering that she had been given the red packet meant for the bride’s family,
which contained many gold sovereigns she immediately returned it. Once it had been given to her, she would have
been at liberty to keep it, but her honesty prevailed, as she knew that a genuine mistake had been made.
On the completion of the Darwin/Pine Creek railway and after trying his luck on the gold fields and various
mining camps, Moo Yet For moved back to Darwin where they established a vegetable market garden in the
locality of the Darwin Golf Club in the Gardens area. Here they were able to provide a home for their young
family as well as establishing themselves as gardeners. Moo built their modest home with his carpentry skills
and together with his wife was able to supply their own family as well as some of the European population with
fresh vegetables and tropical fruits. They were later to open a bakery in Chinatown with the help of their second
son Con. This bakery was called the Yean Ying Bakery and was situated in premises owned by Yuen Yet Hing
a prominent Chinese merchant, known as Yet Loong. Rental was approximately 10 Shillings a week. The Moos’
youngest daughter, Essie, was to marry Yet Loong’s eldest son Charlie.
Moo Yet For died in 1927 in Darwin at the age of about 80. His wife Moo Wong See continued as the matriarch
of the Moo clan until her death in 1938. She was deeply mourned by her children and grandchildren.
Discussions with some of the grandchildren who knew her brought tales of a very loving grandmother.
Mabel Hee, her eldest granddaughter, daughter of Linoy spoke of her honesty and of her patience in spending
time in teaching the children to cook and sew and of always being ready to help a friend. She helped deliver many
children and then continued to help the mothers to care for their babies. Mabel particularly remembered her aged
grandmother with a leg crippled with arthritis, walking nearly a mile to the gardens where she lived to deliver bread
and cakes for them each week. Lily Ah Toy, another granddaughter, recalled her grandmother beckoning her after
school every day, spoiling her with a spoon of Chinese malt sugar. This was a real treat, and then providing her
with her speciality, a bowl of black grass jelly. This is the same texture as jelly and topped with syrup. It entailed
a long process of boiling certain grasses, retaining the water and processing and setting it into a black jelly-like
substance. It was a skill that not many had mastered, but it was one that she had perfected and in turn taught to her
daughters. It was a skill that I remember my own mother doing. Her grandson Leslie Yuen remembered with love
the attention bestowed on him by his grandmother. Each Wednesday night she would bake a sultana butter cake
in a long narrow cake tin two feet six inches long. It was to sell for one penny a slice, but there was always a slice
of freshly baked cake for him. There was also rice and salt fish and corn beef and cabbage, which brought back
memories of a dear grandmother.
The Chinese New Year period is a time of major importance for all Chinese, and for the Moo family as well
as many others, there were certain customs that had to be adhered to. All outstanding accounts had to be settled, a
major spring clean of the home was a must, there were new clothes for all members of the family and the rice bins
had to be filled. This was to ensure that there would always be food to eat throughout the coming year. There was
also the making of special New Year cakes. This was a tradition that has been passed down through the family and
even today the special cakes made by grandmother are continued to be made by her daughter Essie’s grandchildren
and great grandchildren. Many of the recipes have been simplified now that rice flour (which is the main ingredient
in the cakes) can be purchased. This once had to be pounded and ground by the women, a very tedious and time
consuming chore. It was time consuming in both the preparation, which often required kneading for an hour or
more, so as to obtain the right texture, or in the case of the small individual cakes, banana leaves had to be cut to
size and oiled before the steaming.
These customs were important to the Chinese first coming out from China. It was their link with their motherland
and the Moo grandparents would no doubt be surprised that these traditions are being continued by some of their
descendants. But while being able to retain their culture, they have also been able to blend into the Australian