Chin Kaw

Chin Kaw, also known as Ah Kaw or Ah Caw, (17 July 1865 – 11 April 1922) was a prominent Chinese Australian storekeeper, philanthropist, and mining entrepreneur in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, who recruited workers from China for the Tasmanian tin-mining industry[1][2] and thereby helped Chinese immigrants settle in Australia.[3][4][5]

Chin Kaw
Chin Kaw
Born(1865-07-17)17 July 1865
Shui-hu, Guangdong, China
Died11 April 1922(1922-04-11) (aged 56)
Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
OccupationChinese-Australian storekeeper and mining entrepreneur

Early life

Ah Kaw was born in Shuihu village, Kaiping district, Taishan county, Guangdong province, China. His father Chin Lang Lan was a merchant. He came to Australia in 1877.[6] Around 1879 he arrived at the Chinese tin-mining community of Thomas's Plains, near Weldborough in north-eastern Tasmania, where his uncle Chin Ah Heang owned a general grocery and herb store. He worked in his uncle's store and later took up mineral leases in the area.[3] As Tasmania had far less stringent restrictions upon Chinese immigration than other Australian colonies and had less discriminatory attitudes than other colonies,[7] Chin Kaw organised the passage of Chinese labourers who then worked under the tribute system on the tin fields to repay their debts, and those who were naturalised as British subjects in Tasmania were then free to move to other colonies.[3]

Business Interests

Ah Kaw moved to Launceston around 1890.[8] He was a co-founder in the early 1890s (and eventually sole proprietor) of Sun Hung Ack & Co. in Launceston, which served as a meeting point for the local Chinese community, and pioneered the sale of Tasmanian-grown tobacco.[1] Ah Kaw was also a participant in many mining ventures in Tasmania as an investor, and was a founding shareholder of the National Bank of Tasmania.[9] Along with future Senator Thomas Bakhap and several other prominent Launceston Chinese merchants, Chin Kaw was in the welcome committee which welcomed the Imperial Chinese Commissioner to Launceston in 1906.[10]

Chin Kaw had numerous interactions with the legal system in Tasmania. While many of these cases were due to him launching civil actions to recover bad debts, and several burglaries of his shop, he was himself prosecuted several times.

In 1884, a police officer witnessed him selling sly gin whilst working in his uncle's store. Despite the policeman's seizure of the liquor being thwarted by a group of angry Chinese, Chin Kaw was convicted and fined £20 in lieu of three months imprisonment. Chin Kaw paid the fine, which was about six months' salary.[11][12] Another attempt to prosecute him and three others in 1889 for selling sly grog came to naught when the charge against him was withdrawn and Gee Ah Gouie, the Crown's main witness, proved so unconvincing that he was arrested for perjury at the end of the trial,[13] and was subsequently convicted.

In 1894, Chin Kaw, along with his employee Chin Kit, was prosecuted for passing counterfeit shilling coins, and possessing the same in the till of his Launceston store, but both were acquitted as there was no evidence Chin Kaw or Chin Kit knowingly sought to pass counterfeit coins.[14]

In 1902, Chin Kaw's store was raided by police, who found a group of 25 Chinese sitting at tables with dominoes and money on them, and observed Chin Kaw attempting to sweep the money onto the ground. Despite one of his co-accused suggesting to the court that their activities were more desirable than English larrikinism,[15] Chin Kaw was subsequently convicted and fined £10 for allowing his premises to be used for unlawful gambling.[16]

In 1907, the police raided Chin Kaw's store again and arrested 16 Chinese including Chin Kaw, again charging him with allowing his premises to be used for unlawful gambling. The raid was based on a tip-off made from within the Chinese community. The defence argued that the nature of the gathering was no different to the private bridge parties held by white residents of Launceston. The police did not find evidence of gambling on the tables, so the prosecution case relied on three Chinese witnesses, who by the time of the trial were, respectively, dead, missing, or confined to a mental asylum, and so the case was withdrawn.[17] Chin Kaw subsequently sued fellow Launceston tobacco merchant Charles Ah Ying for the sum of £300 for malicious prosecution connected with the case,[18] although the case was withdrawn by mutual consent.

In 1914 his shop was raided yet again by the police, who arrested Chin Kaw and others. The prosecution appeared to have a strong case as the police found money and gambling chips on the tables,[19] but the charges were dropped without explanation at the start of the trial.[20]

Personal life and later years

Chin Kaw returned to China in 1886 and married Luei Fong,[8] eventually bringing her out to Tasmania in 1890, making him one of only four former Weldborough miners who was able to bring out a wife from China in the restrictive immigration conditions of the time.[21]

With the winding down of the Tasmanian tin-mining industry and the consequent reduction in size of the Chinese community, Chin Kaw moved from Launceston to Melbourne in 1916. He passed away in Melbourne in 1922 after a short illness, leaving an estate of several thousand pounds. He was survived by his wife Luei, his six sons (Alexander, Edward, Leslie, Victor, Julian and Herbert), his four daughters (Sybil Ethel, Edith Margaret, Ruby and Elsmene), his brother Chin Ah Lin,[22] and his brother's daughter Irene Lin.

Legacy

Ah Kaw's son Alexander took over the family store in Launceston and took an interest in commerce between Australia and China, founded the Chinese Club in Sydney,[23] and served as Commercial and Political Advisor to the Chinese Consul-General in Australia in the 1930s.[24] Ah Kaw's son Victor operated his own retail business in Devonport from 1932 until 1947, and distinguished himself as a badminton player,[25] as well as by serving as Honorary Chinese Consul in Tasmania from 1931.[26][27] In 1936 Ah Kaw's son Herbert became the second person of Chinese descent to be admitted as a barrister in Victoria.[28] Many of Ah Kaw's children played prominent roles in organising war relief for China during the 1930s and 1940s.[29]

The contents of the long-closed Kaw family shop in Launceston were eventually donated by Ah Kaw's descendants to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston.[30]

References
  1. "Chin Kaw". The Tasmanian Cyclopedia. Tasmania, Australia: The Service Publishing Company. 1931. pp. 375–376.
  2. Alexander, Alison, ed. (2005). "Chinese Community". The Companion to Tasmanian History. Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania. ISBN 1-86295-223-X. OCLC 61888464. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  3. Liew, K.S. (1979). "Chin Kaw (1865–1922)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 7. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 1 January 2020 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  4. "From Asia to Tasmania". The Examiner. Launceston, Australia. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. Alexander, Alison, ed. (2005). "Chin Kaw". The Companion to Tasmanian History. Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania. ISBN 1-86295-223-X. OCLC 61888464. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  6. "Obituary". Weekly Times. Melbourne, Australia. 22 April 1922. p. 6. Retrieved 4 March 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. James Fenton (1884). A History of Tasmania. Hobart, Tasmania: J. Walch and Sons. p. 407.
  8. "PERSONAL". The Daily Telegraph. Launceston, Australia. 15 September 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 8 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Personal". The Weekly Courier. Launceston, Australia. 4 May 1922. p. 26. Retrieved 30 January 2020 – via Libraries Tasmania.
  10. "ARRIVAL OF CHINESE COMMISSIONER". The Mercury. Hobart, Australia. 25 November 1906. p. 8. Retrieved 2 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "St. Helen's". The Mercury. Hobart, Australia. 14 January 1885. p. 4. Retrieved 6 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. Garry Richardson (2013). Tin Mountain. Hobart, Tasmania: Forty South Publishing. p. 74.
  13. "George's Bay". The Daily Telegraph. Launceston, Australia. 7 March 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 6 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Police". The Launceston Examiner. Launceston, Australia. 30 June 1894. p. 5. Retrieved 4 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "CLACKERY". The Clipper. Hobart, Australia. 15 March 1902. p. 7. Retrieved 30 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "CHINESE GAMBLING CASES". The Daily Telegraph. Launceston, Australia. 13 March 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 6 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Ah Kaw's Card Party". The Daily Telegraph. Launceston, Australia. 23 March 1907. p. 5. Retrieved 7 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Police". The Examiner. Launceston, Australia. 19 June 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 7 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "ALLEGED GAMBLING DEN". The North West Post. Formby, Australia. 23 February 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 12 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "NEWS OF THE DAY". The Mercury. Hobart, Australia. 5 March 1914. p. 4. Retrieved 12 February 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. Cassandra Pybus (2013). "China in the Tasmanian Imaginary - Tin Dragons and Smoke Screens". Griffith Review. South Brisbane, Australia: Griffith University in conjunction with Text Pub. (39). ISSN 1448-2924. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  22. "CHINAMAN'S WILL". The Mercury. Hobart, Australia. 18 September 1923. p. 8. Retrieved 3 March 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. "Chinese Community Entertains". The Sun. Sydney, Australia. 4 July 1937. p. 7. Retrieved 25 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. "Chinese Notabilities". The Week. Brisbane, Australia. 8 April 1931. p. 13. Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. "SPORT AND SPORTSMEN 1000 BADMINTON PLAYERS ON N.W. COAST". The Advocate. Burnie, Australia. 22 August 1951. p. 7. Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. "Victor Kaw". The Tasmanian Cyclopedia. Tasmania, Australia: The Service Publishing Company. 1931. p. 376.
  27. "A Chinese Viewpoint". The Advocate. Burnie, Australia. 27 September 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. "TWENTY-NINE NEW LAWYERS ADMITTED". The Herald. Melbourne, Australia. 1 May 1936. p. 3. Retrieved 6 March 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  29. "WAR-TORN CHINA FIGHTING FOR PEACE OF WORLD". The Horsham Times. Horsham, Australia. 12 July 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  30. Annual report (PDF) (Report). Launceston, Australia: Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. 2006. pp. 8, 36. Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
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