Janice Moy interviewing her father William

JM: With the gambling, did they gamble for much money?

WM: I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know what money would pass. Up at the Coast they would have a lottery drawn and there were quite a number who used to fill in the slip of paper. There were eighty characters and they were all different on the tickets. They would cost sixpence and you could draw three or four and up to eight. That would be very popular amongst the men, particularly on the weekend.

JM: How often would they have the lottery, was it every week?

WM: I don't know , probably.

JM: Did they make up the lotteries up themselves or did they come from Melbourne?

WM: The cards were printed in China.

JM: What about births and funerals - the Chinese would do a bit of celebrating wouldn't they, but you said there weren't any other families besides yourselves around Branxholm, so what happened at time of funerals and births?

WM: They had an old custom, they would light papers and after the burial they would light papers, sticks and things and put them on the grave.

JM: Can you tell us about the Chinese New Year?

WM: They would have a great celebarations, particularly in Weldborough and Garibaldi where there were a large number of Chinese and the Joss House. They would have different displays, Chinese lanterns and all sorts of different things. They would have a drum and a sort of band of their own.

On the fourth and the fifth day of the New Year they would have a celebration in Weldborough and they would have the fireworks for two nights. The fireworks were in large cases imported direct from China. It was really marvellous to see.

They had to hoist them on a stand on a scaffold. The height would be forty to fifty feet or more and they would light it. It would burn fast through. There were Chinese dolls and lanterns and all sorts of things. That would go on for two nights - the second night would be in Weldborough. The fire work displays would last for a couple of hours. Then they would go down to the clubs and gamble right through the night.

Some would come on horse back, some would come in a buggy into these places. They always looked foreward to the Chinese New Year. The English people would come around of a night and we would have a great time.

JM: So the European people would celebrate with you?

WM: A lot of them would want to see the dolls, you would have to keep them from rushing.

JM: Did your family go to celebrations at Weldborough and Garibaldi too?

WM: Yes some of them. Some of the places might be seven or eight miles and some of them would be closer. We used to have friends and we would camp together. Each centre got together for the New Year, even the men who worked outback would come in and relax. We used to have a great time, always looked forward to it.

JM: Can you remember when the Branxholm Joss House was built?

WM: I think 1906. Previous to that everthing in the Joss House was in a house and the house was deteriorating and some decided to shift it to build a small house for it.

JM: Why did they choose the present site?

WM: Actuallly it wasn't a special site, a lot of parties were camped around there and it was close.

JM: So it was a convient place?

WM: Yes.

JM: Your father was involved in helping to build it wasn't he?

WM: Actually when the men were talking about it, he made the arrangements to get the material and different things about because a fair amount of material was local and they had to get things from Scottsdale and that sort of thing.

JM: Can you remember how long it took to build it?

WM: They had one man and a couple of others volunteered to help. It didn't take that long only a few days or so, it was only a small place compare to Weldborough and Garibaldi.

JM: How did the men use the Joss House?

WM: They had different ways, they had a special lighting and different ways to perform and that was something I couldn't understand.

JM: Did they use it each day or just on certain days or each week?

WM: No they had the daily routine and of course certain days like New Year and they celebrated in June, the Pudding Day and in September, the Moon Cake Day.

JM: And there were Joss Houses at other places too weren't there?

WM: The nearest at Garibaldi. The population of the men were dying out and they shifted the one at Garibaldi to Weldborough and two or three years later the population dwindled away.

The Weldborugh people started to worry and Joseph Chung-Gon and his father (James Chung-Gon) took the original display and shifted down to Launceston into the Victoira Museum, which is housed in a special section of the Museum and Joe made all the arrangements and had the display set out to his idea as to what it should be, because he had spent a number of years in a College in Canton, China, because he understood it and he made a wonderful job and display and it is there now and there is a tape recording for visitors to play and get their instructions and so on and I reckon he did a very, very good job.

Joe and I knew each other well. We kept in touch with one another and even now there is one of the daughters (of James Chung-Gon) who lives up in Western Australia and that is Anne. She is married and her last birthday she celebarated was her eightieth and she seems to be strong and hearty.

JM: Do you know where most of the Chinese around the Branxholm came from?

WM: Where most of them came from around from where my father came from. Some came from other places but most of them came from Southern China, there was such a large area.

JM: Now going onto the goods from the store that your father had, where did most of the stores come from?

WM: Most of the Chinese goods were imported from Hong Kong into Launceston. The larger importers were from Melbourne. The stores in Launceston sometimes got their supplies from there, probably one or two shipments direct. There were quite a number of large merchants in Victoria, New South Wales and that sort of thing.

JM: Your fathers goods, he mainly supplied the Chinese community?

WM: That was in the early days when they used to draw their supplies from Launceston. Mainly from the Sun Maa Company mentioned sometime ago.

JM: Do you know when the Chinese left Branxholm and why?

WM: Well from the years past they left gradually, some went interstate over to Victoria, some went to China and then there wasn't many left. The last, when I had workng partners, only three - that was when I had Mr Kincade working with me.

I decided to go over to Western Australia because the other two men - there were three men there, one was very old and we got permission for him to go to Hobart to the men's home and the other two went back to China when I left. That was the remaining Chinese from Banxholm. I left in 1926.

JM: So that was the last Chinese in that area?

WM: Yes. Most of the Chinese in the other districts around Weldborough, Garibaldi and the other districts, I think they all practically left the place and the past years they gradually dwindled away. I think there were only two or three in each place when I left and they eventually left the area and some passed on.

There were a couple in Launceston and I met them when I went back eight years after I left. They were very old people, one was working in the gardens and one was in one of the laundries living there.