Coloured Colonials Genealogy: trace your Asian ancestors in Australia

Did they intend to return to Australia?

If you can say YES to some of these questions,

then it is worth searching for information about them in the National Australian Archives online.

Example:

Family story: “ Tommy Fung married your widowed grandmother Maggie Ah Kee and they operated the family store in Normanton. Tommy returned to China to die.”

YES, Tommy Fung was Chinese. YES, he worked in Normanton before 1960. YES, he left Australia to visit China.

Go to www.naa.gov.au

Click on RecordSearch

Click on Advanced search

Click on Items

Insert Tommy Fong

Then add dictation (Certificate of Exemption from the dictation Test)

Choose all words by clicking on using

Then under Location of Item choose Brisbane

And Click on the Digital copies only box

The following page appears:

Click on the second last page icon:

This Certificate appears:

We can interpret this from the Certificate:

Tommy Chung Fung lived in Georgetown when this CEDT was signed on 29th May 1917 by the Collector of Customs. His nationality was Chinese and he was born in Canton. He was 53 years old when he applied for the CEDT. He left Thursday Island on 11.10.1917 on the Japanese steamer Aki Maru bound for Hong Kong and returned on 25.5.1918 on the steamer Taiyuan, embarking at Thursday Island.

Click on the next (last) page icon --

This Certificate appears:

Tommy Chong Fung was 65 and lived in Normanton when he applied for this Certificate. He left Thursday Island a month later on the steamer Tanda. He was away eleven months and returned to Thursday Island on the Tanda.

Did he return to China to die as the family story would have it?

....to be continued