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Mei Quong Tart
Moy Quong Tart, often anachronistically known as Mei Quong Tart, was a prominent nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment. His Australian contemporaries referred to him by his Chinese given name, Quong Tart, which would go on to be the surname used by his descendants, such as Josh Quong Tart.
A prominent businessman, he owned a network of tearooms in the Sydney Arcade, the Royal Arcade and King Street. His crowning success was the ‘Elite Hall’ in the Queen Victoria Market, now the Queen Victoria Building. He was also a community leader, well connected with the local political and social elites. The Imperial government of China awarded him the status of a Mandarin of the fifth degree, with blue feather, in 1887, in acknowledgment of his service to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia and for assisting with the 1887 Chinese mission to Australia sponsored by Zhang Zhidong, which was the first official Chinese mission to visit Australia. In 1894, he was advanced to the fourth degree by the Emperor personally and was appointed Mandarin of the Blue Button, honoured by the Dragon Throne with the Peacock Feather. Quong Tart's parents and grandparents were also granted titles at the same time.
An active philanthropist, he often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for recipients ranging from the Benevolent Society home at Liverpool, other leading Chinese-born merchants, including Yet Soo War Way Lee of Adelaide, to the newsboys of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon and Burwood. From 1885 to 1888, he provided a series of dinners for the inmates of destitute asylums. He also had progressive ideas about Sydney social politics. His tea rooms were the site of the first meetings of Sydney's suffragettes, and he devised new and improved employment policies for staff, such as paid sick leave.
He was a spokesman for the Chinese community, often advocating for the rights of Chinese Australians and working as an interpreter. He was one of the founders of the first Chinese merchants association in Sydney, titled the Lin Yik Tong. In 1888, he co-signed a petition to Zhang Zhidong requesting that the Chinese government set up a consulate in Australia. In 1889, he sent a petition in his own name requesting the same, and also that the Chinese government raise the issue of maltreatment of Chinese residents in Australia with the British government.
He campaigned against the opium trade, and in 1883 went on an investigation into the Chinese camps in Southern New South Wales. The report revealed widespread opium addiction, and on 24 April 1884, Quong Tart presented a petition to the colonial secretary requesting the ban of opium imports. In June of that year, Quong Tart also tried to win support for a ban on opium in Melbourne and Ballarat, Victoria. In 1887, he presented a second petition to parliament and produced a pamphlet titled A Plea for the Abolition of the Importation of Opium.
He was also part of the NSW Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality and Charges of Bribery Against Members of the Police Force from 1891 to 1892.
Quong Tart was born in 1850 in the village of Shandi (山底), Duanfen (端芬鎮) in southern Taishan, Guangdong province, China. His father, named Mei Kuoyuan, was a fairly successful merchant dealing in ornamental wares. Quong Tart immigrated to Australia in 1859 with his uncle, transporting a shipload of miners to the goldfields around Araluen and Braidwood in regional New South Wales. Once in Braidwood, Quong Tart lived at Bell's Creek in the store of Scottish Thomas Forsyth. In the following years, he was taken in by the wealthy family of Robert Percy Simpson, whose wife Alice Simpson, née Want, was charmed by his Scottish accent. Under the Simpsons, Quong Tart learnt to behave as a proper English gentleman and converted to Christianity.
Aged just 21, Quong Tart built a cottage at Bell's Creek with a small fortune developed from investing in gold claims and was prominent in sporting, cultural and religious affairs. On 11 July 1871, he became a naturalised British subject, joined the Freemasons in 1885 and was appointed to the board of the Bell's Creek public school in 1877.
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Mei Quong Tart
Moy Quong Tart, often anachronistically known as Mei Quong Tart, was a prominent nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment. His Australian contemporaries referred to him by his Chinese given name, Quong Tart, which would go on to be the surname used by his descendants, such as Josh Quong Tart.
A prominent businessman, he owned a network of tearooms in the Sydney Arcade, the Royal Arcade and King Street. His crowning success was the ‘Elite Hall’ in the Queen Victoria Market, now the Queen Victoria Building. He was also a community leader, well connected with the local political and social elites. The Imperial government of China awarded him the status of a Mandarin of the fifth degree, with blue feather, in 1887, in acknowledgment of his service to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia and for assisting with the 1887 Chinese mission to Australia sponsored by Zhang Zhidong, which was the first official Chinese mission to visit Australia. In 1894, he was advanced to the fourth degree by the Emperor personally and was appointed Mandarin of the Blue Button, honoured by the Dragon Throne with the Peacock Feather. Quong Tart's parents and grandparents were also granted titles at the same time.
An active philanthropist, he often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for recipients ranging from the Benevolent Society home at Liverpool, other leading Chinese-born merchants, including Yet Soo War Way Lee of Adelaide, to the newsboys of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon and Burwood. From 1885 to 1888, he provided a series of dinners for the inmates of destitute asylums. He also had progressive ideas about Sydney social politics. His tea rooms were the site of the first meetings of Sydney's suffragettes, and he devised new and improved employment policies for staff, such as paid sick leave.
He was a spokesman for the Chinese community, often advocating for the rights of Chinese Australians and working as an interpreter. He was one of the founders of the first Chinese merchants association in Sydney, titled the Lin Yik Tong. In 1888, he co-signed a petition to Zhang Zhidong requesting that the Chinese government set up a consulate in Australia. In 1889, he sent a petition in his own name requesting the same, and also that the Chinese government raise the issue of maltreatment of Chinese residents in Australia with the British government.
He campaigned against the opium trade, and in 1883 went on an investigation into the Chinese camps in Southern New South Wales. The report revealed widespread opium addiction, and on 24 April 1884, Quong Tart presented a petition to the colonial secretary requesting the ban of opium imports. In June of that year, Quong Tart also tried to win support for a ban on opium in Melbourne and Ballarat, Victoria. In 1887, he presented a second petition to parliament and produced a pamphlet titled A Plea for the Abolition of the Importation of Opium.
He was also part of the NSW Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality and Charges of Bribery Against Members of the Police Force from 1891 to 1892.
Quong Tart was born in 1850 in the village of Shandi (山底), Duanfen (端芬鎮) in southern Taishan, Guangdong province, China. His father, named Mei Kuoyuan, was a fairly successful merchant dealing in ornamental wares. Quong Tart immigrated to Australia in 1859 with his uncle, transporting a shipload of miners to the goldfields around Araluen and Braidwood in regional New South Wales. Once in Braidwood, Quong Tart lived at Bell's Creek in the store of Scottish Thomas Forsyth. In the following years, he was taken in by the wealthy family of Robert Percy Simpson, whose wife Alice Simpson, née Want, was charmed by his Scottish accent. Under the Simpsons, Quong Tart learnt to behave as a proper English gentleman and converted to Christianity.
Aged just 21, Quong Tart built a cottage at Bell's Creek with a small fortune developed from investing in gold claims and was prominent in sporting, cultural and religious affairs. On 11 July 1871, he became a naturalised British subject, joined the Freemasons in 1885 and was appointed to the board of the Bell's Creek public school in 1877.
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