George GONG as he was known in Australia, was born about 1885 in Canton. He was about 16yrs old when he came to Australia. He married in Cairns Qld in 1910 to Mabel SUN KEE of mixed race. Her mother was English MinnieBOATWRIGHT a missionary, and father a chinese storekeeper in Charters Towers named Cline SUN KEE. I need help tracing chinese connections.
George was also known as WONG GONG. His parents listed on marriage cert.were father SHON CHIN and mother JEAR SEE. fathers occupation a storekeeper. Help please. Evelyn

George Wong Gong's Chinese aurname was Wong. However, cannot say which one in Chinese because there are two of them spelt Wong in English. Based on the English spelling, he was probably of Cantonese origin.

he was known as GONG in Australia but his gravestone lists him as George (Wong) GONG. Can you help with my search?

That's why I mentioned that WONG was his real surname in Chinese whereas Gong was probably one of his personal names (usually there are two) which was mistakenly used as a surname in Australia in accordance with Western practices. The same applies with the "surname" Sun Kee where SUN is the surname. Does his gravestone have Chinese inscriptions on it? If so, a lot of information can be gleaned from it.

If you ate in Australoa, try locating a publication called Tracking the Dragon - its for researching the Chinese in Australia.Also look on http://www.stevenyoung.co.nz/chinesevoice/index.htm
John Alloo was posted to Lawrence15 May 5 where he was joined by Margaret and their six Australian born children, Thomas b. 1857, Elizabeth b. 1859, William b. 1861, Amelia b.1863, Annie (Agnes) b. 1865 and Helena b. 1867 having sailed from Melbourne in the Omeo May 13, 1865.16 Alloo was transferred to Naseby August 21, l868,17 (where Margaret Alloo owned the Ballarat Hotel),18 Clyde December 29 1870 and Queenstown September 13,187119. It was while stationed at Queenstown that Alfred b. 1871, Minnie Rose b. 1874 and Arthur Edwin b. 1876 joined the family.20 On July 23, 1877 John Alloo was back in Lawrence.21

I have done some research on the fascinating ALLOO family, and also highly recommend Steven Young's site.

However, there is an error in the date when the family came to NZ: their last daughter born in Smythesdale, Victoria was Helena (Maude) Alloo, born 1867, so the family could not have travelled here in 1865, but probably 1868.

I spotted somewhere (and accidentally lost the link) which said that John came in the Omeo in 1865, and that Helena was 1 when the family came over. It is also apparent that he must have gone back to Victoria in time to help make Helena for her birth in Smythesdale, Victoria, in 1867.

A member of my family, Arthur James Philip Penman (mother born Cecilia Eliza Phillips), was briefly married (1922-before 1930) to John Alloo's granddaughter Lorna Mary Von Haast.

Her blood lines were fascinating: one grandfather was John Alloo, a very famous Chinese who became the first ethnic Chinese to become a sworn policeman in NZ - though only after intervention by the Prime Minister of the day; the other was the famous Prussian explorer/naturalist Sir (Johan Franz) Julius Von Haast KCMG, FRS, who left his name on much of our most fabulous scenery.

I imagine that it would have been very difficult to be of both Chinese and German descent in extremely xenophobic New Zealand of the early 1900s, with the 1914-1918 war compounding matters!

More data is available on request from robert(dot)phillips(at)xtra(dot)co(dot)nz.

Robert.