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Tart, Quong (1850 - 1903)

Gallery

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    With compliments of Mr & Mrs Quong Tart, 1892, 'Gallop House', Ashfield, Sydney N.S.W. / Kerry & Co., by Kerry and Co., courtesy of State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library.
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    Portrait of Quong Tart with Citizens' Presentation Salver, c. October 1902, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Quong and Margaret Tart with five children, c. 1900, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    'A happy family', Quong and Margaret Tart with two of their children, c. 1892, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Quong Tart (Tesla Studios), 1800?, by Tesla Studio, Sydney, courtesy of National Library of Australia - Picture collection.
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    18. Quong Tart and family in Quong Tart's sitting room at Gallop House, Arthur Street, Ashfield [ca. 1899-1900] / Creelman, Sydney Arcade, Sydney, c. 1899 - 1900, by Creelman, Sydney Arcade, Sydney, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library.
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    20. Quong Tart and family [ca. 1899-1900] / Creelman & Co., c. 1885 - c. 1903, by Creelman, Sydney Arcade, Sydney, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library.
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    Quong Tart and his wife Margaret, c. 1892 - c. 1894, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Quong Tart in National Guard uniform, c. 1900 - c. 1901, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Quong Tart seated in mandarin robes, c. 11 July 1894 - c. 29 January 1897, by Museum of Chinese Australian History, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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Born
1850
Died
1903
Occupation
community leader, merchant and restauranteur
Alternative Names
  • Mei, Guangda (full Chinese)
  • Tart, Quong (commonly used)
  • 梅光達 (Chinese characters)

Details

Mei Quong Tart was a complex individual. Chinese born, he was arguably one of the most westernised of Australia's Chinese. A successful businessman, particularly as a tea importer and restauranteur he also worked for social causes both within and outside the Chinese community. He was one of the best known nineteenth century Sydney Chinese. While seen by the non-Chinese community as a leader of the Chinese the Chinese community was divided in their views and support of him.

Mei Quong Tart was born in the Hsin-ning (Sun-ning) province of China, south west of Canton to Mei Quong a successful merchant, His full name was Mei Quong Tart but in Australia 'Tart' became his surname and he dropped the use of 'Mei'. He received some education in China before arriving in Sydney in 1859 aged nine with an uncle en route to the Braidwood diggings.

In Braidwood he worked in a store kept by Thomas Forsyth and his wife where he picked up a Scottish accent and love of Robert Burns which he kept for the rest of his life. While working in the store he caught the eye of Alice Simpson who with her husband Robert Percy Simpson unofficially adopted him. The Simpson's had strong links with Sydney's establishment and the legal fraternity, literary and artistic world. As part of the Simpson family he was enrolled as a member of the Anglican church and was taught to read and write English. At aged 14 he was given his first mining claim by the Simpson's who also encouraged him to buy shares in further mining claims. By the time he was 18 he was a wealthy bachelor who was prominent in sporting, cultural and religious affairs on the gold fields. In 1871 at 21 he applied for and was granted naturalisation and citizenship. When the Simpson family moved to Sydney he went with them.

Although a part of the Simpson family he maintained contact with his family in China and visited them in 1881. On his return he opened his first tea and silk store in Sydney. Although the store initially provided tea for sampling it proved so successful that he opened a chain of tea rooms. In 1889 he expanded his business and opened a elaborate restaurant in Sydney's King Street and in 1898 a dining hall in the new Queen Victoria Markets in Sydney. The dining hall became one of the most popular social centres in Sydney.

On his return from China he also became more involved in politics. He is considered to be the first Chinese to raise opposition to opium smoking in Australia. As early as 1883 he launched an anti-opium campaign and submitted a petition to the New South Wales government asking for a ban on the importation of opium. He submitted a second petition to the government in 1887. Both were unsuccessful but paved the way for later anti-opium movements. He also appointed to sit on the 1891 Royal Commission into Chinese Gambling and Immorality.

He was a prominent member of the Chinese Commercial Association (1892-1903) and spoke on a number of occasions on their behalf. In 1900 he was involved in the establishment of the New South Wales Chinese Empire Reform Association but was never on the committee or associated with the group as he was dissatisfied with the founders and leadership of the Association.

In addition to his business and political activities he was also a prominent socialite. He was in constant demand as a speaker at social and charitable functions. He also supported and organised many charitable functions of his own.

On the 30 August 1886 he married an English woman, Margaret Scarlett. They had four daughters and two sons:
Ann Alice Vine (b.1887-d.Manly, NSW, 29 Aug 1946),
Henrietta (Ettie) (b.Ashfield, NSW 17 April 1890-d.1942),
Arthur Malcolm (b.1892-d.1926),
Gertrude (dec'd no further information), Maggie (b.1897-d.26 April 1917),
Florence (b.1898) and
George Henry Bruce (b.Ashfield 1903-d.1946).
All children were baptised and educated in different Christian denominations to avoid prejudice.

On 26 July 1903 he died of pleurisy. An intruder had savagely assaulted him in his office in the Queen Victoria Markets some time earlier and he had only partially recovered. With 1,500 mourners his funeral, was a major ceremony. He was buried in Rookwood cemetery with a Christian service read in Cantonese.

Sources used to compile this entry: Fitzgerald, Shirley, Red Tape and Gold Scissors [Chinese language version.], 1996; Fitzgerald, Shirley, Red Tape and Gold Scissors: The Story of Sydney's Chinese, State Library of NSW Press, Sydney, 1996; Lea-Scarlett, E., 'Quong Tart: A Study in Assimilation', Descent, no. 4, 1969, pp. 81-101; Lea-Scarlett, E.J., Mei Quong Tart (1850 - 1903), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 5, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050268b.htm; Pratten, Chris, 'Quong Tart', in Pratten, Chris (ed.), Ashfield at Federation, Ashfield and District Historical Society, Ashfield, Sydney, NSW, 2001, pp. 143-166; Tart, Margaret, The Life of Quong Tart: Or how a Foreigner Succeeded in a British Community, W. M. Maclardy, Sydney, 1911, http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/setis/id/fed0048; Travers, Robert, Australian Mandarin: The Life and Times of Quong Tart, Kangaroo Press, New South Wales, 1981; Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977.

Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University

Associated with

Controlled Corporate Bodies

Family

Related People

Archival Collections

Braidwood Historical Society

  • Braidwood Historical Society picture collection; Braidwood Historical Society. Details

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

  • Quong Tart collection; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

Royal Australian Historical Society

Society of Australian Genealogists

  • Tart McEvoy collection; Society of Australian Genealogists. Details

State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library

  • Carte de visite album including portraits of Luck and Shottin families, plus Mr & Mrs Quong Tart, ca. 1870-1885, PXB 387; State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library. Details
  • Photographs - New South Wales, 1879 - ca 1891, 1879 - c. 1891, PXD 855; State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library. Details
  • Picture collection; State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library. Details
  • Quong Tart and family papers (1831-1940), ML MSS 5094; State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library. Details
  • Quong Tart Family papers, pictorial material, 1831-1940, c. 1885 - c. 1939, PXD 660; State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library. Details

Published Resources

Books

  • Ellis, Netta, Braidwood Heritage: Historical Photographs, Braidwood and District Historical Society, Braidwood, 1983. Details
  • Fitzgerald, Shirley, Red Tape and Gold Scissors [Chinese language version.], 1996. Details
  • Fitzgerald, Shirley, Red Tape and Gold Scissors: The Story of Sydney's Chinese, State Library of NSW Press, Sydney, 1996. Details
  • 'Silverpen', James Oddie, Esq. J.P., of Ballarat and his guests, Mr and Mrs Quong Tart of Sydney (who were on their bridal tour), C. Boyd Printer, Ballarat, 1886?. Details
  • Tart, Quong, A Plea for the Abolition of the importation of opium, with appendix, H. T. Dunn & Co, Sydney, 1890. Details
  • Tart, Quong, Official Report of anti-opium demonstration held at the Congregational Church, Pitt St, Sydney, on Thurs, April 5, 1894 [convened by Quong Tart], T. J. Houghton & Co., Sydney, 1894. Details
  • Travers, Robert, Australian Mandarin: The Life and Times of Quong Tart, Kangaroo Press, New South Wales, 1981. Details
  • Yong, C.F., New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia 1901-1920, Raphael Arts, South Australia, 1977. Details

Book Sections

  • Pratten, Chris, 'Quong Tart', in Pratten, Chris (ed.), Ashfield at Federation, Ashfield and District Historical Society, Ashfield, Sydney, NSW, 2001, pp. 143-166. Details

Journal articles

  • Law, John, 'Quong Tart: The story of a successful Chinaman', The Young Man, vol. 9, no. 99, March, pp. 102-4. Details
  • Lea-Scarlett, E., 'Quong Tart: A Study in Assimilation', Descent, no. 4, 1969, pp. 81-101. Details
  • Lea-Scarlett, E., 'Quong Tart: A Study in Assimilation', Descent, vol. 4, no. 4, 1970, pp. 121-140. Details
  • Ng Kumlin Ali, Bessie, 'Quong Tart and early Chinese business in Fij', The Journal of Pacific Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2005, pp. 78-88. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • 'Quong Tart, Anglo-Mongolian cricketer [ illustrated]', Bulletin, 9 June 1883, p. 14. Details
  • 'Mr Quong Tart [with illustration]', Australian Town and Country Journal, 21 August. Details
  • 'A red letter day at Liverpool Asylum [illustrated montage]', Illustrated Sydney News, 14 August, p. 16. Details
  • 'Sydney society homes, Gallop House, Ashfield, Mr Quong Tart's residence [photograph and text]', Illustrated Sydney News, 22 April 1893 [?]. Details
  • 'Mr Quong Tart, proposed visit to China, China a probable market for Australian wool, Chinese and the opium trade [photograph]', Australian Town and Country Journal, 14 April 1894, p. 30. Details
  • 'Chinese mandarins [with photograph]', Australian Town and Country Journal, 23 February 1895, p. 28. Details
  • '[untitled article about Bendigo Athletic Club]', Wheelman (The Official organ of the League of NSW Wheelmen), vol. 2, no. 7, 13 November. Details
  • 'Mr Quong Tart in his mandarin dress [photograph]', Chinese Australian Herald, Supplement, 29 January 1897. Details
  • '[photograph and untitled article about On Lee's return to China]', The Sketch, 4 May. Details
  • 'A Chinese farewell [with photograph]', Australian Town and Country Journal, 26 March 1898, p. 38. Details
  • ''My name's MacTart': The little Sydney merchant who devoted his life to fighting anti-Chinese prejudice also did his best to wipe out faction-fighting among his people', Parade, March, p. 44. Details

Reports

  • Teffer, Nicola, No Ordinary Man: Sydney's Quong Tart, citizen, merchant & philanthropist, Quong Tart Centenary Commemoration Committee and Newcontemporaries gallery, Sydney, 2004. Details

Webpages

Online Resources

See also

  • Cole, E.W. (Edward William), Better Side of the Chinese Character: Its Relation to a 'White Australia' and the Development of Our Tropical Territory, Second edition c.1912 edn, Cole's Book Arcade, Melbourne, 1905c. Details
  • Ellis, Netta, Briadwood, Dear Braidwood, N.N. and N.M. Ellis, Braidwood, NSW, 1989. Details
  • Yong, C. F., 'The banana trade and the Chinese in NSW and Victoria, 1901-1921', ANU Historical Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, 1964, pp. 28-35. Details

Images

Title
Decorated photographic montage of Quong Tart and his family
Type
Photograph
Date
1892
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details
Title
Lin Yik Tong, Merchant Society of Sydney (seated and standing)
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1902 - c. 31 January 1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Portrait of Quong Tart with Citizens' Presentation Salver
Type
Photograph
Date
c. October 1902
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong and Margaret Tart with five children
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1900
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong and Margaret Tart with two of their children
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1892
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tart (Tesla Studios)
Type
Photograph
Date
1890s - 1902?
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tart and family in sitting room at Gallop House, Arthur Street, Ashfield
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1899 - 1900
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details
Title
Quong Tart and family sitting in front of the Gallop house fernery
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1899 - 1900
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tart and his wife Margaret
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1892 - c. 1894
Place
Australia - New South Wales
Details
Title
Quong Tart in front of tea rooms, possibly 777 George Street
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1886 - c. 1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - George Street?
Details
Title
Quong Tart in National Guard uniform
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1900 - c. 1901
Place
Australia - New South Wales
Details
Title
Quong Tart posed with two staff members inside one of his tearooms
Type
Photograph
Date
1889 - 1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - King Street
Details
Title
Quong Tart posed with unidentified staff in private room [?] of one of his tearooms
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1886 - 1898?
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - George Street?
Details
Title
Quong Tart posing with King Tahihiao
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1884
Place
Australia - New South Wales
Details
Title
Quong Tart seated in mandarin robes
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 11 July 1894 - c. 29 January 1897
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tart, c1874-1884
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1874 - c. 1884
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Braidwood
Details
Title
Quong Tart, c1880s
Type
Photograph
Date
1883s - c. 1888
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tart, League of Wheelmen Starter, with Mr Bagnall
Type
Photograph
Date
1890? - 1903?
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney
Details
Title
Quong Tartan or He would be a Scots-man
Type
Illustration
Date
c. 28 January 1902
Place
Australia - New South Wales
Details
Title
Quong Tart's funeral cortege leaving Ashfield residence
Type
Photograph
Date
1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details
Title
Quong Tart's home in Ashfield
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1889 - c. 1892
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details

See also

Title
Funeral procession for Quong Tart
Type
Photograph
Date
1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Liverpool Road
Details
Title
Quong Tart's hearse
Type
Photograph
Date
1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details
Title
Quong Tart's tea house at 137 King Street, Sydney
Type
Photograph
Date
1881 - 1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - King Street
Details
Title
Unidentified group of men
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1888 - c. 1900
Place
Australia
Details
Title
Wreaths at Quong Tart's funeral
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1903
Place
Australia - New South Wales - Sydney - Ashfield
Details

Created: 2 July 2002, Last modified: 7 November 2005