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Cheong, James M.A. (1871 - 1941)

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    Father James Cheong, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Four men (including James Cheong and possibly Benjamin Cheong) posed in front of a mining poppet [?], courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Fr Cheong after a high mass at which Reginald Halse, bishop of the Riverina, presided, c.1930, c. 1930, courtesy of St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive.
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    Fr Cheong with other clerical staff at St Peter's, c.1925, c. 1925, courtesy of St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive.
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    Fr James Cheong as a retreat conductor, St George's College, Perth, Western Australia, c 1935, c. 1935, courtesy of St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive.
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    Fr James Cheong with his family, c. 1906, courtesy of St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive.
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    James and Benjamin Cheong with two unidentified men under a mining poppet [?], courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    James and Benjamin Cheong with two unidentified ministers, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    James Cheong and Father Maynard, St Peters, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    James Cheong as a Melbourne University undergraduate and resident of Trinity College, 1891?, courtesy of St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive.
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Born
1871
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Died
1941
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
chaplin - Anglican
Summary

James Cheong was the eldest son of nine children of Cheok Hong Cheong and his wife Choy Ying Wong. He was born in Ballarat in 1871 and died in Melbourne on 3 October 1941. He was awarded a number of prizes while at Melbourne Grammar School and went on to excel in his studies at the University of Melbourne. In 1904 was the first ordained Chinese chaplain of the Victoria Church of England. He held the curacy of St Peter's Church at Eastern Hill near the top end of Little Bourke Street until his death.

Details

James Cheong's ability to give spiritual direction to individuals based on acute insight became well known among Anglicans across Australia; bishops from as far afield as the north-west of Western Australia and North Queensland made him their confessor. Several sets of notes from series of addresses given by Fr Cheong during retreats are preserved in the St Peter’s archives.

Cheong was made a deacon by Bishop Talbot of Rochester, 8 October 1904, and ordained a priest by Archbishop Clarke in St Paul’s cathedral, Melbourne, 21 December 1906.

E.S. Hughes, who invited him to work at St Peters in 1906 when he returned from England after completing his theological studies at Cuddesdon. As early as 1904, Hughes referred to him as ‘our Chinese curate at Oxford’, clearly intending his appointment to St Peter’s.

His father, Cheok Hong Cheong, came to the Ballarat goldfields, and became a prosperous businessman with properties in the commercial business district and in Fitzroy. He was a prominent figure in the Church Missionary Society, an organisation dedicated to the conversion of Victoria’s Chinese population to Anglicanism. His father, who also delivered public lectures on matter Chinese to audiences which filled the Town Hall, also gave James a pride in Chinese culture and history.

Even when he went to Hong Kong he had thought of working as a missionary, but was also considering applying for the diplomatic core. References from a senior Victorian civil servant offered him an entry into that world, but by 1903, he had made other choices, and went to Oxford where he entered Cuddesdon theological college. His handwritten lecture notes from Cuddesdon are preserved in the St Peter’s archives, along with a correspondence with Father Puller, a priest whom he met at Oxford, which continued until at least 1927.

By 1898, he had left Melbourne for Hong Kong, where he took the position of an assistant master at Queen’s College from April 1899 until August 1902. Initially he came to Hong Kong to increase his mastery of Chinese, and aimed to enter the world of Chinese politics. His ideals were similar to others born in China, whose exposure to the West made them interested in introducing democratic reforms. A letter to his parents in the wake of the Boxer rebellion indicates that two Chinese members of the Legislative Council had already dissuaded him, pointing out that his ‘undoubted British status’ would work against him.

He entered Trinity College in March 1891. He had shown unusual capacities in both Latin and Greek while at school, and in 1890 took Melbourne University’s exhibition in classics.

Sources used to compile this entry: Holden, Colin, ''Undoubted British Status': James Cheong the parish and Melbourne's Chinese', in Colin Holden (ed.), From Tories at Prayer to Socialists at Mass, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 156-168.

Prepared by: Colin Holden, St Peter's Eastern Hill Church

Family

Archival Collections

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

  • Cheong family collection; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive

  • James Cheong photographs; St Peter's Eastern Hill Church archive. Details

Published Resources

Books

  • Cronin, Kathryn, Colonial Casualties: Chinese in Early Victoria, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1982. Details

Book Sections

  • Holden, Colin, ''Undoubted British Status': James Cheong the parish and Melbourne's Chinese', in Colin Holden (ed.), From Tories at Prayer to Socialists at Mass, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 156-168. Details

Conference Papers

  • Welch, Ian, 'Cheok Hong Cheong: Victim or Victor? [unpublished paper]', in Workshop on the Chinese in Australian and New Zealand History, University of New South Wales, 11-13 February. Details

Theses

Online Resources

Images

Title
Father James Cheong
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
Four men (including James Cheong and possibly Benjamin Cheong) posed in front of a mining poppet [?]
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
Fr Cheong after a high mass at which Reginald Halse, bishop of the Riverina, presided, c.1930
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1930
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Fr Cheong with other clerical staff at St Peter's, c.1925
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1925
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Fr James Cheong as a retreat conductor, St George's College, Perth, Western Australia, c 1935
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1935
Place
Australia - Western Australia - Perth
Details
Title
Fr James Cheong with his family
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1906 - c. 1928
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
James and Benjamin Cheong with two unidentified men under a mining poppet [?]
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
James and Benjamin Cheong with two unidentified ministers
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
James Cheong and Father Maynard, St Peters
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
James Cheong as a Melbourne University undergraduate and resident of Trinity College
Type
Photograph
Date
1891?
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
James Cheong as a teacher at Queens School, Hong Kong, 1899-1900
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1899 - c. 1900
Place
Hong Kong
Details
Title
James Cheong as a theological student at Cuddesdon College, Oxford
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1903
Place
United Kingdom - Oxford
Details
Title
James Cheong with unidentified group including a nun
Type
Photograph
Details
Title
Mr James Cheong M.A., late organist
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 2 September 1899
Place
Australia - Victoria
Details
Title
The celebration of the silver jubilee of Fr Cheong's ordination, 21 December 1931
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1931
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details

Created: 10 May 2001, Last modified: 26 February 2009