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Tong, Ethel (Boo Lan) (1906 - 1963)

Gallery

  • Click to view this Print

    Tong family, c. 21 June 1912, by Yeomans, 116 Bourke St, Melbourne, courtesy of S. Millard (private hands).
    Details

  • Click to view this Print

    Wedding of Bill Moy (Bor Nam) of Ruby Flat, Tasmania to Ethel Tong, c. 26 February 1927
    Details

Born
6 May 1906
Melbourne East, Victoria, Australia
Died
5 May 1963
Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia
Alternative Names
  • Moy, Boo Lan (also used)
  • Moy, Ethel (married name)
  • Tong, Boo Lan (also used)
  • Tong, Boo Lure/Line (also used)
  • Tong, Ethel (maiden name)

Details

Ethel Tong, known by her family as Boo Lan, was born in 1906. She attended the Central Mission kindergarten in Exhibition Street, Melbourne just near their home in Lacey Place, off Little Bourke Street. After her father’s death in 1912 she went with her mother and siblings to live in China (possibly Hong Kong). Her mother and two of her sisters died there some time between 1912 and 1914 and she and her brother and sister were placed under the guardianship of Chin Wah Moon.

In 1916 she returned to Victoria with her sister Bou Yuk (Alice) and lived with her and her husband in Bendigo. In 1918 she made a second trip to Hong Kong (and possibly on to China). She landed back in Sydney four years later in 1922. She presumably then travelled overland to Bendigo to stay with her sister because some years later she met her husband, William (Bor Nam) Moy, there. It is believed that they met through mutual Melbourne friends. They were married in St Paul’s Church of England, Bendigo on 26 February 1927.

The couple lived briefly at 155 Latrobe Street in Melbourne before moving to Geraldton in Western Australia where they settled and had six children, three boys and three girls: Norman, Wilma, Tasman, Noela, Alan and Janice. Her family remember her as a bright, happy and calm. She enjoyed craft work and won prizes for her needlework, croquet and knitting work at the local Show.

Sources used to compile this entry: Couchman, Sophie, ''Oh, I would like to see Maggie Moore again': Selected women of Melbourne's Chinatown', After the Rush: Regulation, Partcipation, and Chinese Communities in Australia 1860-1840 (Otherland Literary Journal), vol. 9, 2004, pp. 171-190; Oral history interview with Marjorie Law, 24 August 1999; Brian and Noela Hassell unpublished brief biography, 1999; NAA(Vic), 1920/13667; 1922/9836; 1920/13667; 1918/14419; Victorian births, deaths and marriages.

Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University

Published Resources

Book Sections

  • Couchman, Sophie, 'Tong family networks revealed through the camera's lens', in Sophie Couchman (ed.), Secrets, Silences and Sources: Five Chinese-Australian Family Histories (La Trobe Asian Studies Papers), Asian Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 2005, pp. 47-53. Details

Journal Articles

  • Couchman, Sophie, ''Oh, I would like to see Maggie Moore again': Selected women of Melbourne's Chinatown', After the Rush: Regulation, Partcipation, and Chinese Communities in Australia 1860-1840 (Otherland Literary Journal), vol. 9, 2004, pp. 171-190. Details

Images

Title
Tong family
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 21 June 1912
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Wedding portrait of Bill Moy (Bor Nam) and Ethel Tong with Charles Moy and Rose Moy
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 26 February 1927
Place
Australia - Victoria - Bendigo (Sandhurst)
Details

Created: 22 March 2003, Last modified: 30 July 2008