Wong, Olive Mabel Clarice (Yuk Seen) - Biographical entry - Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia

Born

4 January 1884
Surrey Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died

26 June 1991
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Occupation

fund raiser and musican

Alternative Names

Chinn, Mabel (commonly used)
Chinn, Mrs T.C. [Tong Coon] (stage name, married name)
Chinn, Olive Mabel Clarice Yuk Seen (also used)
Quing Foo, Mrs (married name)
Wang Yuxian (pinyin)
Wong, Mabel (also used)
Wong, Olive Mabel Clarice (English maiden name)
Wong, Yuk Seen (Chinese maiden name)

Details

According to Mabel Wong her father was born in China and came to Australia when he was young to act as a court interpreter for the Chinese on the goldfields and later. He met Mabel's Australian-born mother, they fell in love, and were married. Mabel was born, Olive Mabel Clarice Yuk Seen, on 4 January 1884.

Mrs Chinn, formally Miss Mabel Wong, used to dance, was a well trained singer and learnt to play the piano at a very early age. She performed in the local church choir in Sydney. In August 1902 she was accepted as a member of the Sydney Philharmonic Society. She also took part in a Chinese procession in Sydney in 1899 when she was 15 years old. Eunice Leong, her daughter, remembers being told that she and her male partner in the procession were selected for leading roles in the procession because they were both considered very attractive.

Around 1910, when she was in her twenties, she married a Melbourne Chinese man, Quing Foo who a partner in the Geraldton Fruit Company and she moved to Melbourne with her husband. During this period she took her husband's name and called herself Mrs Qing Foo. She had two children, Hazel (Kim Quay, b.1910-) and Mavis (Mee Kim, b.1913-) with Qing Foo.

Quing Foo was much older than Mabel. Some time after his death, she remarried Chinn Tong Coon from Toishan district in Guangdong province, China. As well as Mabel Chinn she also called herself Mrs T.C. Chinn (following the western tradition of being called by her husband's name Chinn Tong Coon).

With Chinn Tong Coon she had another three children: Eunice (Kim Oy, b.1920-), Valda (Kim Laan, b.1922-d.early1970) and Max (Yin Toy, b.1925-).

Under their mother's influence, the children learnt Western music from a variety of private teachers. Hazel and Eunice both studied piano and singing. Mavis played the violin and the guitar. Valda played the violin and viola and also sang and danced, whilst the son, Max, also played the violin and sang.

Mabel travelled outside of Australia on two occasions. Once in the early 1930s, possibly 1931 to Ceylon and later around 1937 for her daughter Mavis' wedding to Guangdong province via Hong Kong.

Mabel was an active fundraiser in the Hamilton area when the family were living there. She established the Oriental Orchestra in the early 1930s to accompany a series of concerts called the 'Oriental Concerts'. The group consisted of Chinese and Australian musicians. One of the Oriental Orchestra's early performances was the 'Grand Oriental Evening Concert' held in 1931 where they played two overtures and accompanied some dances. The concert was held in Hamilton in the Western district of Victoria and was subsequently repeated in many Western district towns. The Chinn family were the main feature of this concert, with Western artists also incorporated into the programme.

The orchestra as part of the 'Oriental Concerts' was a non-profit organisation that mainly played at charity and fund raising events for the general community. The entry fee for the 'Grand Oriental Evening Concert' was three pennies with money raised going to the Hamilton District Base Hospital. In 1931 in honour of her contribution to the Hospital Mrs Chinn was made a Life Governor. In subsequent years the orchestra continued to be involved in other performances for charity in Hamilton and surrounding areas. A letter of appreciation was received from the Honorary Secretary of the Hamilton Town Band for the family's contribution raising money at an event in Coleraine in April 1931.

Members of the Chinn family were also invited to perform in Western entertainments. Mrs T.C. Chinn and Miss Mavis Chinn played in 'A Specially Selected Entertainment' event in St Jude's Parish Hall, Lygon Street, Carlton in Melbourne in 13 June 1934. On 2 March 1939, the Chinn family took part in a fund raising concert for the Bush Fire Relief at the Brunswick Town Hall. In the programme the orchestra was described as 'Mrs T.C. Chinn and Party' rather than the 'Oriental Orchestra'. Many of the pieces played by the family matched those played in their earlier 'Grand Oriental Evening Concert', though in this event the Orchestra was concentrated in the second half of the programme rather than being its feature.

In addition to a little Chinese influence in the musical repertoire, the Chinn family also wore Chinese costumes at all their concerts. They were photographed in costume for an article in the Sun on the 1939 Bush Fire Relief charity concert. The article reported that 'to aid the local appeal for the bush fire relief fund, Misses Eunice, Valda and Hazel Chinn and Mrs T.C. Chinn will wear their national costumes, which are centuries old'. These costumes had been lent to the family by the Chung Hwa Society of Victoria. In 1940 and 1941 the Chung Hwa Society lent these costumes for pageants at the Exhibition, the Myer Mural Hall Bamboo Festival and the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) where Chinese girls on horse back represented famous ancient Chinese women warriors and beauties. These pageants were used to raise funds for the Chinese civilian refugees in the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinn daughters also participated in these activities.

The Orchestra finally became inactive in the early 1940s. Hazel Chinn had married and Mavis Chinn had gone to live in China with her husband and the youngest children joined the Australian Army and the Air Force. However the musical legacy that their mother brought to them remained. In 1954 Max Chinn, a tenor, was a finalist in the ABC's Concerto and Vocalist competition and the rest of the family continued to play and appreciate music privately

Sources used to compile this entry: Ryan, Kelly, 'Olive's eyes keep smiling', Moorabin Standard News, 1 February 1984, p. 7; The Chinn Family and the Oriental Orchestra: A new stream of Chinese music, http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/chinn_family.htm; Personal communication, Eunice Leong, 20 May 2004.

Archival Collections

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

Mabel Chinn collection; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

E. Leong (private hands)

Mrs Mabel Chinn collection; E. Leong (private hands). Details

Published Resources

Newspaper Articles

Ryan, Kelly, 'Olive's eyes keep smiling', Moorabin Standard News, 1 February 1984, p. 7. Details

Online Resources

The Chinn Family and the Oriental Orchestra: A new stream of Chinese music, http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/5/5/1/public/chinn_family.htm. Details

Images

Title: Chinn family and friends on grass badminton court
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1922 - c. 1923
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Repository: E. Leong (private hands); Details

Title: Chinn family home in Surry Hills, Sydney or in Carlton, Melbourne
Type: Photograph
Place: Australia - New South Wales - Sydney?; Details

Title: Eunice, Valda, Hazel Chinn and Mrs T.C. Chinn in costume for Bush Fire Relief charity concert
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 2 March 1939
Place: Australia - Victoria; Details

Title: House in De Carle St, Moreland, Victoria, 1919
Type: Photograph
Date: 1919
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Moreland - De Carle Street; Details

Title: Mabel Wong (15 years old) dressed for procession in Sydney
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1899
Place: Australia - New South Wales - Sydney; Details

Title: Mabel Wong (15 years) and unknown man dressed for procession in Sydney
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1899
Place: Australia - New South Wales - Sydney; Details

Title: Mabel Wong aged 18 years
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1902
Place: Australia - New South Wales?; Details

Title: Mabel Wong with church choir aged 18 years
Type: Photograph
Date: 1902
Place: Australia - New South Wales - Sydney; Details

Title: Mabel Wong with Shing sisters
Type: Photograph
Date: 1902
Place: Australia - New South Wales?; Details

Title: Mrs Mabel Chinn in her 20's taken at a studio in Bourke St, Melbourne
Type: Photograph
Date: c. 1910 - c. 1914
Place: Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Bourke Street; Details