- Born
- 1853?
Amoy (Xiamen), China - Died
- 21 January 1949
Oodnadatta, South Australia, Australia - Occupation
- gardener
- Alternative Names
- Chong, Edward (also used)
- Chong, Ned (also used)
- Summary
According to his granddaughter, poet Jennifer Martiniello, Ned Chong was born in Amoy to a Chinese-born father and a Chinese-American mother. After his mother left the family and returned to America Ned ran away from his home in China and came to Australia. He was 12 years old. He had some Chinese connections in Darwin but also spent time when he was in his twenties working as a market gardener in Adelaide. In 1878 he helped to lay the Overland Telegraph and subsequent railway from Adelaide. By 1898 he established a market garden at Hookey's Waterhole in Oodnadatta with a business partner, Cherry Ah Chee. They worked together until 1911 when Cherry committed suicide. In 1913 he married Minnie Bell, Cherry's widow, an Irish-Arrernte woman and they had two children: Richard (Dick) and May Amoy. Minnie brought six children with her to the marriage born to her late husand. Ned was an entrepreneurial man and expanded his gardens to include a piggery, bakery and butcher's shop. He and Minnie were both buried in Oodnadatta.
Related Subjects
Children
Archival Collections
State Library of South Australia
- Oodnadatta Collection; State Library of South Australia. Details
Published Resources
Books
- Simpson, Horrie, Horrie Simpson's Oodnadatta, Oodnadatta Progress Association, Oodnadatta, 1990. Details
Book Sections
- Martiniello, Jennifer, 'As strands of plaited music: My Chinese-Aboriginal-Anglo heritage', in Edwards, Penny and Shen, Yuanfang (eds), Lost in Whitewash: Aboriginal-Chinese Encounters from Federation to Reconciliation, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, 2003, pp. 23-35. Details
Images
-
-
- Title
- Edward Chong, Oodnadatta
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1918
- Place
- Australia - South Australia - Oodnadatta
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Ned Chong in his garden
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1910
- Place
- Australia - South Australia - Oodnadatta
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Ned Chong in his garden
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1910
- Place
- Australia - South Australia - Oodnadatta
- Details
-
-
- Title
- Ned Chong's vegetable garden and dwelling
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1910
- Place
- Australia - South Australia - Oodnadatta
- Details
Sources used to compile this entry: Martiniello, Jennifer, 'As strands of plaited music: My Chinese-Aboriginal-Anglo heritage', in Edwards, Penny and Shen, Yuanfang (eds), Lost in Whitewash: Aboriginal-Chinese Encounters from Federation to Reconciliation, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, 2003, pp. 23-35; Simpson, Horrie, Horrie Simpson's Oodnadatta, Oodnadatta Progress Association, Oodnadatta, 1990.
Created: 4 October 2004, Last modified: 2 June 2006
