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Chun See

Gallery

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    Chun See (Leong Chuey Tock's wife) and three children, 1896 - 1898, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
    Details

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    Chun See Tock and unidentified Tock daughter, 24 March 1923, courtesy of S. Millard (private hands).
    Details

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    Mrs Leong Chuey Tock [Chun See Tock?], 1890s, courtesy of Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History).
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    Mrs Leong Chuey Tock with Violet Tock and Joyce May Tock, 1910s - 1920s, by Yeoman & Co, Bourke St, Melbourne, courtesy of S. Millard (private hands).
    Details

Occupation
housekeeper and storekeeper
Alternative Names
  • Tock, Chum Lee (also used)
  • Tock, Chun See Mrs (also used)
  • 陈色 (Chinese characters)

Details

Chun See's Certificate for Exemption from Dictation Test (CEDT) form indicates that she was born in 1870 and arrived in Australia when she was twenty years old in 1890. On arrival she lived at 136 Little Bourke Street where she lived for the next twenty-four years. In 1915 she moved to 64 Lonsdale Street. This property was a grocers store called Ling Heong, run by Ah Tock, which sold fruit and vegetables.

As there is no evidence of her marriage to Leong Chuey Tock, they were probably married in China. Together they had six surviving children: George or Leong Cheong Poy, Joyce May, Tony, Frank, Lum and Violet.

As well as raising a family, Chun See also worked as a housekeeper and is believed to have been employed as a storekeeper in Ling Heong. Character references on her CEDT application describe her as 'very hard working' and an 'honest and industrious citizen'. After living thirty years in Melbourne, Chun See moved to Hong Kong with her husband and family. Despite applying for a CEDT, there is no evidence that she returned to Australia after 1920.

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; Victorian births, deaths and marriages; NAA(Vic), B13/0, 1920/12371.

Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University

Archival Collections

Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History)

  • Shirley Millard collection; Chinese Museum (Museum of Chinese Australian History). Details

Published Resources

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
Chun See (Leong Chuey Tock's wife) and three children
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1896 - c. 1898
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details
Title
Chun See Tock and unidentified Tock daughter
Type
Photograph
Date
24 March 1923
Place
Hong Kong - Stubb's Road
Details
Title
Mrs Chun See Tock
Type
Photograph
Date
c. 1920
Place
Australia - Victoria
Details
Title
Mrs Leong Chuey Tock [Chun See Tock?]
Type
Photograph
Date
1890s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne?
Details
Title
Mrs Leong Chuey Tock with Violet Tock and Joyce May Tock
Type
Photograph
Date
1910s - 1920s
Place
Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
Details

Created: 3 April 2005, Last modified: 15 May 2012