- Born
- c. 8 August 1888
China - Died
- 1978
- Occupation
- french polisher and furniture maker
Details
Official records indicate that George Lew Ton arrived in Melbourne in 1895. The story he told his family was that he arrived when he was about six years old and that he came from a small village near Canton. His official birth date is listed as 8 August 1888 (the year sometimes varies). However members of the family believe the date was made up and chosen for its association with the auspicious number eight. An older man on the ship George Lew Ton took to Australia apparently took him under his wing and looked after him during the voyage. Family members remember him later spending time with an ‘uncle’ in Werribee who they think may have been the same person.
When he met Australian-born Joyce May Leong Tock he was working as a French polisher in the Little Bourke Street area where Joyce had grown up. They married and had seven children: Frances, Cecil, Lawrence, Roy, Reginald, Mervyn and Shirley.
Joyce and George Lew Ton’s Alien Registration forms completed during WWI indicates George was living with his family at 25 Latrobe Street, Melbourne in 1916 and working nearby as a cabinetmaker at 16 Little Leichardt Street, Melbourne. The family then moved to Emerald for a couple of weeks before settling at Yarra Junction in 1921. The birth places of his last two children suggest the family moved to Bayswater some time between the births of Reginald and Mervyn in 1925-1926. They were still living in Bayswater, in Canterbury Road in 1939.
Sources used to compile this entry: Personal communication with Shirley Millard, 12 December 2004; Bendigo Golden Dragon Museum collection; NAA(Vic), B78, LEW/T; NAA(Vic), MT269/1, VIC/CHINA/TON GEORGE; NAA(Vic), MT269/1, VIC/CHINA/TON JOYCE; NAA(Vic), B6531, DECEASED/1939-1945/LEW-TON JOYCE. Further information is held at the Bendigo Golden Dragon Museum about this family.
Prepared by: Sophie Couchman, La Trobe University
Related Subjects
Associated with
Children
Family
Wife
Images
-
-
- Title
- George and Joyce May Lew Ton and their children (left to right) Reg, Laurence, Frances, Roy, Cecil, Shirley (baby), Mervyn.
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1934
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne - Bayswater
- Details
-
-
- Title
- George Lew Ton and Joyce May Lew Ton (nee Tock)
- Type
- Photograph
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
-
-
- Title
- George Lew Ton and Sam Liu
- Type
- Photograph
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
-
-
- Title
- George Lew Ton, pre-1901
- Type
- Photograph
- Date
- c. 1895 - c. 1901
- Place
- Australia - Victoria - Melbourne
- Details
Created: 20 April 2005, Last modified: 26 October 2005
