2003 - 2004
Quong Tart Centenary
Activities to commemorate Quong Tart 梅光達 先生
2003 marked the centenary of Quong Tart’s death. The Quong Tart Centenary Commemoration Committee planned a year of activities to recognise his contribution to Sydney and Australian society and history. These included:
The Quong Tart Centenary Commemorative
Committee
The Quong Tart Centenary Commemoration Committee (QTCCC), a committee of the Chinese Australian Historical Society Inc., was formed at the end of 2001 to organise the commemoration of the centenary of the death of Mei Guangda (aka Quong Tart, 1850-1903) who died on 26 July 1903. Membership of the QTCCC was open to descendents of Quong Tart and representatives from associated or sponsoring organisations. In July 2003 members of the QTCCC were:
The life of Quong Tart
Mei Guangda 梅光達 (1850-1903), better known as Quong Tart, was born in the village of Longtengli near Duanfen in southern Taishan, Guangdong province. In 1859 he accompanied his uncle who led a team of gold miners from the Mei family to the goldfields around Araluen and Braidwood in New South Wales. It is thought the well educated young Quong Tart was to be a scribe for the team. Quong Tart was taken into the care of a wealthy landowning Scots family of Alice Simpson who raised him and helped him to become a wealthy young squire who spoke English with a Scottish accent. At the age of 21 Quong Tart became a British subject in order to buy and own land on his own behalf. Ten years later at the age of 31 he returned to his family in Taishan and arranged with them to operate a tea trade between Taishan and Sydney. On his return to Sydney he started a chain of tea shops and tea rooms, the first public tearooms in Sydney. In 1886 married a young school teacher, Margaret Scarlett.
Quong Tart became a leading 19th-century Sydney merchant and importer from China. His tea rooms in King Street and later in the Queen Victoria Markets (now the QVB) were the finest in the city. He was also an active philanthropist, and often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for charities, community groups and worthy causes. Quong Tart was well connected with the City Council as a tenant of the Queen Victoria Markets and through various official dinners hosted in the Elite Tea Rooms. He sat on the famous NSW Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality and Charges of Bribery Against Members of the Police Force 1891-92, which was chaired by the Mayor and met at the Sydney Town Hall.
He was a leader in the Chinese community acting as its spokesman and advocate. He was one of the founders of the first Chinese merchants’ association in Sydney, the Lin Yik Tong, and campaigned against opium smoking and gambling. The Chinese Emperor made him an honorary Mandarin of the Fourth Grade in acknowledgement of his services to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia.
Quong Tart became ill after a brutal attack in 1902 while working in his Elite Dining Hall and Tea Rooms in Queen Victoria Markets. He died in July 1903. The attack on Quong Tart and his death a year later were widely covered in the newspapers of the day and the attendees at his funeral were a ‘who’s who’ of Sydney.
2003 marked the centenary of Quong Tart’s death. The Quong Tart Centenary Commemoration Committee planned a year of activities to recognise his contribution to Sydney and Australian society and history. These included:
- a display on Quong Tart in the State Library of NSW from July to December 2003
- the facsimile publication of The Life of Quong Tart (1911), a biography written by Margaret Tart, organised by the State Library of New South Wales and to be launched on 24 July 2003
- from the beginning of July 2003 a virtual exhibition ‘Quong Tart’ at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/QuongTart created by the History Program of the Sydney City Council
- a graveside ceremony at Rookwood Necropolis on 26 July, the date of his death, being organised by the Sze Yup Society
- historic tours on 20 September 2003, during the NSW History Week, have been organised by the Braidwood and District Historical Society, and will include sites around Araluen and Braidwood associated with Quong Tart
- a lecture presentation on Quong Tart at History House, Macquarie Street, on 26 October 2003, organised by the Royal Australian Historical Society
- evenings of Scottish ballads and verse, under the auspices of St Andrews College
- performances, under the auspices of the University of Technology, Sydney, of a musical on Quong Tart composed by Barbara Poston-Anderson in 2004
- an exhibition about his life and times, to be held in the Newcontemporaries gallery in the QVB from 1 July to 15 August 2004
- an international conference Quong Tart and His Times to be co-hosted by the Powerhouse Museum and the University of Sydney and held at the Powerhouse Museum with a day in Braidwood between 1 to 5 July
The Quong Tart Centenary Commemorative
Committee
The Quong Tart Centenary Commemoration Committee (QTCCC), a committee of the Chinese Australian Historical Society Inc., was formed at the end of 2001 to organise the commemoration of the centenary of the death of Mei Guangda (aka Quong Tart, 1850-1903) who died on 26 July 1903. Membership of the QTCCC was open to descendents of Quong Tart and representatives from associated or sponsoring organisations. In July 2003 members of the QTCCC were:
- Henry Chan (Chair), President of the Chinese Australian Historical Society Inc., Honorary Associate, Department of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Sydney
- Hayden Rorke (Secretary), Descendent of Quong Tart
- Spencer Wu (Treasurer), Sydney Chinese Community
- Pip Creasey, President, Braidwood and District Historical Society
- Shirley Fitzgerald, City Historian, City of Sydney
- King Fong, Sydney Chinese Community
- Robert Ho, Councillor, City of Sydney, Sze Yup Society
- Ian Jack, St Andrews College, University of Sydney, President, Royal Australian Historical Society
- Shar Jones, Braidwood and District Historical Society
- Chin Kwong, Sze Yup Society
- Errol Lea-Scarlett, Descendant of the Scarlett Family
- John McDonald, Newcontemporaries
- Lois McEvoy, Descendant of Quong Tart
- Barry McGowan, Historian
- Emma Brook Maher, Councillor, Ashfield Municipal Council
- Lisa Murray, Councillor, Society of Australian Genealogists
- Jennifer O’Callaghan, State Library of NSW
- Ann O’Connell, Secretary, Ashfield and District Historical Society
- Barbara Poston-Anderson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Technology, Sydney
- Chris Pratten, Ashfield and District Historical Society
- Jan Roberts, Historian
- Sharon Rorke, Descendant of Quong Tart
- Julie Y.Y. Soo, President, Sze Yup Society
- Ian Tart, Descendant of Quong Tart
- Joshua Quong Tart, Descendant of Quong Tart
- Wang Yiyan, Department of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Sydney
- Richard Waterhouse, Professor and Head of School, School of Philosophical and Historical Studies, University of Sydney
- Kimberley Webber, Powerhouse Museum
- Tammy Wong, Newcontemporaries
- Jensen Yen, Treasurer, Sze Yup Society
The life of Quong Tart
Mei Guangda 梅光達 (1850-1903), better known as Quong Tart, was born in the village of Longtengli near Duanfen in southern Taishan, Guangdong province. In 1859 he accompanied his uncle who led a team of gold miners from the Mei family to the goldfields around Araluen and Braidwood in New South Wales. It is thought the well educated young Quong Tart was to be a scribe for the team. Quong Tart was taken into the care of a wealthy landowning Scots family of Alice Simpson who raised him and helped him to become a wealthy young squire who spoke English with a Scottish accent. At the age of 21 Quong Tart became a British subject in order to buy and own land on his own behalf. Ten years later at the age of 31 he returned to his family in Taishan and arranged with them to operate a tea trade between Taishan and Sydney. On his return to Sydney he started a chain of tea shops and tea rooms, the first public tearooms in Sydney. In 1886 married a young school teacher, Margaret Scarlett.
Quong Tart became a leading 19th-century Sydney merchant and importer from China. His tea rooms in King Street and later in the Queen Victoria Markets (now the QVB) were the finest in the city. He was also an active philanthropist, and often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for charities, community groups and worthy causes. Quong Tart was well connected with the City Council as a tenant of the Queen Victoria Markets and through various official dinners hosted in the Elite Tea Rooms. He sat on the famous NSW Royal Commission on Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality and Charges of Bribery Against Members of the Police Force 1891-92, which was chaired by the Mayor and met at the Sydney Town Hall.
He was a leader in the Chinese community acting as its spokesman and advocate. He was one of the founders of the first Chinese merchants’ association in Sydney, the Lin Yik Tong, and campaigned against opium smoking and gambling. The Chinese Emperor made him an honorary Mandarin of the Fourth Grade in acknowledgement of his services to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia.
Quong Tart became ill after a brutal attack in 1902 while working in his Elite Dining Hall and Tea Rooms in Queen Victoria Markets. He died in July 1903. The attack on Quong Tart and his death a year later were widely covered in the newspapers of the day and the attendees at his funeral were a ‘who’s who’ of Sydney.