Wedding outfit of Go Shee Poon, Irene Poon’s paternal grandmother.
Source: Leigh McKinnon, Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, 1998.
Have you ever wondered about the lives of your ancestors and the environment in which they lived? In 2014, I caught the bug to research my family history. I charted the usual family tree of my family, starting with those who arrived in Australia. On my mother’s side were my greatgrandparents, and on my father’s side were my grandparents. I also listed their siblings and spouses. Births, deaths, and marriage dates were confirmed, primarily through purchasing registration copies from Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria (BDMV), a significant spend.
Despite knowing almost nothing about my family history when I first began, I managed to create comprehensive family trees for both my maternal and paternal relatives. Along the way, I shared my findings with my siblings. From many conversations with my mother’s only sister, Jean Lau Gooey, before she passed away in 2023, I gained a little background on my mother’s childhood. My aunt also gave me some diaries covering 1929 to 1962 of their foster brother, Bill Wong Loy. My mother, Cecily and her sister Jean Young had been fostered when they were aged six and four years respectively, by the Wong Loy family when their mother died and their father was unable to care for them.
In 2023 more information came from numerous photos taken by the Wong Loy family that my cousin unearthed in my aunt’s home. The images not only reassured me that the little girls were well cared for but also showed their lively social activities within the Melbourne Chinese Christian community, as they grew up and until their respective marriages. I was also able to find some class photos of my mother at Rathdowne Street School through the granddaughter-in-law of Dulcie Wong Yen (nee Kong), who was in the same class and lived next door to the Wong Loys.
All this has filled some of the knowledge gaps in my mother’s history, painting a story of more value to me than an ancestry family tree. Newspaper articles via TROVE showed further glimpses into her life, including a photo of my mother’s bridal party. Another valuable source of information has been the Presbyterian Church Victorian Archives, as my father, Rev. John Poon, was an ordained Presbyterian minister and a missionary in the New Hebrides.
This year I was reminded of the many gaps in other ancestors’ history when a cousin told me my paternal grandmother’s beautiful wedding outfit had been donated to the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo (see photograph). One of my aunts had donated Go Shee’s outfit there in 1998! This I had to see in person and visited last month. Although my grandparents married in Melbourne in 1905, the discovery of a prior ceremony in China in 1904 presents another avenue for research, to uncover more about Go Shee’s life.
As this is National Family History month, my ‘share’ is that sources of information for family history can come from BDM registrations, passenger lists and Certificate of Exemption from Dictation (CEDT) files in the National Archives, newspaper articles through TROVE, rates, wills and education information through the Public Records Offices of each state, parish or church archives, state and local libraries and local historical societies.
Reading books—not just autobiographies or reference books—attending exhibitions and conferences relating to Chinese Australians, eg Dragon Tails conferences, joining groups such as CAHS and Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria (CAFHOV) can connect you with likeminded people who may provide connections and offer information or photos.
And then there is serendipity and chance conversations with unrelated people. It is these that have led me to learn more about the lives of my relatives and those who surrounded them.
Irene Poon
Email: irenepoon1@gmail.com
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