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Brisbane businessman Sun Jue Yow: Through the lens of his brother’s letter
Background Tucked away in a file of English correspondence in the National Archives is a Chinese letter written to prominent Brisbane businessman Sun Jue Yow by his brother Sun See Fan from Canton. Sun See Fan had been in China for the past two years, having departed Queensland in 1901. In the letter, dated 1903, he asked his brother to help extend his fast-expiring Certificate of Domicile so he could eventually return to Australia. This letter is significant as it not only concerns immigration restriction policies and exemptions but also provides a glimpse into themes such as illness, medicine and education in the lives of Chinese Australians at the turn of the century.  <div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:37% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/04/Ruth-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1394 size-full"/></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content"> Sun Jue Yow, as depicted on the front of his own Certificate of Domicile. Source: National Archives of Australia (Brisbane) J2482, 1904/88 (<a href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5062986">https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5062986</a>) </div></div> Sun Jue Yow (孙祖祐pinyin Sun Zuyou, born c. 1859) arrived in Queensland from China in 1876 at around the age of 17. He was one of a number of Chinese men to reside in Brisbane in the period following the gold rush<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1">[1]</a> and later acted as a community leader on several occasions<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2">[2]</a>. He became naturalised in 1886<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3">[3]</a>, and in 1903 was the ‘manager’ of On War Tai & Co, described by the Brisbane Collector of Customs as ‘the leading Chinese firm in this city’. On War Tai (安和泰 pinyin An He Tai) was a general import-export firm on Wickham Street, probably the first Chinese merchant company to open in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.<a href="#_ftn4" id="_ftnref4">[4]</a> His brother Sun See Fan (孙仕芬pinyin Sun Shifen) was born in 1870. Leaving his wife in China, he came to Australia in roughly 1893, presumably to work with Jue Yow at On War Tai. In the correspondence associated with his permit extension, he is referred to as a ‘partner’ of On War Tai and a ‘storeman’. Certificate of Domicile (人情帋) In August 1901, after living in Queensland for about eight years, Sun See Fan temporarily travelled to China with a Certificate of Domicile, which would exempt him from the infamous Dictation Test when he re-entered Australia.<a id="_ftnref5" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a> The certificate was valid for two years. In August 1903, while waiting to board a steamship from Hong Kong, Sun See Fan fell ill and was unable to return to Australia before the expiry of his permit. He promptly wrote to his brother in Brisbane for assistance to get the permit (人情帋, literally ‘paper of favour’) extended. What followed was a series of letters between Sun Jue Yow and the Collector of Customs in Brisbane, who forwarded the extension request to the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs in Melbourne. The extension was granted until March 1904. Sun See Fan’s Chinese letter only exists within this correspondence because Jue Yow was asked to provide it as supporting evidence, with a partial English translation. The translation was apt, only including necessary information, but a look at the Chinese letter itself reveals other interesting details. Remittance firms, medical treatment and a school satchel for Willie The first thing to note in the letter is the place where Sun See Fan stayed in Hong Kong. The translation says he ‘got very sick whilst staying at Messrs Fong Yow Loong’, which in the Chinese letter is literally the ‘Fong Yow Loong gold mountain firm’ (芳祐隆金山庄). This is evidence that Fong Yow Loong was On War Tai’s partner firm in Hong Kong. It would have been one of at least 30 or so gold mountain firms (pinyin jinshan zhuang) that provided mail, banking and remittance services between branches in China and Australia.<a href="#_ftn6" id="_ftnref6">[6]</a> Sun See Fan writes that after getting sick in Hong Kong he returned ‘home’ to seek treatment, and from there he penned the letter to Sun Jue Yow. As for location, Jue Yow’s translation explains that his brother went to see a doctor in ‘Canton’. However, the Chinese letter itself does not mention a specific place name. As all the English documents merely use ‘Canton’ for their place of birth, it is unclear whether their home was the city of Canton or another location in the larger Canton province. It could quite possibly be present-day Zhongshan<a>.</a><a id="_ftnref7" href="#_ftn7"> [7]</a> Judging from the phrase he used, it sounds like the treatment that Sun See Fan received would have been traditional Chinese medicine: ‘I went home to see a doctor for conditioning (调理 pinyin tiaoli) and took medicine for two weeks’. While it is evident that his preference was for Chinese medicine, the presence of Western medicine in places like his hometown would probably still be limited at the time. In the second half of the letter, Sun See Fan reassures Jue Yow that their mother is well and that ‘all family affairs are taken care of by [another] younger brother’. He then tells of a child called Wai Nei, who ‘works hard at his study’. The name ‘Wai Nei’ (威尼 pinyin Wei ni) can phonetically correspond to the name ‘Willie’ in English. It seems plausible that this is the six-year-old son of Sun Jue Yow named Willie, who was then living with his relatives in China. Willie was born in Brisbane in 1897 but had been taken to China by his mother Wong See in 1899.<a id="_ftnref8" href="#_ftn8">[8]</a> He was among the many Australian-born children in the late 19th to early 20th centuries who were ‘sent back’ to their ancestral home for a Chinese education or to acquire Chinese customs.<a id="_ftnref9" href="#_ftn9">[9]</a> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/04/Ruth-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1395"/></figure> At the end of the letter Sun See Fan passes on a small request from Willie: ‘the next time someone comes back to China, buy a leather school satchel for Wai Nei. He saw that Fuk Pin [a cousin/classmate?] has one, and he would like one too.’ Willie’s wish reveals the types of gifts that returning Chinese migrants would bring back for their families or on others’ behalf, and the circulation of material objects between Australia and China. Not long after, Sun Jue Yow applied for Willie to come back to Queensland as well. The exact dates of Willie’s and Sun See Fan’s return are unknown, as is the type of schooling that Willie attended in China. Further digitisation and research can help to address these and other unanswered questions. Also of note are the language features. If we consider some of the words in the letter (e.g. 俾 ‘to give’) and the romanisation of the brothers’ names, it seems that Sun See Fan and Jue Yow spoke and wrote using a form of Cantonese. Additionally, the letter was written in a cursive script that drastically simplifies some characters, such as the second character ‘fung’ in the greeting (奉, pinyin feng, meaning ‘respectfully presenting/informing’). This, together with the literary style of the letter, indicates that Sun See Fan was well educated, or alternatively that it may have been written with the aid of a skilled letter-writer. A final challenging feature is the transliteration of English words into Chinese characters. He gave the name of the ship he intended to board as something like the ‘Gap Haang: Ngo Si Nei’ (急行柯时尼?). We know from other sources that characters like ‘Gap Haang’ have been used to refer to the shipping company ‘Gibbs Bright & Co’, and the sounds of ‘Ngo Si Nei’ could likely represent the name of a contemporary ship like the SS Guthrie, or as Sun Jue Yow translated the missed ship — the SS Australian. After 1903 Later, by at least 1910, Sun Jue Yow established his own firm (S. Jueyow & Sons) at Roma Street, Brisbane. It became one of largest Chinese firms to operate in the fruit and vegetable trade.<a href="#_ftn10" id="_ftnref10">[10]</a> In 1924 he and his family moved to Hong Kong, but his firm continued to trade and advertise in the Sydney-based Chinese language newspaper the Tung Wah Times until 1935.<a href="#_ftn11" id="_ftnref11">[11]</a>  Thus, Sun Jue Yow and his firm of the same name feature prominently in archival records and newspapers from the era. However, at present, little other publicly available information exists about his brother Sun See Fan apart from this letter and the associated paperwork. The letter remains a valuable record of his experiences navigating the White Australia Policy, his family life and his ties and travels between Australia, Hong Kong and China. Ruth Shillabeer is completing her studies at Macquarie University and is currently working on projects on the history of Chinese diaspora communities. Her other interests include Classical and Literary Chinese texts and translation.  <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> See history of Miss Nellie Sun Jue Yow’s family, in Queensland Museum, Chinese Wedding Gown (Qun Gua). <a href="https://collections.qm.qld.gov.au/objects/CH61199/chinese-wedding-gown-qun-gua">https://collections.qm.qld.gov.au/objects/CH61199/chinese-wedding-gown-qun-gua</a> <a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2">[2]</a> Fisher, J. (2005) The Brisbane Overseas Chinese Community 1860s to 1970s: Enigma or Conformity. PhD thesis. The University of Queensland. <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:189802">https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:189802</a> <a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3">[3]</a> Queensland Archives, as cited in Fisher, p. 496 <a href="#_ftnref4" id="_ftn4">[4]</a> Brisbane City Council Heritage Citation (2021) BAFS and Mackay Jewellers (former). <a href="https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/756">https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/756</a> <a href="#_ftnref5" id="_ftn5">[5]</a> The Real Face of White Australia, <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/wragge/the-real-face-of-white-australia/about/research">https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/wragge/the-real-face-of-white-australia/about/research</a> and Bagnall, K. Certificates of Domicile. The Tiger’s Mouth, <a href="https://chineseaustralia.org/tag/certificates-of-domicile/">https://chineseaustralia.org/tag/certificates-of-domicile/</a> <a href="#_ftnref6" id="_ftn6">[6]</a> Kuo, M.-F. (2018) ‘Jinxin (金信): The Remittance Trade and Enterprising Chinese Australians, 1850-1916’, in G. Benton, H. Liu, & H. Zhang, (eds) The Qiaopi Trade and Transnational Networks in the Chinese Diaspora. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315113043">https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315113043</a> <a href="#_ftnref7" id="_ftn7">[7]</a> Sun Jue Yow’s firm appears to have some connection to Zhongshan. Letter from S. Jue Yow & Co., Brisbane, Australia, to Tung Wah Hospital on 18 September 1929. <a href="https://www.twmarchives.hk/coffin_home_archives_detail.php?uid=625&sid=1&contentlang=en&lang=en">https://www.twmarchives.hk/coffin_home_archives_detail.php?uid=625&sid=1&contentlang=en&lang=en</a> <a href="#_ftnref8" id="_ftn8">[8]</a> Readmission of Sun Jue Yow's son Willie. National Archives of Australia (Brisbane), BP342/1, 7024/890/1903. <a href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1639353">https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1639353</a> <a href="#_ftnref9" id="_ftn9">[9]</a> Cheng, C (2020) ‘Beacons of Modern Learning: Diaspora Funded Schools in the China-Australia corridor’, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, vol. 29(2), p. 141, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0117196820930309">https://doi.org/10.1177/0117196820930309</a> <a href="#_ftnref10" id="_ftn10">[10]</a> Queensland Museum <a href="#_ftnref11" id="_ftn11">[11]</a> Fisher, p. 449
Far Eastern Liaison Office Propaganda Leaflets
The State Library Victoria contains a rich, multilingual dataset of wartime Far Eastern Liaison Office (FELO) propaganda leaflets with translations. Each leaflet in the collection shows an English text with a paired translation. Here, four leaflets with translations in the Malay, Chinese and Japanese languages are highlighted for discussion. FELO and translation: the historical context FELO was set up in June 1942 as an Australian military organisation during the Second World War under the authority of the Australian Chiefs of Staff. Its headquarters were in Melbourne. It was responsible for propaganda work, that is, the distribution of information to the enemy and to the neutral local population who lived in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA).<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> The small selection of leaflets discussed here are represented in Figure 1. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <table class="has-fixed-layout"> <tbody> <tr> <td>Leaflet number </td> <td>Language of translation </td> <td>Target audience </td> <td>Target location </td> </tr> <tr> <td>BM8 </td> <td>Malay </td> <td>Local population </td> <td>British Borneo, present-day Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia </td> </tr> <tr> <td>M315 </td> <td>Malay </td> <td>Local population </td> <td>Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia </td> </tr> <tr> <td>C3 </td> <td>Chinese </td> <td>Chinese workers </td> <td>Captured oil fields by the Japanese army in the Southwest Pacific Area </td> </tr> <tr> <td>J264 </td> <td>Japanese </td> <td>Japanese army </td> <td>Philippines </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Figure 1. Overview of the four leaflets discussed in this commentary. Little is known about the translators of the leaflets. Research shows that they were linguists attached to the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, including Australian Japanese linguists and linguists trained by the Royal Australian Air Force Language School at Melbourne.<a href="#_ftn1">[2]</a> The majority, however, were Nisei linguists. Nisei refers to second generation Japanese Americans who were, however, considered Japanese citizens by the Japanese government.<a href="#_ftn2">[3]</a> Though the US government forced Japanese Americans to be interned in detention camps, some Nisei volunteered for service and became psychological warfare warriors (psywarriors) in the Pacific War, hence the presence of Nisei linguists in the SWPA.<a href="#_ftn3">[4]</a> Leaflets with Malay translation <img alt="" class="wp-image-1371" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-1-1-1024x676.jpg" /> Figure 2. BM8 Pemerentahan Si-jepun membawa kemiskinan dan sangsara [Japanese rule brings poverty and suffering] <img alt="" class="wp-image-1372" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-2-1.png" /> Figure 3. M315 SERI RATOE KEMBALI KETANAH AIR [THE NETHERLANDS RISE AGAIN] It is not clearly stated in any of the leaflets in the collection which is the ‘translation’, although it may be surmised that the leaflets were written in English first and then translated into Malay.<a href="#_ftn1">[5]</a> In Figure 2, the English source text looks like an initial brief, as it shows the first and last paragraph in bold, and also states the ‘target’, ‘latest date’ and latest date of distribution, all of which are not captured in the Malay target text. In this case, the Malay text is an almost word for word translation. For example: Source text: JAPANESE RULE BRINGS POVERTY AND MISERY Target translation: Pemerentahan Si-jepun membawa kemiskinan dan sangsara Back translation (translating Malay back into English): Japanese rule brought poverty and suffering The texts evoke nostalgia and hearken back to the ‘happy days’ of colonisation. They insinuate that there was no poverty and misery before Japanese rule and depict colonial life before the war as an idyllic one. Likewise, in Figure 3, the Queen of the Netherlands looks dignified in fur and she is literally supported by two men in military uniform. This portrayal of colonial rule is in direct juxtaposition with the Japanese army’s version of overthrowing anti-Western imperialism, promises of Asian ‘brotherhood’ and bringing independence to Indonesia. In the leaflets shown in Figures 1 and 2, there is no mention of liberation from colonialism. Rather, they clearly show that the imperial powers are keen for their empires to be restored to them after the war. Leaflet with Chinese translation <div class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset alignwide"> <ul class="coblocks-gallery has-caption-style-dark has-small-images has-small-gutter"> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1374" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-3b.jpg" /> </li> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1373" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-3a.png" /> </li> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1375" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-4.jpg" /> </li> </ul> </div> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> Figure 4. C3告油田區域之華僑工友 [To the Chinese Workers on Oil Fields] Turning to the leaflets addressed to a Chinese target audience, there is a distinct difference in format. Most of these Chinese leaflets in the FELO collection held at State Library Victoria consist only text, without graphics or images.<a href="#_ftn1">[6]</a> The leaflet C3 shown in Figure 4 is an exception. The language used in the English text is terse and focuses on the killing of Chinese civilians and attacks by the Japanese army. Unlike leaflet BM8 in Figure 1, it does not mention the ‘happy days’ of old before the Japanese invasion. The English source text uses the general words ‘Japan’ and ‘Japanese power’. The Chinese text, however, uses a more specific word日寇rikou [Japanese bandits].<a href="#_ftn2">[7]</a> There are other strong words and insertions condemning Japanese brutality and these raise the ‘emotional temperature’ of the text.<a href="#_ftn8">[8]</a> In other words, the Chinese target text contains nuances that are missing in the English source text, creating differences in emotional equivalence among the two texts. As if to match the emotional temperature of the Chinese text, its accompanying image shows thick, billowing smoke from an Allied explosion. Leaflet with Japanese translation We now turn to a leaflet targeted at the Japanese army. The target audience in this case is not the colonised peoples, but the Japanese soldiers fighting on the ground in the Philippines. Some of the other Japanese leaflets in the collection were in the form of personal letters from a Japanese soldier to his fellow counterparts, arguing that to fight is futile. The ultimate aim of these leaflets was to urge the Japanese army to surrender voluntarily. In Figure 5, leaflet J264 seems to be aimed at breaking Japanese morale by emphasising Allied strength and military action. <div class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset"> <ul class="coblocks-gallery has-no-alignment has-caption-style-dark has-small-images has-custom-gutter"> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1381" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-5a-1.jpg" /> </li> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1379" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-5b-1.jpg" /> </li> <li class="coblocks-gallery--item"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-1380" src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/03/hwee-ping-5c-1.jpg" /> </li> </ul> </div> Figure 5. J264 前線画報 [Japanese Pictorial] What seems worthy of note is that the headline of the English text is ‘Japanese Pictorial’, while its equivalent in the Japanese text is more specific: zensen gahō 前線画報 [front line illustrated news bulletin]. Furthermore, the order of the captions (from 1 to 8) in the English text does not correlate closely with the order of images shown in the Japanese text.<a href="#_ftn1">[9]</a> Similar to the leaflets shown earlier in Figures 2 and 3, Figure 5 shows captions describing members from the British and Dutch military forces as benevolent figures in the carnage of war, feeding Filipino children and helping an old lady to safety. <h3 class="wp-block-heading" style="font-size:20px;">Conclusion</h3> The multilingual FELO leaflets demonstrate the Australian connection in the psychological warfare fought in the Southwest Pacific Area during the Second World War. This short commentary provided a broad comparison of leaflets with translations in the Malay, Chinese and Japanese languages, highlighting differences in format, emotionality and ideology. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Allison Brooke Gilmore, “In the Wake of Winning Armies: Allied Psychological Warfare against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Southwest Pacific Area during WWII” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1989), 43–44, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (9014424). <a href="#_ftnref1">[2]</a> Gilmore, 124, 301–2. <a href="#_ftnref2">[3]</a> Encyclopedia Britannica, “Japanese American Internment,” Encyclopedia, Britannica, February 22, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Japanese-American-internment. <a href="#_ftnref3">[4]</a> Gilmore, “Allied Psychological Warfare,” 301. <a href="#_ftnref1">[5]</a> Gilmore, 124. <a href="#_ftnref1">[6]</a> This is in sharp contrast to many of the Malay leaflets, which had dramatic illustrations or caricatures. See M308 Saudara2 Di Indonesia [People of Indonesia], which shows a cartoon depicting Japan as Gulliver. <a href="#_ftnref2">[7]</a> ‘Bandit’ is the dictionary meaning for kou 寇. The secondary meaning is qiangdao huo wailai de qinlüe zhe强盗或外来的侵略者[robbers or invaders]. “寇 Kou,” in Xiandai Huayü Cidian [Modern Chinese Dictionary] (Singapore: Shanghai shujü, 1990). <a href="#_ftnref3">[8]</a> The more specific the word, the more emotional the text. See Yucheng Li, Frank Guerin, and Chenghua Lin, “The Secret of Metaphor on Expressing Stronger Emotion” (arXiv, January 30, 2023), https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.13042. <a href="#_ftnref1">[</a><a href="#_ftnref9">9]</a> The leaflet in Japanese was printed double-sided, and it may have been folded in half and then read from right to left, as per the standard in Japanese culture and language. Even so, however, the English numbering of the captions do not seem to correspond exactly with the order of the images.
Student Projects
At the <a href="/s/omaa/item/4978">OMAA Conference</a> that was held in December 2024, students from the University of Sydney presented projects they had undertaken using the OMAA archive. We have now published these presentations so that they may be used as teaching resources. You can see and download them from <a href="/the-omaa-project/teaching-resources/">the Teaching Resources page</a>.
The Opening the Multilingual Archive Conference
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2025/02/OMAA-conference-roundtable-1-1024x768-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1346" style="width:520px;height:auto"/></figure> The Opening the Multilingual Archive (OMAA) Conference was held over two days in the Quad Refectory on 2-3 December 2024. The program opened with a keynote address by Professor Joy Damousi who talked about the importance of digitising migrant archives, and how these provide new perspectives on the migration experience and transnational histories of migration. This was followed by 18 presentations over two days. Highlights included the presentations by ICLS 1200 Bachelor of Languages students showcasing how they used material from OMAA to create teaching material to engage high-school language learners and the launch of a special issue of Australian Historical Studies dedicated to multilingual Australia by Professor Joseph Lo Bianco. The conference concluded with a Roundtable considering how language diversity can equip scholars, policymakers and the public to confront the challenge of cultural pluralism today. Pictured: The Roundtable discussion chaired by Professor Charles Forsdick (left) with Elizabeth Rechniewski, Francesco Ricatti and Mei-Fen Kuo
The 2024 Opening the Multilingual Archive of Australia Conference
The University of Sydney will host the 2024 Opening the Multilingual Archive of Australia (OMAA, <a href="/s/omaa/page/home">https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/</a>) Conference, which will explore themes of ‘Multilingual archives and histories’ and ‘Multilingualism in translation’. The Conference will be held at the University of Sydney on December 2 and 3, 2024. Australian Anglocentrism raises essential questions about the dynamics of living in a multilingual society. This conference aims to mobilise Australia’s considerable, under-utilised non-English language resources to rethink our migrant and settler history. Contributors are grappling with the following questions: <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>How do non-English language sources challenge and enrich ‘mainstream’ narratives of Australian history by generating new perspectives?</li> <li>What difference does language make in the ways people engage with and ultimately think of themselves as ‘Australian’ or not?</li> <li>What constitutes a ‘multilingual approach’, and what theoretical insights from other disciplines help us import pluralism into historical narration?</li> <li>How can language diversity equip scholars, policymakers and the public to confront the challenge of cultural pluralism today?</li> <li>How does the history of translation and translation theory challenge dominant modes of historical practice in Australia?</li> </ul> A special issue of Australian Historical Studies dealing with multilingual Australia will also be launched at the Conference. To view the program and to register to attend (there is no registration fee), visit <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/opening-the-multilingual-archive-of-australia-conference-tickets-1021400224567?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/opening-the-multilingual-archive-of-australia-93249457743</a> Please send any enquiries to Adrian Vickers (<a href="mailto:adrian.vickers@sydney.edu.au">adrian.vickers@sydney.edu.au</a>) and Siobhan Campbell (<a href="mailto:siobhan.campbell@sydney.edu.au">siobhan.campbell@sydney.edu.au</a>)
Patria. Da una gabbia di prigionieri di guerra
 <div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:30% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria1-2-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1081 size-full"/></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content"> Patria was a handwritten newsletter written in Italian and created by prisoners of war (POWs) held by the Allies and transferred to camps in Australia during WWII. Between 1940 and 1947, over one million Italian soldiers were taken as prisoners of war and scattered across Europe, North America, South Africa, India, Asiatic Russia, Australia, Japan, and the Pacific. The authors of Patria, who were mainly soldiers captured by the Allies in Libya, were transported to Australia. Approximately 18,500 Italian POWs were held in various Australian camps, making them the largest ethnic group of POWs in the country. Each issue of Patria lists Lieutenant or Captain Attilio Regolo as the “Direttore responsabile,” though it is unclear if this was a pseudonym.<a id="_ftnref1" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> The prisoners initiated the newsletter in a camp in Egypt in July 1941“da una gabbia di prigionieri di guerra nel deserto egiziano” (from a cage of war prisoners in the Egyptian desert) and continued their work during subsequent transfers via India  “dal Queen Mary in navigazione nell’Oceano Indiano” (from the Queen Mary sailing in the Indian Ocean) in August 1941 until they were interned at Hammond (South Australia), Murchison and Myrtleford (Victoria). Travelling with the prisoners, this newsletter, like others produced by POWs in other camps across the world, narrated the unique universe in captivity, sharing their concerns, beliefs, and reflections. It also serves as an important source that reveals how the prisoners viewed and interpreted Australia during the war.<a id="_ftnref2" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> </div></div> Patria exemplifies the diverse and creative ways prisoners coped with displacement, boredom, and loneliness in camps, in a foreign land. Like other POW newsletters, it used writing and cultural activities as forms of resistance and as means to preserve personal, familial, social, and ideological identities. Designed to be viewed, shared, and discussed within the camp, its primary objectives were to entertain, inform, and offer guidance to fellow POWs<a id="_ftnref3" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> (see <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/3EEFMT9Q">Boscolo 2003</a>). It was written by prisoners who remained staunch supporters of Fascism, or at least an idealised version of its ideology. Each issue prominently featured a quote from Benito Mussolini at the top of the first page: “Solo Iddio può piegare la nostra volontà: gli uomini e le cose mai” [Only God can bend our will; men and things never can]. In most cases, the writing was improvised, predominantly by officers with good educational backgrounds. Traditionally drawn from higher social strata, they possessed high or moderate levels of literacy and, at times, had professional journalistic and artistic talents. Some of the names of contributors to Patria, for instance, included Major Mattia Napoli, an architect captured at Tobruk; Romeo Gesiotto, a medical surgeon captured at Bardia; and Donato Calvano, a student naturalist captured at Bardia.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3">[3]</a> The newsletter provided an opportunity for recognition, lifting individuals from anonymity. For officers, contributing to a newspaper was a dignified way to pass time, combat boredom, and alleviate homesickness for their distant homeland and families. It allowed them to exercise freedom of speech despite captivity, entertain comrades, and share their professional expertise on a variety of matters, from art, religion and politics to science and health. While military censors reviewed these publications, prisoner editors and writers nonetheless enjoyed some latitude in their editorial approach. The writing in Patria was, therefore, biased and driven by Fascist rhetoric. Its issues reported and commented on news gathered from the Australian and British press—including Radio Londra broadcasts—, or included information gleaned from clandestine radios about life in Italy, the progress of the war on various fronts, strong support for Axis military developments and, conversely, condescending comments on the military endeavours of the Allies. Writing also served as a means to commemorate fallen comrades. For instance, it included a section entitled “Per non dimenticare” (Let’s Not Forget) which honoured fallen Italian soldiers while condemning the Allies’ military actions against Italian troops. <div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:20% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1076 size-full"/></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content"> Articles and commentaries were often accompanied by illustrations. Similar to other newsletters, Patria allocated space for humour, cartoons, and even comic strips, skillful caricatures of politicians, military leaders and royals. Prisoners used both simple and intricate techniques, such as drawing with coloured pencils or charcoal, as well as stylised illustrations created with watercolour. Drawings reproduced maps of other countries and sometimes referenced iconic images already used in the war press or other publications that circulated within the camp. [“Proud Australian aspirations. General Sturdee said: from today, our strategy must become offensive...” Sketch by Boldrini and Funes. From Patria, No, 32, 14 March 1942, p.1.] </div></div> <div class="wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:auto 33%"><div class="wp-block-media-text__content"> Yet in such a closely bounded environment, limited access to regular external news dictated that the content focused mostly on the internal domestic world and “camp life” (see <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/WHPBFIHG">Wilkinson 2012</a> and <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/DAIAW8JC">Ferioli 2023</a>). Patria included coverage of internal sporting events, concerts and theatrical performances organised by the prisoners, church services and educational classes. Additionally, it featured small announcements that demonstrate the prisoners’ attempts to engage in other languages, such as searches for German dictionaries and French grammar books. It also included poems, comments on novels or translations into Italian of extracts from English literary texts. Newsletters like Patria served internal purposes for the POW community and as souvenirs designed to record the prisoners’ memories of their captivity. Most importantly, they asserted their own form of authority by crafting a moral universe within their pages, aiming to reassure and influence the behaviour and beliefs of the POWs, and to foster a sense of community within the confines of the barbed wire (see <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/WHPBFIHG">Wilkinson 2012</a> and <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/G386HPHE/">Adámez Castro 2018</a>). [From Patria, No.3, 23rd August 1941, p.4. An extract on Australia from “Tom in England” which is, however, an edited and translated paragraph from Albert Frederick Calvert’s The Exploration of Australia (1895). In the bottom half of the page we find “Stornellata sentimentale” (Sentimental stornello), short humorous lyrics on Australian young women.] </div><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria3-658x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1077 size-full"/></figure></div> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> How do you see Australia? <div aria-label="Offset Gallery" class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset alignwide"><ul class="coblocks-gallery has-caption-style-dark has-small-images has-custom-gutter" style="--coblocks-custom-gutter:0em"><li class="coblocks-gallery--item"><figure class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset__figure"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria4.jpg" alt="" data-id="1078" data-imglink="" class="wp-image-1078"/></figure></li><li class="coblocks-gallery--item"><figure class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset__figure"><img alt="" data-imglink="" class=""/></figure></li><li class="coblocks-gallery--item"><figure class="wp-block-coblocks-gallery-offset__figure"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria5.jpg" alt="" data-id="1079" data-imglink="" class="wp-image-1079"/></figure></li></ul></div> Starting with Issue 3, a section entitled “Sotto la Croce del Sud” (Under the Southern Cross) began to feature accounts of imprisonment in the Australian camps, and descriptions of Australia and drawings of maps of its territories. These visual and textual representations showcased the prisoners’ resourcefulness, their creative and intellectual engagement as they endeavoured to comprehend their unfamiliar surroundings. By mapping out the foreign land, they aimed to understand Australia’s geographical features and resources (natural and industrial) and perhaps gain a sense of control in their otherwise restricted situation. <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/patria6-640x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1080" style="width:391px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">From Patria, No.5, 6 September 1941, p.5.</figcaption></figure> For the column “Sotto la Croce del Sud,” in Issue 28, prisoners were invited to share their impressions of their captive land: “Come vedi l’Australia?” (How do you see Australia?). With an undercurrent of irony, however, they employed metaphorical, philosophical, and scornful tones to critique what they perceived as trivial cultural practices, Australia’s underpopulation and underutilisation of resources, and its subservient position to England. Contributions in No.28 (14th February 1942 p.6) included: L’Australia: un grosso eucalipito delle sue foreste che leva al cielo i rami fortissimi e non può schiacciare il coniglio che lo rode alla base e lo fa seccare (Giovanni Battaglia). [Australia: a large eucalyptus tree from its forests that lifts its branches strongly towards the sky but cannot crush the rabbit that gnaws at its base and makes it wither]. Per noi – civilissimi – è ben strano sostare – per poco – in una terra che riconosce in una cantante la sua massima gloria e la celebra in un dolce e in un biscotto (pesche, biscotti Melba) (Renzo Conti). [For us – very civilised – it is quite strange to linger – for a short while – in a land that recognizes in a singer its greatest glory and celebrates her in a dessert and a biscuit (peaches, Melba biscuits)] Solo dall’ipocrisia ideale degli inglesi poteva nascere la Teoria di Malthus; e solo dalla loro stupidità formale ne poteva essere fornita una tragica confutazione qual è il caso dell’Australia di oggi. La ricchezza sterile degli animali e della terra domina questo luogo sconfinato ove l’uomo solitario sta inutilmente facendosi coraggio, come la scimmia che strepita dinanzi alla bacchetta del padrone (Alberto Ferrari). [Only from the idealistic hypocrisy of the English could Malthus’s Theory be born; and only from their formal stupidity could a tragic refutation be provided, such as the case of today’s Australia. This vast land, dominated by the barren wealth of its animals and soil, sees solitary individuals vainly striving to muster courage, like monkeys screeching before their master’s stick] Australia, terra senza stagioni, sole che passa per il nord, Cielo senza Orsa Maggiore: non ci capisco niente. Città prive di carrozzelle, chiese prive di campanile (ho tanto desiderio di sentire una campana che suoni l’Ave Maria!); nessun borgo marinaro ove la Zi Teresa dalle candide tovaglie sui numerosi tavoli allineati e coperti richiami il forestiero affamato di vermicelli e vongole e pesce fritto. Terra senza rovine romane e nemmeno etrusche o greche. Donne ineleganti e inespressive, dai piedi enormi. Ho atteso a lungo le rondini, ma non sono venute. Ah, questa terra non fa proprio per me! E pensare che Australia fa rima con Italia (Mario Rondinella) [Australia, a land without seasons, where the sun passes to the north, and the sky lacks the Great Bear: I find it all incomprehensible. Cities devoid of strollers, churches without bell towers (how I long to hear a bell toll the Ave Maria!); no seaside town where Aunt Teresa, with her pristine tablecloths spread over numerous tables, tempts the hungry traveller with vermicelli, clams, and fried fish. A land without Roman, Etruscan, or Greek ruins. Women here seem inelegant and inexpressive, with unusually large feet. I waited eagerly for the swallows, but they never came. Ah, this land just doesn’t suit me at all! It’s ironic that Australia rhymes with Italy]. Written shortly before the armistice signed on September 8, 1943 (and the subsequent German invasion of Northern and Central Italy), these comments reflected the prisoners’ resentment towards their captors and frustration with their situation. They also expressed a deep-seated attachment to traditions, Catholic values and an idealized image of Italy, as well as a belief in their country’s ability to triumph in the war. Following the armistice in 1943, the Commonwealth government allowed private Australian citizens to employ selected Italian prisoners in farms or rural industries without guards, in order to counter the labour shortages in agriculture and on the railways. It also recommended that more Italian POWs were brought into the country (see Fitzgerald 1981; Bevege 1993; Moore and Fedorowich 2002). Italian POWs thus had the opportunity to experience life beyond barbed wire and explore the landscape and meet local people. Many of them formed close relationships with Australian families. Several Italian ex-prisoners returned to Australia after the war, rekindling connections with the Australians who had hosted them during their time in captivity. <a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> From a preliminary search, the name Attilio Regolo was not found among the POWs in the National Archives of Australia electronic catalogue. The Attilio Regolo was a light cruiser of the Royal Italian Navy, part of the Capitani Romani class. It served during World War II. It was named after Marcus Atilius Regulus, a Roman politician and military leader, in the early First Punic War. <a id="_ftn2" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> The Australian War Memorial holds 102 issues of Patria (from 1941 to 1943), though the catalogue has spelling inaccuracies. See <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2890158">https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2890158</a> <a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3">[3]</a> See sources at the National Archives of Australia: NAA: MP1103/1, PWI48806; NAA: MP1103/1, PWI48755; NAA: MP1103/1, PWI47194.
The Diary of Francesco D’Urbano
<div class="wp-block-group"> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/gambar-1-edited.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1048" style="width:228px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">With kind permission of CO.AS.IT. Italian Historical Society, Melbourne</figcaption></figure> </div> Delia. Diario di guerra was penned in Italian by Francesco D’Urbano (1920-1967) during WWII. The diary’s cover is made of brown cardboard, with visible creases and signs of wear. Its first page is titled “Diario di Guerra” (War Diary), and below the title it reads “Fronte Cirenaica” (Cyrenaica Front) and “Zona d’ Operazioni” (Operational Zone). We can see a drawing of a helmet with a bayonet below it. Surrounding the name and the illustration, there are several official stamps. Its material, condition, and the story this diary tells reveal the various networks of relationships it has touched and connected through time. <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/gambar.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1046"/></figure> Francesco D’Urbano hailed from Fara Filiorum Petri, near Chieti in Italy and participated in military engagements in Greece and Cyrenaica, where he was captured by the British and subsequently detained in India and England. D’Urbano was one of the more than one million Italian servicemen who, between 1940 and 1947, became prisoners of war and were dispersed across Europe, North America, South Africa, India, Asiatic Russia, Australia, Japan and the Pacific. Italy’s entry into war in June 1940 placed its African colonies on the front line. The Italian army in Libya (220,000 men) was strong only in terms of numbers but tactically unprepared and logistically disorganised. With the assistance of troops from Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Canada, and France, the British, after a series of battles and counter-offensives, finally forced the Italo-German army to retreat in November 1941. The failed Italian assault on Egypt led to the capture of 133,000 prisoners. Similar outcomes in Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland resulted in 64,000 more captives by early 1941. Initially, the captured soldiers were held in makeshift prisoner-of-war camps in Egypt and Palestine. The Allies’ victory, however, posed challenges, including the need for food, guards, and accommodation for the prisoners near a volatile war zone. Prisoners were therefore transferred to the different imperial territories, including Australia. D’Urbano was initially sent to India and subsequently held in a POW camp in England, until 1946. After the war, back in the little town of Fara, D’Urbano once again played music for the town band. A versatile individual, being a musician, artist, and writer, he died in 1967. D’Urbano’s diary provides a detailed account of daily life of a soldier and military happenings from 17 August to 3 December 1940. Like many soldiers’ diaries, it was assembled from paper and materials available on the battlefields, with a cardboard cover providing protection. With its ritualistic and formulaic daily entries it was a form of timekeeping that could provide cohesion and self-conception for the writer and one that replaced the vaster chronology of the war. The narrative of military events is infused with nostalgia for family in Italy as well as a sense of patriotism that reflects the rhetoric of Fascism typical of many Italian soldiers sent to the front during WWII. Illustrated with both coloured and black-and-white sketches, it depicts military symbols, airplanes, tanks, soldiers, and maps of Egypt and Cyrenaica, showcasing aspects of the battlefields. It is likely D’Urbano lost his diary during one of the battles in Libya. His manuscript came into the possession of an Australian soldier after D’Urbano’s capture. Despite not speaking Italian, the soldier from Western Australia shared the diary with others, including an Italian priest. In the 1990s, Pietro (Peter) Bertola – a farmer from Western Australia, whose father migrated from Italy to Australia in 1927 and became a goldmine owner in Mt Monger, near Kalgoorlie - donated the diary to the Italian Historical Society in Melbourne where archivists traced its origins. A copy of the text was subsequently sent to D’Urbano’s wife in Italy. D’Urbano never reached Australia as a prisoner of war. Considered “irrelevant” to the Italian Historical Society at the time,<a id="_ftnref1" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> as it did not pertain directly to Italians in Australia (as per Laura Mecca’s letter to Peter Bertola in 1995), this diary nonetheless sheds light on the complex networks of multilingual exchanges that transcended geographical boundaries and, indeed, is relevant to Australia’s multilingual history. It tells the story of individuals and objects scattered by war. One individual’s journey, driven by war and captivity, spans Italy, North Africa, India and England. As a written record and artifact, the diary, too, transcended geographical barriers independently of its creator, eventually reaching Australia. While initially possibly retained as a war trophy, the diary transformed into a peculiar artifact, a fragment of the past, serving as a foreign memento of historical events that affected people across the world. This diary, and its afterlife, signifies the convergence of existences and histories: the Italian soldier who wrote it, the Australian soldier who first found it and the Italian Australian people who subsequently took care of it. It marks a unique encounter that transcended linguistic barriers and spanned significant episodes of Australian history, from the gold rush and early twentieth-century Italian migration to Australia, through WWII. Such a convergence continued once the diary was reunited with D’Urbano’s family in Italy through the support of staff at the Italian Historical Society. As both a lost and found object, this diary is an example of how objects can shape and affect personal narratives and collective memory. It sparked a quest for its origins and meaning, and for closure or reconciliation. For D’Urbano and his family in Italy, it was also imbued with a sense of longing or desire for its return. Today it serves as both an artifact and text in Italian that, through its materiality, words and pictures, as well as peripatetic story, bears witness to historical events, societal and cultural shifts, as well as multilingual exchanges. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <a id="_ftn1" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> see Letter from Laura Mecca to Peter Bertola, 6 September 1995. CO.AS.IT. Italian Historical Society (IHS), Melbourne. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <a id="_msocom_1"></a>
A Dutch Doctor Struck by Gold fever
Gerardus Johannes van Rossum (1832-1861) arrived in Sydney from Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1854. From a series of letters he wrote home to his parents and brother, we get a lively account of his life as a Dutch migrant intent on seeking a fortune during the peak years of the gold rush. These letters, 28 pages in total, date from 29 December 1854 to 16 June 1861 and are in the form of printed microform reproductions on photographic paper and are housed in the State Library of New South Wales. The whereabouts of the original letters is not known. The first letter in this bundle is dated Parramatta, 29 December 1854 and greets his parents with news of his four-month journey as surgeon on board the Dutch vessel Johanna Maria, which travelled from the port of Liverpool on 20 June 1854, arriving in Sydney on 28 October 1854. He relates the good news that he has secured employment as an assistant to Dr Gordon Gwynne in Parramatta<a id="_ftnref1" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> with a salary of 1300 guilders a year. Despite the high salary he relates that everything is expensive, and he plans to stay only a couple of months while looking for a position as surgeon on an English, French or Dutch ship. <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/06/wordpress-sc-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1035" style="width:524px;height:auto"/></figure> The next letter is dated over a year later and by this time van Rossum has changed his mind about returning to the Netherlands. He is enjoying his new life and work with Dr Gywnne, is eating better than ever before and has managed to save a considerable sum in the bank. However, he shortly abandons Parramatta in search of gold. He reported that Dr Gwynne was closing his practice and apothecary and had offered van Rossum his passage home, however van Rossum writes that although “I long to see everyone again, I cannot and do not want to return to Holland as poor as I left it, everyone can make their fortune here, I am young, strong, not lacking in knowledge, full of hope and trust, and I want to give it for two or three years...” Equipped with two blankets, an overcoat, two pairs of trousers, two shirts, six pairs of woollen stockings, a pistol, a few knives, forks, spoons, a tin pot for tea and coffee, an axe, medicines, tea, coffee and a pound of chocolate, van Rossum joins a group of men travelling to the gold fields. His letters describe the journey by foot from Parramatta, passing through the Blue Mountains to the Meroo Creek area and Richardsons Point (now Windeyer).  They spent the nights at inns or in a tent, which van Rossum describes and sketches in detail, along with lengthy descriptions of the equipment they use (the cradle and long tom) and their daily routine.  Although the group of seven does find gold, disappointment sets in when the nuggets they find are hardly enough to cover the cost of provisions. Eventually van Rossum settled in Mudgee where he established himself as a doctor, often travelling by horseback to treat patients throughout the district, opened a pharmacy and was naturalised in 1858. Although he reports that his Mudgee practice is a success and that he is regarded as the best of the five doctors in the town, van Rossum remains enticed by the prospect of making a greater fortune. In the final letter to his mother and brother, dated 16 June 1861, he is exploring the prospect of buying land at Coonamble, which had just been proclaimed a town but he tells his family that they will have to wait for his next letter to find out whether he has gone ahead with his latest scheme. Johannes Gerardus van Rossum passed away in August 1861 after taking poison. His death by suicide was widely reported in the press at that time. The letters he left behind offer a distinctive perspective on what life was like for a Dutch speaking migrant in New South Wales during the 1850s, the kinds of opportunities on offer to make a living, the challenges of learning a new language, how people moved through different locales, the elation of the gold rush years, the sense of isolation and the optimism of being in a new environment. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> Gordon Gywnne (1810-1865) was a legally qualified medical practitioner who remained in Parramatta until his death in 1865. Although he was highly regarded for his medical skills, he faced a number of insolvency proceedings and was also involved in goldmining ventures at Meroo Creek.
Comte Gabriel de Milhau
<a href="/s/omaa/page/project-members" data-type="page" data-id="312">Sonia Wilson</a> Considered one of the founders of Hunters Hill in Sydney, Comte Gabriel de Milhau (1819-1893) and his recently wed wife, Marian Adcock, arrived in the colony of New South Wales on 21st July 1849. Born in Castres in the south of France of aristocratic parentage, Gabriel de Milhau fled to England from Paris following the February Revolution in 1848. He wed Marian Adcock in the same year. Although she was born in Birmingham of an English father, secondary sources indicate she had lived in Paris since childhood and spoke little English. The Milhau family papers are housed in a large archival box and an archival filing folder. The latter holds the family photographs, each image inserted into its own transparent pocket by the cataloguing archivist. Here is Ferdinand de Milhau, the youngest brother of Gabriel. He poses next to a large rock, his hand placed on its side. In the background are tree ferns. He is on a visit from France at ‘Paraza”, one of the three houses Gabriel de Milhau had constructed in Hunters Hill and which still stands. Below, a quartet of small studio portraits show Ferdinand’s first three daughters at various ages. A photograph of a young man, posing with a dog on a town street in France, follows. These, like the studio portraits of Armand and Léon Mahuziés, sons of Gabriel de Milhau’s older sister Marguerite, have been taken in France and sent, or brought, to NSW. Grouped by family, they are sequenced with the Sydney studio portraits of Gabriel de Milhau, Marian de Milhau (‘Grandmama de Milhau’) and their daughter Émilie, born in Sydney in 1854. This was also the year in which de Milhau acquired land in Hunters Hill. By 1862, he was Chairman of the newly-minted Municipality. The ‘album’ closes with five photographs of the Château de Paraza near Béziers in southern France. This is – or was - the family seat: here is its courtyard and front entrance; its rose terrace; a view of cultivated fields and of the Château taken from below, perched above the terraced bank of the Canal du Midi. The large box contains a variety of printed and hand-written matter. There are numerous hand-written letters. There are four faire-parts, bordered in black - announcements of family deaths in France (1838; 1911; 1914; 1920). Possibly the oldest document in the collection, the first faire-part announces the death of Gabriel de Milhau’s father, Comte Jules Auguste de Milhau, in Toulouse in 1838 and therefore predates the Milhau’s arrival in the Colony by eleven years. There is a will. There are two calling cards: one for a Mademoiselle de Milhau Carlat, the other for the Duc de Penthièvre. There is a slim, cursive-filled green notebook; three clippings from French newspapers and a small bundle of pages folded together that, when opened out, form an extensive family tree covering seven double notebook sheets, each stuck to the next. All, with the exception of the will and one of the letters, are in French. There are also two fragments which defy generic classification. One is a corner, torn from elsewhere; the other is composite in nature, handmade. On the first, a family crest is printed. The second is a small greyish card on which three more crests, each carefully cut from elsewhere, have been pasted. In the centre, slightly raised, is a crown, with the ‘Duc de Nemours’ handwritten below. Flanking the crown on either side are the crests of the “Countess de Chambord” and the “Comte de Chambord”. These fragments leave little doubt where Milhau political allegiances lay. The second son of King Louis-Philippe, the Duc de Nemours provided cover for his father’s escape from the Tuileries during the February Revolution of 1848 and joined him in exile in England following the former’s abdication. From there, he sought to reconcile the two branches of the house of Bourbon through dialogue with Henri d’Artois, comte de Chambord and grandson of Charles X. This was seen as a first step in re-establishing the French monarchy. It did not succeed. To open and read the green notebook and examine the family tree is to understand these two fragments as part of a wider geneaological endeavour, a quest to document aristocratic lineage carried out by family members in France and sent to Australia. Of his family, Gabriel de Milhau alone emigrated to Sydney. Each object works in conjunction with the next. The writing in the notebook traces the origins of the “Comtes de Milhau”, beginning with the death of Lotare II in 629. The chronology stops in 1251. Four sections follow, established by the writer himself, who signs and dates at the end: Comte Fernand de Milhau Carlat, 17 novembre 1905 - Gabriel de Milhau’s nephew. Conclusions are drawn; documents are cited; relevant articles from French newspapers are summarised or quoted; arms, titles and services are noted or described. The blue printed crest on the torn page corner is indeed the crest of the Milhaus. The documents referred to throughout are, the writer notes at the end, in the hands of the widow of Comte Joseph de Milhau Carlat. One archival holding always points to another although not always so explicitly: here, in 1905, a link is created to what, by now, may well be a ghost archive. The family tree, drawn on the Seyes-ruled paper that is still commonly used in France today, stretches to 1937. It includes Gabriel and Marian de Milhau’s two grand daughters, Gabrielle and Nora Brenan, both born in Sydney. These objects cohabit with other papers, which enact kinship and relatedness in an entirely different register. There are eleven letters, all of which convey great tenderness. A long letter signed “your devoted sister Claire” and dated 3 April ’53, sent from l’Isle d’Abby in the south of France, tells us much about the strength of the Milhau siblings’ affective bonds. Claire Pélegry, née de Milhau, was Gabriel de Milhau’s youngest sister. Before beginning her letter, she rereads her brother’s for the sixth time. In it, Gabriel has clearly shared news of his and his wife’s imminent departure from Ramornie, the cattle station on the Clarence River that he, Léon Émile Chauffert (French) and Étienne Jean Léonard Bordier-Roman (Étienne Bordier; Swiss) purchased in March 1850. It was a short-lived venture. News of the discovery of gold at nearby Bathurst in 1851 was followed by the departure of their employees. The men worked the station themselves until 1852 when they sold the property at public auction in Sydney. Research carried out by the Clarence River Historical Society hints that the three were ill-suited to station work and management. Claire Pélegry seems to harbour similar reservations concerning her brother’s suitability for his next project. If her wishes were sufficient, she begins warmly, gold nuggets and blocks would materialise beneath his fingers and he would soon return to France with a brilliant fortune. However she notes, steering her and - as she evidently hopes - her brother’s attention toward more pragmatic considerations, how is he going to manage? He, an “elegant Parisian”, is hardly going to turn his “pretty hand” to scraping and sifting dirt or, with his monocle at his eye, strain his eyesight to sort the metal from the dust or break his back to collect it. Of note too is Claire’s passing observation on the proliferation of posters “even in the smallest towns” advertising the need for labour in Australia (workers, stonemasons, carpenters) and reassuring prospective migrants of the safety of the colony. It is indeed thought that the Comte tried his own hand at gold cradling, although there seems to be little textual evidence of this. In addition to the land purchased in Hunters Hill in 1854, he appears to have been involved in a number of business transactions – the purchasing and selling of various properties in the Colony and of livestock (broken-in colts); he was also registered as a spirit merchant. In 1867, he was appointed Postal Inspector in the colonial Post Office, a position he held until his retirement in 1888 and for which he travelled extensively through regional NSW. The six letters in this collection written by him to his daughter Émilie, the first while on business in Dunedin when Émilie was about seven, are deeply affectionate. Most moving is the close material proximity in this collection of two letters. The first, written by Gabriel de Milhau to his daughter on February 19 1882, the day after her wedding, expresses his joy and deep sadness at seeing his daughter leave the parental home. The second is older: undated, it is addressed to “Mademoiselle Marie Adcock” just days before Gabriel de Milhau’s own wedding in 1848 and written by his sisters, Henriette Belloc de Milhau and Claire Pélegry. They convey their fondest sisterly wishes to a woman they have not yet had the pleasure of meeting but of whom their brother speaks highly. Henriette notes that she calls Marie Adcock by “the sweet name of sister” all the more gladly in view of the boundless affection she appears to have for Gabriel, the greatest proof of this being Marie Adcock’s willingess to follow him to Oceania – an expatriation that breaks Henriette’s heart.
A Collection of Common Phrases in Chinese and English
<a href="/s/omaa/page/project-members" data-type="page" data-id="312">Josh Stenberg</a> Ashfield & District Historical Society (NSW) holds a book of which the title page, below, is Huaying tongyu jiquan 華英通語集全 (A Collection of Common Phrases in Chinese and English), printed in the Jiashen year of the Guangxu reign (1884) in Hong Kong, by Wenyu tang 文裕堂. It is indicated that it is a “revised edition” (重訂). Neither an original of that title or this revised edition have at present been identified in any library. <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/02/Picture-1-566x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-896"/></figure> It is fortunate that there is some knowledge of the copy’s provenance, since the (back?) cover is inscribed “Alf Hughes/From his employer/Quong Tart/City.” Quong Tart (or Moy Quong Tart) was the Anglicised name of a prominent Ashfield citizen (pinyin Mei Guangda 梅光達). At present nothing more is known of Hughes, or why Mei would present him with this phrasebook. <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img src="/files/omaa-wordpress-assets/2024/02/Picture-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-897"/></figure> Numerous other 19th century Cantonese-English phrasebooks are known, some of them printed in diaspora. Some of these are digitised, such as Osaka University Library’s 1849 華英通語, also from Hong Kong. Even closer in history are the phrasebooks by 朱瑞生 (Zhu Rui-sheng), 广肇英语 (English through the Vernaculars of the Canton and Shiuhing Prefectures, Guang-zhao yingyu) donated to the Chinese Museum in Melbourne, and dating from c. 1860<a href="#_msocom_1">[</a><a href="https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/language-a-key-to-survival-cantonese-english-phrasebooks-in/zhu-english-through-the-vernaculars-of-the-canton-and-shiuhi" data-type="link" data-id="https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/language-a-key-to-survival-cantonese-english-phrasebooks-in/zhu-english-through-the-vernaculars-of-the-canton-and-shiuhi">JS1</a><a href="#_msocom_1">]</a> . Also digitised are the first Chinese-English phrasebooks known to be printed in Australia, two editions of the Self Educator by Sun Johnson (孫俊臣 Sun Junchen) in 1891 and 1892. The most complete scholarship in this area has come from Japanese-language journals. Digitisation will allow greater understanding of this category of book, and to allow us to understand whether, for instance, Sun’s Sydney textbooks borrowed materials from Hong Kong-printed phrasebooks circulating in the Australian colonies. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <a id="_msocom_1"></a>  <a href="#_msoanchor_1">[JS1]</a>https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/language-a-key-to-survival-cantonese-english-phrasebooks-in/zhu-english-through-the-vernaculars-of-the-canton-and-shiuhi
The Greek-Australian Harbin Connection
<a href="/s/omaa/page/project-members" data-type="page" data-id="312">Eva Boleti</a> Greek immigration to China, particularly Harbin, represents a significant yet understudied facet of global migration patterns. The commencement of the 20th century witnessed a dynamic surge in Greek migration towards Asia, notably China, characterized by a considerable influx from Aegean and Ionian ports, primarily from regions like Kefalonia, Corfu, Samos, and Chios. A common trajectory among Kefalonians and Samiotes involved passage through Odessa and traversing the trans-Siberian railway to reach Manchuria, proceeding subsequently to Chefoo (know known as Yantai) in the northern Shantung province of China. During the Russo-Japanese War, Greeks were present in strategic areas like  Liao-Yag and Port Arthur, engaged significantly in supplying provisions to the Russian army. Noteworthy figures among them included Nikos Kavadias's father, who operated a robust trading office in Harbin, dealing extensively in various goods and serving as a supplier to the Tsarist forces. Nikos Kavadias was born in Harbin, China in 1910. His father, Charilaos, had Russian citizenship and was the director of an import-export business. His mother, Dorothea, was of Kefalonian origin. The years leading up to 1920 witnessed the settlement of several Ιonian families in Shanghai, engaging in diverse trades such as alcohol and nut importation. Additionally, Kefalonian shipbrokers, sailors, and shipowners further enriched the burgeoning commercial landscape. The establishment of trade connections with Korea and Manchuria by the Inglesi brothers from Samos marked a significant contribution to this growing network. Gerasimos Antypas, hailing from Kefalonia, Greece, made significant contributions to Harbin's landscape as the proprietor of the Antypas vodka factory. His legacy was carried forward by his son-in-law Spyros Metaxas  (born in 1897 in Corfu), who took over the distillery before eventually immigrating to Sydney, Australia. Spiros Luke Metaxas, with a background in Greece and England, served in the Greek Army and held various administrative roles, notably as the Managing Director of the Vodka Distillery factory 'D.G. Antipas' in Harbin, China in 1930-1945.  The upheavals of the mid-20th century drove Greeks China residents to seek refuge in Japan or Australia. The migration of individuals such as Themistocles Vakakis to Melbourne in 1948, Spiros Metaxas to Australia in 1940s, and the subsequent settlement of Byron Theofanis in Tokyo and later Yokohama, Japan, significantly shaped the diasporic Greek presence in these regions. This migration narrative, deeply rooted in entrepreneurship, trade, and cultural exchange, elucidates the historical significance of Greek immigrants in Harbin and their subsequent influence in shaping diverse global communities. Sources: <a href="https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/f3c70a23-7696-49db-9148-f24dce6a27c8/CD_116-212.pdf">https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/f3c70a23-7696-49db-9148-f24dce6a27c8/CD_116-212.pdf</a> <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/1mYLCOMKzVTNjD4AYFvFk-M?domain=petrospetratos.blogspot.com">http://petrospetratos.blogspot.com/2017/08/19-20.html?m=1</a> <a href="https://myfiscardo.jimdofree.com/nikos-kavadias/">https://myfiscardo.jimdofree.com/nikos-kavadias/</a>
Lord Gowrie's visit to Indonesia
The First Earl of Gowrie, Alexander Hore-Ruthven <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gowrie-first-earl-of-6441" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gowrie-first-earl-of-6441</a>, was the only Governor General of Australia to make a state visit to the Netherlands East Indies, in 1938. He was received in Batavia (now Jakarta) by the Dutch Governor General, Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alidius_Tjarda_van_Starkenborgh_Stachouwer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alidius_Tjarda_van_Starkenborgh_Stachouwer</a>. Of greater interest than the meeting of the two Governors General in Batavia was Lord Gowrie's visit to Yogyakarta, where, as this photograph shows, he was received with full honours by the Sultan, Hamengkubuwono VIII. Also of note is the presence at the reception of Th. P. Galestin, who was cultural advisor and head of the Sånå Budåyå Museum. Galestin, an Armenian, later became a curator at the Colonial Institute Museum in Amsterdam (which later became the Tropen Museum), and then a professor at Leiden University. He was a significant figure in Indonesian art history. [Although the colonial name at the time was 'the Netherlands East Indies', Indonesian nationalists had in 1928 proclaimed the Youth Oath that declared their homeland was 'Indonesia'. Prior to that the Indonesian Students' Association in the Netherlands (Perhimpunan Indonesia) and the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Komunis Indonesia) was already using the term.]
Prime Minister Menzies' visit to Indonesia
<a href="/s/omaa/page/project-members">Adrian Vickers</a> Robert Gordon Menzies was the first prime minister of Australia to visit Indonesia. This may come as a surprise to those who follow the conventional view in Australian-Indonesian relations that it was Labor governments that always had the best relations with Indonesia. This article is one of several from the first week of December 1959 reporting on Menzies' visit (<a href="https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/3387">https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/3387</a>). There is also extensive documentation in the National Archives of Australia <a href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3373596" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3373596</a> The reports show Menzies chatting amiably with President Sukarno, and emphasise Australian aid to Indonesia through the Colombo Plan, which saw Indonesians gain tertiary education in Australia. Menzies' visit was the first by an Australian leader after World War II. The Governor General of Australia's had made an official visit in 1938 <a href="https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/4924">https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/4924</a>, and Menzies had stopped in what was then Batavia in 1941 to meet with the Dutch Governor General <a href="https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/3388">https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/s/omaa/item/3388</a> and <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/collections/HFUI2M38/items/4434EI24/collection">https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/collections/HFUI2M38/items/4434EI24/collection</a>. Menzies' fellow Liberal Party leader, Prime Minister John Gorton, visited Indonesia in 1968. Liberal Party foreign ministers made numerous trips to Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s, while Sukarno's Foreign Minister, Subandrio, visited Australia in February 1959. All the newspaper reports were very positive, which is remarkable given that this was during the early part of Sukarno's Guided Democracy period, when Indonesia's assertive policy in the region led to its takeover of West New Guinea (referred to as Irian Barat by the Indonesians) and eventually to 'Konfrontasi', the conflict over the formation of Malaysia. The 1959 visits by Subandrio and Menzies smoothed the way for the Indonesian takeover of Irian, by ensuring that Australia would not take the side of the Dutch. During Konfrontasi, Australian and Indonesian troops were secretly involved in armed conflict on the borders of Sarawak. Indonesian reports of the period present Britain as an imperialist force in the region, but Australia was largely seen as neutral, if not friendly.
Goa wants Australia back
<a href="/s/omaa/page/project-members" data-type="page" data-id="312">Adrian Vickers</a> A rather strange footnote in the history of Australian-Indonesian relations. Based on his claim to be the heir to the Sultanate of Goa (which was defeated by the Dutch East India Company in 1669), the king of Goa asked the British ambassador to Indonesia, Kermode, for the return of 'Marege.' The king claimed that Makassarese sultanate had ruled over the Philippines, New Guinea, the Lesser Sundas [Nusa Tenggara] and Australia. This is interesting for two reasons: first, the exaggerated historical claim that Goa's empire included Australia, and secondly that the claim was made to the ambassador of Britain based on its use of Australia as a penal colony, not to the Commonwealth of Australia. Later writing by Australian historians of the relationship is about 'the Macassans' coming to Australia, when in fact a significant number of Indonesians who came to northern Australia were from other ethnic groups. For the key work on this history, and the starting point for other Australian historical writing on the subject, see Campbell MacKnight's book, <a href="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/FVJ33CZZ/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/FVJ33CZZ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyage to Marege</a>'. The <a href="https://www.monash.edu/arts/monash-indigenous-studies/global-encounters-and-first-nations-peoples">Global Encounters and First Nations Peoples</a> project is adding depth and complexity to this picture.
錯愛 Mistaken Love
金礦古事 An Old Story of Gold Mining
豪州軍総司令官トマス・ブレイニー大将布告 – Gōshūgun sōshireikan Tomasu Bureimī Taishō fukoku
豪州記行第二回 — Gōshū kikō dai nikai — A record of my second trip to Australia
豪州新西蘭座談会 — Gōshū Nyū Jīrando zadankai — Symposium on Australia and New Zealand
豪州南阿南北米を巡りて— Gōshū Nan-A Nanboku-Bei o megurite — Tour of Australia, South Africa, and the Americas
蘭花手指 Orchid Fingers
華英通語集全 Huaying tongyu jiquan (A Collection of Common Phrases in Chinese and English)
舟泊滴利遠聞花香 Docking at Dili, amid a Distant Smell of Flowers
聯合軍伝単 — Rengōgun dentan
羊毛関係者座談会 — Yōmō kankeisha zadankai — Wool growers and traders lecture society