Fred Wong - INVITATION – Public talk & film, all welcome

Presented by the Chinese Youth League of Australia Inc., in conjunction with History Week 2006, an initiative of the History Council of NSW

Come along to a friendly and sociable gathering to hear fascinating and true stories of the Chinese in Sydney. A great insight for young people into the lives of their parent’s or grandparent’s generations, and a revelation for those old enough to remember life before computers, power steering, fast food and multiculturalism! In . . .

FRED WONG : HUMANITY, JUSTICE & EQUALITY

Commemorating the 100th Birthday Anniversary of Fred Wong

So you don’t have a clue about life in the 1930s – 1940s for Sydney’s Chinese?

Come & hear about:

  • the first Cantonese Opera performances in Sydney,
  • Chinese sailors smuggled from a ship docked in Newcastle, to Sydney,
  • government spies keeping tabs on activity in Sydney’s Chinatown, plus much more!
  • Fred Wong’s life and work

When: Sunday 17 September

Lunch: 12:00 pm (hot buffet, bookings essential)

Talks/Film: 2:00pm to 4:30pm - Entry by donation, reserve a seat

Where: Mandarin Club, corner Pitt & Goulburn Streets, Sydney

RSVP: Friday 8 September or a.s.a.p.

SPEAKERS

Dr Shirley Fitzgerald City Historian, City of Sydney, Author, ‘Red Tape, Gold Scissors: the story of Sydney’s Chinese’, Chairperson, Board of State Records, NSW; Past President, History Council of NSW; Lecturer, Australian and public history at UNE and USyd; Awarded the Centenary Medal for services to heritage in 2003.

Dr Drew Cottle Senior Politics Lecturer, UWS, Author, ‘Unbroken commitment: Fred Wong, China, Australia and a world to win’.

Arthur Gar Lock Chang Friend of Fred Wong, Past president, Chinese Youth League. A devotee of oral histories and informing people of Sydney’s Chinatown in the 1930s and 1940s, and activism during these years. Appears in the film, Indonesia Calling

FILM: ‘Indonesia Calling’, 1946 (21 mins)

Kenneth Fred Wong (Wong Gar Kin; 1906 - 1948, born in Cobar), a greengrocer and family man, ran a shop on Parramatta Road, Leichhardt. Wong and his Chinatown colleagues raised money through Cantonese Opera to help the war effort, and brought a sense of community harmony with friendly gatherings for local people and newly arrived Chinese, especially for the many lonely, Chinese seaman stranded here during the war. A progressive Chinatown leader, he led an extraordinary life crossing normal social and political boundaries to fight for humanity, justice and equality. He worked tirelessly collaborating with gutsy, resilient Chinese colleagues to: campaign against the injustices of the Japanese invasion of China; organise hundreds of Chinese seamen to work at an American camp in Bulimba, Queensland, to built naval barges used to land troops and supplies; improve poor pay and work conditions of Chinese workers and Chinese mariners; provide food and shelter for homeless Chinese; and to fight the racial discrimination of the White Australia policy. His links are with the city markets, Chinese Youth League, Chinese Seamens' Union, Trade Unions, the wharfies strike and the pro-Indonesian independence movement. Fred Wong is the founding president of the Chinese Youth League.

Members of the public welcome. Refreshments will be served at interval.

Bookings: Please assist organisers by reserving places by as soon as possible. Thank you.

Call CYL Office Ph: 02 9267 3166. Email enquiries: office@cyl.org.au

Download the following registration form.

The Chinese Youth League is one of the oldest Chinese community organisations in Sydney. Its activities include promoting: Chinese creative and performance arts, sports and cultural education.