Freddy you are my hero!!!!!!

I have found my man!, Fred Wong's life is so interesting....not to mention his death which is even more intriguing.

Here is a basic outline ( all information was kindly supplied by the kind people at the Chinese Heritage Australian Federation)...fantastic people!

He was born in the gold and later coper mining town of Cobra (NSW...really far inland i think). Then he moved to Sydney to live and make his business (this all punctuated by visits home to his parents home town in China).

He seemed to have a heightened sense of social justice and during The Second World War, the Japanese invasion of China he was politically active in Sydney. Later using his leadership skills to look after the rights of Sydney's Chinese community (who i am sure were not the flavour of the decade as the authorities were some what turning against them in the early 1900's)

He was the founding director of the Chinese Youth League, which still exists today, and experienced a suspicious accident which ended his life, and made local newspapers.

He seems the perfect person to bring the experience of early Chinese immigrants to life ...... lots more investigation to do:

Note to self:

-Research Cobra, maybe the local authorities have some historical documents which feature Freddy or his family!

-Research the Chinese Youth League, and visit them in Sydney if possible they too may have some further information on Freddy's life

-Find out which newspaper reported his death and get hold of a microfilm of the report...ooooh how exciting.

-Where was he buried....probably in Sydney where he had his funeral. Find out which records will say which cemetery i can visit him at.

-Get some sleeeeeeeeeep,

Oh yes and the fabulous image with this post is of the Parade organised by the See Yup Society on 7 May 1901 to celebrate the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York, who came to Australia to open the first federal national parliament. The decorated archway in the background was built for the occasion by the See Yup Society.
[La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria]