When 19-year-old George Ah Gwan arrived in the Australian colonies in around 1873 – a long way from Canton’s political upheaval, overpopulation and unemployment – he became, so to speak, a new man. Discovered only recently, almost 150 years after he first set foot in Australia, he was born Wong Yee Gwan (黃以鈞), and Wong was his surname, or clan name, not Gwan. George Ah Gwan was the name he adopted.
By the time he immigrated, various anti-Chinese legislations had already been enacted and repealed in New South Wales. Poll taxes and other laws designed to restrain immigration, prohibit naturalisation, and put Chinese furniture-makers out of business were introduced in the years following George’s arrival.
Yet, this did not discourage George
