Chen Quin Jack

A significant portion of my collection originated from Ellen (Nell) Tootong, and her close family. Nell’s artefacts add to the narrative of her life in Tingha and travels to China. They include family documents, photographs, personal keepsakes and relics — like this front door key to Mrs Ellen Hyde’s House in Tingha. For me, this key symbolically unlocks and reveals much of the personal life of a woman within the Chinese community at the turn of the 20th Century in Tingha.

The photo above is Ellen Tootong with her younger sister Sarah Jane Too Tong (later Keys)

Ellen (Nell) Tootong, was born on the 30 Nov 1878 in Auburn Vale NSW Australia, her parents were Esther Mcclure — an immigrant from Ireland and William Too Tong, a Chinese miner, and labourer. Ellen was one of four siblings also had an elder half-sister — Mary Fuller — my Great-g grandmother.

In the 1890s Ellen (Nell) Too Tong, met Chinese born Fong Mon How 方文厚 (AKA – Fong Kum Moon 方金滿 ) — a storekeeper of Inverell and Tingha. Mon How was born in Canton — Shekki, Heung Shan, in 1869. He first arrived in Australia in 1881.

Ellen and Mon How were married in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Inverell in 1899. In this wedding photo they are both wearing the fashions of the day – it’s possible Ellen who was a skilled dress maker made her wedding dress. Upon marriage, Mrs Ellen Mon How was sometimes addressed as Mrs Moon.