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Oral History

Oral History - Frank Won...
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City of Sydney oral history collection, 1982 - ongoing

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Our City

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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This item is licenced for use under a Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International) copyright license. It allows users to copy and share the item in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided the item is not changed in any way, it is attributed to the City of Sydney and the author/creator (where known), and a copyright notice is included. Full licence terms are available from Creative Commons. No warranties or other rights are provided by the licence.

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Oral History - Frank Wong, 1994

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Unique IDOH-000546SeriesCity of Sydney oral history collection, 1982 - ongoingInterviewerSue RosenProject name20th Century South SydneyThemeOur CityDate of interview1st January 1994Date qualifierexactFormatAudio - CassetteSummary of interviewBorn in 1925, Frank lived in Surry Hills all his life. His father immigrated to Sydney in 1871 from China, living in Chinatown first until he married and moved to Campbell Street Surry Hills.
In this interview Frank talks about his family history and the impact of Australian immigration laws on his family and others in the Chinese community, particularly during the Depression and WW2 years. Frank explained that as Chinese people were classified as aliens, they were not able to receive social security or any support being offered to others at the time. His brother was rejected from joining RAAF on ethnic grounds and instead joined the American Fifth Air Force.
Frank’s father ran a haberdashery shop in Surry Hills, but when the Depression hit, he was forced to close the business and go hawking his wares. Frank recalled that around the 1950s the community in Surry Hills started changing. People were now permitted to bring family members from China, there was more money around and Chinese restaurants were being opened. LanguageEnglish (eng)Digitised recordYesBorn digital itemNo

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