Talkmeme - 11th Dec - my family's immigration history

[tielan]

alphaflyer asked: "In Canada and Australia, the majority of current inhabitants are the descendants of immigrants. Can you talk a bit about your family's history and arrival in Australia?"

My family were in the post-WWII wave of immigrants: both grandfathers were businessmen who brought their families out from China (paternal) and Hong Kong (maternal).

Dad's side of the family came out to Australia at the end of the war. Bought a house on Sydney's North Shore, stayed here. Both my grandfather and grandmother were originally from Guanzhou province, down in the south, and I think both great-grandfathers were Christian ministers in China (before it became illegal to have any religion). My uncle was born in Australia the year after the war, and my dad and his younger sister followed a few years later.

My paternal grandfather imported Chinese goods – I remember his office in the Gowings building in Sydney, when he took us along to work. Full of wonderful things to explore and poke at and ask questions about! When my granmother died a couple of years ago, we found some of his old things tucked away. I snaffled the silk samples, and still plan to make a cushion or throw from them.

Mum's side of the family escaped to Hong Kong after the cultural revolution in China. They got out of Shanghai before the communists took over - they had to. The family group owned one of the largest department stores in Shanghai (the department store still stands, although obviously no longer owned by the family) and would have been targeted by Mao and his supporters for being 'sympathisers' with the Japanese for having run their business during the occupation.

In Hong Kong, my grandmother had a 'village business' in smallgoods, and my grandfather ran an export business. One of the granduncles came over to Australia, and the family started immigating. Over time, my grandfather and my grandmother arranged for my mum and the uncles to come out as students, and my mother went to high school here (in Australia, there's no 'junior' and 'senior' high - it's all 'high school' from around age 13).

A lot of Mum's side of the family (her uncles, aunts, cousins) is here in Australia, although there's a branch in California, and a branch in BC, Canada. Occasionally there are huge "family gatherings" at which I'm supposed to be the geneaology chronicler.

Um. I'm not very reliable at it.

There's probably a lot of tales to tell about the process of coming out here, but I didn't really get to hear the stories before my grandparents died, and now what I have is mostly my mum and dad and uncles' memories of the stories their parents used to tell.

I kind of regret that.

Comments

[colls]

I think family migration stories are fascinating. Thanks for sharing yours.
Do you use anything for genealogy or keep it manually? Anything like software I mean. My mother keeps binders but I'm looking for something to upgrade her to the modern era.

[tielan]

I use this program called 'Legacy Family Tree' which is generally okay for my purposes. Like I said, I'm not very reliable with it - I should set aside an hour a week to just sort through the bits and pieces I have...

"Should." Ugh.

[beatrice_otter]

Thank you for sharing! Family history is always interesting.

[tielan]

I really wish I had more information about it, though. Or had listened better when I was younger.

(The catchcry of missed opportunities the world over...)