No further “Visitations of God”: Classifying Chinese deaths in colonial Queensland using the Nosological Index

Death registered at Warwick, Queensland in 1864 for Onghe (1864/C0744). Cause of death given as “Visitation of God” by a coroner.

By the mid-1880s, the Queensland Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages was becoming increasingly frustrated by non-medical, vague and fanciful causes of death submitted by the district registrars. Although this may have been expected when the death was notified by a general member of the public, a number of these causes were submitted by coroners and even medical practitioners. In addition, reporting inconsistency between registration districts made it difficult to compile meaningful mortality statistics.¹ In response, the Nosological Index or Guide to the Classification and Tabulation of the various Causes of Death was introduced in 1887 which cross-referenced common terminology with medical nomenclature. It was distributed to all district and hospital registrars for implementation.²

Nosological Index or Guide to the Classification and Tabulation of Causes of Death [QSA ITM847252 87/8208]

The cause of 950 Chinese deaths between 1857 and 1900 was assembled from death registrations, cemetery records and coroners’ reports in the compilation the Queensland Chinese Death Index. By reclassifying these causes with the Nosological Index, it is possible to compile mortality tables for geographical areas, occupations and specific time periods.

The 43-page Nosological Index grouped causes of death into eight broad categories.

Class	Top-level Description
I	Zymotic (contagious) diseases
II	Parasitic diseases
III	Dietetic diseases
IV	Constitutional diseases
V	Developmental diseases
VI	Local  diseases
VII	Violence /  accident /  negligence
VIII	Ill-defined and not specified causes

Contrary to the macabre reportage in the contemporary newspapers, the Chinese were far more likely to die falling off horses than by being eaten by crocodiles. Shepherds had the highest number of mishaps with horses, while market gardeners died more frequently of snake bite. They were more likely to be murdered by their countryman than by any other group.³ Death by opium whether by an accidental or deliberate overdose or by chronic use was constant over the period but never exceeded 3% of registered deaths. The Registrar General also directed that if a cause of death could be either accidental or suicidal, the local registrar was to make further enquiries to ascertain the circumstances of the death and accordingly classify them. Suicide in the Queensland colonial Chinese population was discussed in a previous post, The Grim Reality.

Cause	Nosology  Code	Number (%)
Drowning	VII.01.09 – Accidental	25  (2.6)
	VII.03.04 – Suicidal	3    (0.3)
Opium overdose	VII.01.07 – Accidental	20  (2.1)
	VII.03.03  – Suicidal	4    (0.4)
Suicide	VII.03.06 – Hanging / strangulation	24  (2.5)
	VII.03.02 – Stabs / cuts / wounds	8    (0.8)
Murdered	VII.02.01a – by Whites	9    (0.9)
	VII.02.01b – by Coloureds (including Chinese – 9)	12  (1.2)
	VII.02.01c – by Aboriginals	4    (0.4)

Cause of death 1857 – 1900. Violence / accident / negligence sub-categories.

Death by disease was more prevalent for the period up to 1900. After then, death by age-related causes and senility takes precedence. Tuberculosis claimed its victims at the average age of 44 years. The five deaths attributed to the bubonic plague all occurred in 1900.

Class	Nosology  Code	Number (%)
Constitutional	IV.01.06 – Phthisis / Tuberculosis	66 (6.9)
Zymotic	I.01.13 – Fever (not defined)	47 (4.7)
Ill-defined	VIII.01.02 – Debility	24 (2.5)
Zymotic	I.02.03 – Dysentery	18 (1.9)
Zymotic	I.01.06a – Typhoid	17 (1.7)
Local	VI.03.01  – Heart disease	16 (1.6)
Zymotic	I.01.15 – Leprosy	6   (0.6)
Zymotic	I.01.06a – Bubonic plague	5   (0.5)

Cause of death 1857 – 1900. Disease sub-categories.

According to the Nosological Index, a Visitation of God was a term that should be avoided when a more definite one could be given.⁴ When the cause of death could not be specified, it was classified as VIII.1.12.

References
1. QSA ITM847252 1887/8208. A copy of the Nosological Index is incorporated in this batch of Colonial Secretary’s Office letters.
2. Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) 11 June 1887:6
3. Queenslander 5 December 1885:889
4. Nosological Index (1887) 4

Searching for CEDTs by town

Susan War of Warwick (b. 1912) who spent a decade in China from 1916. (NAA Item ID 9119428)

For many family historians, the name of their Chinese ancestor is the least certain thing they know. They are more knowledgeable about the places they lived as these can be more securely established through the birth registrations of their ancestor’s children, licence applications of various kinds etc.

For local history researchers, there is a way of searching the index to Certificates Exempting from the Dictation Test (CEDTs) by the name of a town to find the names of Chinese residents for the period 1902 to 1956 in Queensland. For other Australia jurisdictions see https://chineseaustralia.org/where-to-find-cedt-applications-and-certificates/ (Kate Bagnell 2010 Collecting CEDT applications and certificates).

Instead of using the usual NAA name search, go to the advanced search to search for items within a series. https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/AdvSearchSeries.aspx

This is an example of how to search for people who gave Warwick as their principal place of residence between 1908 and 1956. For other time periods, use the applicable series number from the table below.

These are the Queensland series numbers which can be used in the above search.

J2481 (Proclamations under The Chinese Immigration Restriction Act 1888)	1897 – 1902 (Indexed by name only)
J2482 (Certificates of Domicile issued under The Immigration Restriction Act 1901)	1902 – 1906 (Indexed by name and place)
J2483 (Certificates Exempting from Dictation Test issued under the Immigration Restriction Acts 1901-1905)	1908 – 1956 (Indexed by name and place)
J3115 (Alien Immigration correspondence files)	1899 – 1928 (Indexed by name and sometimes by place)
BP343/15 (Register of CEDT holders departing from Townsville)	1916 – 1955 (Indexed by name and place)

These are the numerical results for searching for residents of Warwick by the different series.

J2481 (Proclamations under The Chinese Immigration Restriction Act 1888)	0 (not indexed by place)
J2482 (Certificates of Domicile issued under The Immigration Restriction Act 1901)	1
J2483 (Certificates Exempting from Dictation Test issued under the Immigration Restriction Acts 1901-1905)	28
J3115 (Alien Immigration correspondence files)	0 (not fully indexed by place)
BP343/15 (Register of CEDT holders departing from Townsville)	1

All the Warwick CEDTs in series J2483 have been digitised.

Twenty-eight CEDT applications were made by 26 residents as two made return trips. One of them was the well-known Sam War, who returned to China with his Warwick-born daughters Susan and Jenny, in August 1916. On the same voyage of the Nikko Maru was Willie War. All four returned on different dates.

When searching for a city which also a major port, you will need to add the word “of” to the name of the city or you will end up with the names of every one who transited through the port regardless of their usual place of residence. For example, using Townsville as a search term alone will yield 3674 results in series J2384.

By changing the search string to of Townsville using exact phrase instead of all the words, the number of results for Townsville reduced from 3674 to 781.

So by searching by town rather than by name, you may be able to track a single individual with name variants or find related individuals who may have anglicized their name. Local historians will be able be able to build on their knowledge of the Chinese residents of a place of interest, and maybe capture the name and photograph of someone previously unknown.

Hospital Subscriber Lists – A window into Chinese town life

Bowen’s Chinese residents were significant contributors to the new hospital. (SLQ neg. no.203864)

In towns across the breadth of Queensland, the names of Chinese residents can be found in the list of subscribers to the local hospital. Any centre of size had a cottage hospital supported by annual subscriptions paid by residents in return for medical treatment.  Subscribers were issued with admission tickets which they could either use for themselves or pass on to someone else in need of hospital treatment. Larger towns with significant Chinese populations, such as Cooktown, Cairns and Townsville, had dedicated Chinese wards attached to their hospitals paid for Chinese subscribers.

However, in this blog, I’m looking at the hospital subscribers of a town not usually associated with sizable Chinese population, Bowen. Hospitals were required to publish an annual report outlining income, expenditure, staffing, patient statistics and the names of subscribers. These reports can be found at the Queensland State Archives in the records of the Queensland Government auditor or reprinted in the local newspaper. Subscriber lists are very useful for family historians in that they tend to capture longer term residents who had settled more or less permanently in a town as their names appeared year after year. As unnaturalised Chinese were ineligible to appear on the electoral roll, a hospital subscriber list may be the only record linking an individual to a town.

Subscribers to the Kennedy Hospital 1915[1]

Chan Go	5-5-0
Sun Man Loong	5-5-0
Charlie Dick	5-5-0
Ah Hoon	5-5-0
Low Sang	5-5-0
J. Lum Kin	3-3-0
Ah Chack	3-3-0
Ah Gam	3-3-0
Gip Hee	2-2-0
Peter Sue	2-2-0
Leong Chee	1-1-0
Lee Lap	1-1-0
Yee Hop	1-1-0
Dick Bue	1-1-0
Ah Wah	1-1-0
Joe Hong	1-1-0
Way Tim	1-1-0
Low Hook	1-1-0
G. Leong Sing	1-1-0
Lum Dat	1-1-0
Willie Jung Come	1-1-0
Jung Som	-10-6
Leong Song	-10-6
Ho Tin Shing	-10-6
William Goon Chang	-5-0
Sue Lee Choy	-5-0
	£53-10-6

In 1915, Chan Go was one of the most generous of the Chinese subscribers to the Kennedy Hospital, Bowen which has been reconstructed four years earlier. His contribution of £5/5/- was worth the equivalent of $571 in today’s money.[2] So who was he and how could he afford to be so generous?

Chan Go first appears in the pages of the Bowen Independent in March 1912 when his vacant farm on the Lower Don River is tenanted during his absence in China.[3] He is back in Bowen in May 1913 after an absence of eighteen months.[4] Within weeks of returning, Chan Go applies to the Bowen Town Council to erect a building in Gregory Street, in the centre of town.[5]

In 1916, Chan Go donated a further £5-5-0 to the Bowen Patriotic Celebration Committee. Along with another 33 Chinese residents, they raised a total of £49 ($5222) for the cause.[6] Not only did Chan go make a straight donation, he was also part of the committee which ran the games on Patriotic Day which contributed a further £39-16-6 to the fund.[7]

By the early 1920s, Chinese population of Bowen was in decline, with only one-third of the number from five years earlier still around to subscribe to the Kennedy Hospital.

Chinese subscribers to the Kennedy Hospital, Bowen 1921[8]

Chan Go	5-5-0
Ah Chook	3-3-0
Way Tim	2-2-0
Lum Goon Chong	2-2-0
Leong Jim	1-1-0
Hong Ching	1-1-0
G. Ah Moy	1-1-0
Low Ket	10-6
Joe Hong	10-6
Ah Gong	10-6

Two years later Chan Go organised the first of a series of movie nights to aid the Hospital which raised a total of £6.[9]

Chan Go as photographed in 1924 for his Certificate Exempting from Dictation Test. (NAA Item ID 9587486)

In January 1925, Chan Go sold all the stock of his store to Kwong Chong and made another trip back to China.[10] The Bowen Independent observed:

The well-known storekeeper Chan Go is off to China next week. It is 31 years since Chan Go first came to Bowen and during that period he has several times visited his native land. No doubt, in a few years’ time we will see his smiling face amongst us again.[11]

Chan Go returned to Bowen in July 1927 where he continued his charitable activities, especially in connection with the Kennedy Hospital.[12] In addition to making annual donations, Chan Go together with Way Tim, Pang Sing and Lee Jew, organised another fund-raising film night for the hospital’s new fence.[13] Medicine-wise, Chan Go had a foot in both camps. He made his store available to host appointments for F. Y. Chun, a visiting Chinese herbalist from Brisbane.[14]

Chan Go crops up regularly in the local newspaper, mostly for his diverse charitable activities,[15] but on one occasion as a victim of crime. Three young sailors stole a case of tomatoes from Chan Go’s store and proceeded to throw them around. Making good on his promise to call the police, Chan Go pressed charges and the trio served time in the lock-up in lieu of paying the fine before rejoining their ship in Townsville.[16]

In 1939, Chan Go appeared to be making preparations to return permanently to China as he had sold his property in town.[17] However, he bided his time in Bowen during the Second World War. In April 1947, he departed from Townsville aboard the Yusan and disappeared from the pages of the Bowen Independent after 50 years living in that town. The paper’s editor observed:

[Chan Go] conducted a greengrocery in Gregory Street, where several generations of children have enjoyed his generosity and quaint sayings. Ever-cheerful, he has had a reputation for honest dealing, and his hand dipped deeply for any good cause. May he have a happy re-union with his family in China. If that country proves to his liking, he will stay, but we predict that Chan Go will find himself homesick for his adopted country, and will soon return to his many Bowen friends.[18]

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[1] Bowen Independent 11 September 1915:3

[2] https://www.thomblake.com.au/secondary/hisdata/calculate.php

[3] Bowen Independent 2 March 1912:29095703

[4] Bowen Independent 31 May 1913:2 Certificate Exempting from Dictation Test NAA Item ID9095703

[5] Bowen Independent 20 September 1913:5

[6] Bowen Independent 26 September 1916:2

[7] Bowen Independent 30 September 1916:5

[8] Kennedy Hospital Bowen 55th Annual Report of the Board of Management together with List of Subscribers 1921 Incorporated in QSA Item ID 1585 Reports by auditors on Northern Trips

[9] Bowen Independent 22 September 1923:4

[10] Bowen Independent 10 January 1925:7

[11] Bowen Independent 24 January 1925:2

[12] Bowen Independent 27 July 1926:5. Certificate Exempting from Dictation Test. NAA Item ID 9587486

[13] Bowen Independent 10 May 1930:5

[14] Bowen Independent 26 November 1929:3

[15] E.g. Chan Go donated 2/6 towards the erection of a band rotunda Bowen Independent 3 December 1932:3

[16]  Bowen Independent 5 August 1938:2

[17] Bowen Independent 17 February 1939:5

[18] Bowen Independent 18 April 1947:5

Did they stay or return to China? – Introducing Indigence Allowance Case Files

SS Changte made monthly sailings between Queensland and Hong Kong. (SLQ Negative no.: 178338)

As they aged, many Chinese labourers faced a life of destitution once they became unable to perform hard physical work. Some applied for the Indigence Allowance which was established by the Queensland Colonial Government in 1897. The applicant had to demonstrate that they had no relatives who could financially support them and that any land or goods held at the time of their deaths would be sold by the Crown to recoup the payments. Applicants also had to be of good character and the accompanying report, usually made by the local sergeant of police, are informative.

At least 444 Chinese or their European widows (out of 1250 cases) applied for the Indigence Allowance between 1906 and 1948.[1] The earliest indexed applicant was sixty-four year old Min Chin Day from Canton who applied in March 1906.[2] Uptake of the scheme was slow with fewer than ten applications prior to 1917. The youngest men applied at the age of sixty including Low Kow and Mow Sing in 1935 and 1936 respectively. The oldest applicants were ninety-three year olds Wong Sone and Ah Sun in turn who applied in 1929 and 1935. Chinese who were not naturalised were unable to apply for the Commonwealth Old-Age Pension established in 1908 so the state-based indigence allowance was the only avenue or direct financial support .[3]

An alternative to the Indigence Allowance was to seek admission to the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum on North Stradbroke Island where they were confined in a separate ward for ‘Asiatics’. After death, they were buried in a pauper’s grave the Asylum’s cemetery. The Eventide Home in Charters Towers was also offered as an alternative after it opened in 1929 with burials from there occurring at the nearby Lynd Highway cemetery.

Some Chinese who were initially successful in Queensland for some reason or another did not return to China when they had the opportunity, thereby slipping into poverty as they aged. One of the Palmer River miners was fortunate to meet his end being cared by a sympathetic local pastoralist. Ah Tong arrived on the Palmer River in 1872 leaving a wife and family behind in China. Aged nearly ninety in 1932, he was living in a hut about half a mile from the Brooklyn Station homestead. The owner, Paul Hawkins, made an application for Indigence Allowance by writing directly to the Home Secretary in Brisbane after being told by the Police Magistrate at Herberton that the only course of action was to have Ah Tong admitted to the Eventide Home in Charters Towers. Mr Hawkins was not satisfied by this response.

I would not do that as I know that he would rather die where he is than be removed to a strange place at his time of life. I now respectfully ask you to give this matter your sympathetic consideration and if there is any form of pension due to this old man (just enough to keep him in rice) – I supply him with meat, milk bread etc. would you make it available to “Ah Tong”.

Ah Tong was granted his five shilling weekly Indigence Allowance in February 1932 which he received for eight years. Ah Tong died in his hut at Brooklyn Station on 10 May 1940 which was noted in his file and the payment stopped.[4]

Many Chinese wanted to have a final look at their home land and some had wives and families whom they had not seen in decades. Queensland Indigence Allowance case files indicate that a small number of Chinese did return to China toward the end of their lives as their Indigence Allowances were stopped on a certain date and this reason noted. For example, seventy-one year old former miner Ah Tow left Cairns aboard the S.S. Changte on 6 December 1930 having been over fifty years in North Queensland.[5]

From the 1930s, numerous small stories started to appear in the Queensland newspapers of “aged Chinese” passing away, many evoking a sense of nostalgia for times past. By then the aged Chinese were familiar figures around town and their deaths were genuinely mourned. Typical of these reports was that of Singapore-born Ah Sang Chong who hawked fruit and vegetables in the streets of Cloncurry until his death aged seventy-four in February 1953. Chong had been a successful miner with a love of fine clothes, fast cars and a mouth full of gold teeth. However, as Cloncurry’s fortunes declined, so did Chong’s. He spent his final years eking out an existence in his market garden, sharing his few morsels of food with his beloved cats.[6]

Accurately identifying the fate of the Chinese is problematical due to the contemporary lack of understanding of the structure and transliteration of Chinese names. Prior to 1945, 6900 individuals died without the dignity of being registered with their proper name.[7] Most adopted a shortened form of their name or a nick name most commonly preceded by ‘Ah’. A well-known example was Ah Sam, the servant of Mary Watson, who perished with her in the Lizard Island Tragedy in 1881. He was actually named Chow Gee Kut; Ah Sam was his ‘Cooktown name’.[8]  About 2880 Chinese deaths registered in Queensland were registered with a ‘surname’ commencing with ‘Ah’. The first in was 1862 and the last Chinese-born individual was in 1972.[9]

This lack of precision in the recording Chinese names at death, not only masked the existence of close family ties and kinship groups in the colony, but also denies their descendants in Queensland sufficient knowledge to find the ultimate fate of their ancestor.

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[1] Index to Queensland State Archives (QSA) Series ID 8400 Special Batch Indigence Case Files 1899 – 1948.

[2] QSA Item ID 18073 Special Batch Indigence Case Files 1899 – 1936.

[3] www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/age-and-invalid-pensions [access 20 May 2022]

[4] QSA Item 18044. Indigence cases. Case no. 1200 Ah Tong.

[5] QSA Item 18044. Indigence cases. Case no. 1043 Ah Tow.

[6] Cloncurry Advocate, 20 February 1953, 1.

[7] Maclean. Queensland Chinese Death Index.

[8] Morning Bulletin, 24 March 1882, 2.

[9] Hilda Maclean. Queensland Chinese Death Index. 2022 in preparation. “Ah” surnames registered after 1972 are all second or third-generation Australian-born Chinese.