In the 1850s the Victorian colonial government appointed Chinese interpreters on the goldfields. The great rushes of the 1850s included many thousands of Chinese; interpreters would assist in their administration, especially in legal matters.
One of Victoria’s Chinese interpreters , Ah Kin How Qua, was a young Cantonese, 25 years old, who for the previous ten years had lived in England.
Ah Kin How Qua was born in Canton in 1929. In 1843 he left China to live and study in England until 1854. In February 1854 he arrived in Victoria, Australia, aboard the ‘Invincible‘ and immediately set out for the goldfields.
In January 1855 How Qua gave evidence to the Commission to enquire into the conditions of the Gold Fields of Victoria. His appointment as interpreter followed shortly afterwards. He was frequently called upon to help in court. For example he was the interpreter in the 1857 trial at Avoca concerning the murder of a Chinaman known as Ga Poo.
How Qua applied for naturalisation on 25 August 1861.
He stated he was born in Canton in 1829. He had emigrated to England in 1843 where he resided for eleven years and where he embraced the Christian religion. He arrived in Victoria in 1854 on the Invincible (Johnston master). He was engaged in gold mining. In 1855 he was appointed Government Chinese Interpreter in 1855 and is now in the service of the Government as an interpreter at Avoca. He was seeking naturalisation so as to be able to hold real estate as well as to possess other rights.
In 1858 How Qua married Eleanor ‘Ellen’ Caroline Derrick. Eleanor’s family had migrated from Somerset, England; she arrived in Victoria as a 15 year old 1856.
Their children were :
- William 1859–1862 died young
- Henry 1862–1942
- James 1864–1870 died young
- Clara 1867–1936
- Louisa 1871–1952
- Eleanor “Ellen” 1872–1950
- Albert 1874–1949
In 1864 How Qua was one of the founding members of the Loyal Avoca Lodge of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, a friendly society set up to protect and care for its members and the community. At that time, of course, there was no welfare state or government health service.
How Qua was pictured with fellow Lodge members in his regalia.
Photo uploaded to FindAGrave by user Blask.
In the early 1870s How Qua and his wife Ellen established and ran the Percydale Hotel at Fiddlers Creek in the District of Avoca. It stayed in the family for many years after his death.
Avoca Mail (Vic.), Tuesday 18 November 1873, page 2
Among the deaths which have occurred in the neighborhood, of very recent time, has to be mentioned that of Mr How Qua, of Percydale, who for many years has acted as Government interpreter of the Chinese language in this and the adjoining Districts. Of late years How Qua has held a publican's license for a house at Percydale, where he had built an assembly room and otherwise rendered his premises available for public accommodation, and here he has resided with his European wife and intelligent young family. A dread internal malady attacked him so virulently, that on the last occasion of his appearance in the Police Court, at Avoca, it was a matter of remark he looked as if death smitten. He became so ill that it was found advisable to try hospital treatment, and accordingly on Thursday last he was sent to the Amherst institution, where he was died on Saturday last. The deceased had been of course Christianized, and was a steady quiet man. How Qua had been for nine years a consistent member of the Loyal Avoca Lodge of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, attending as often as he could, and never having been what is termed "bad on the books." He was one of the few original members who were made and were initiated at the opening of the Lodge. The funeral of How Qua's remains, yesterday, was attended not only by a large number of his countrymen, but by many more of European residents of Percydale and Avoca, storekeepers and others to whom the deceased was for a long time known, and his brethren of the Lodge, to the number of about thirty, preceding the melancholy procession. The service at the grave was impressively read by the Rev E. K. Yeatman, M.A., the Church of England Minister, and the Oddfellows' funeral oration in the Lodge Rood and closing remarks at the grave were read by the N.G. of the Lodge, Mr James Brown. Ah Kin How Qua — for that was his full name — had had much more experience of England than is usual even among the more travelled Asiatics, and his interpretation of the language of the Chinese was uniformly relied on by judges and magistrates. Deceased was 44 years of age, and leaves a wife and several children to mourn his loss
Wikitree: Ah Kin How Qua (1829-1873)
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