Maa Louey (1835-1915) and his Family
Maa Louey (1835-1915) and his family
Maa Louey (Ma Lui in Mandarin) was born in 1835 in Canton, China. He is believed to have had a high position in the Imperial Court but to have supported modernisation and social reform. He left China in 1866 and sailed for Australia on Lowe Kong Meng's ship, the Joshua Bates. Once in Australia he added the names ’William and Henry‘ to his Chinese name.
He initially mined on the goldfields of Victoria. On 20 April 1875 he departed Melbourne for Launceston on the steamship Flinders. He continued his work as a miner, mining for gold and tin.
On the 12 September 1877 he married 19 year old Sarah Ann Watson in Launceston. He was one of the few Chinese in Tasmania to take a white Australian wife. The couple then travelled to Fingal and Mathinna in search of gold. Two years later, on 12 June 1879, Sarah gave birth to their first child Walter in Fingal. Maa Louey and Sarah had nine children: Walter, Charles, Ada, George, Alexander, Henry, Rowena Violet, Reginald and Alice.
Maa Louey also established himself as a storekeeper. For nine years, between 1891 and 1900, he operated a store at 21 Ann Street in Launceston. In 1896 he was naturalized. In the early 1900s Maa Louey and Sarah returned to Victoria where Sarah ran a boarding house.
Maa Louey never returned to China, but after China became a Republic, when he was quite old, he declared that he wished to return to China to die. He did not quite make it. The family were notified that he had died on board ship.
His eldest son Walter, at 22 years, left Tasmania in 1901 for Perth (Western Australia) where he worked as a bookkeeper and clerk at the Weld Club. The Club was established by Sir Frederick Weld, Governor of Perth and also Governor of Tasmania in 1870s.
In 1903 aged 24 Walter married Sarah Ann Golden. Sarah was the daughter of colonist and pastoralist William Henry Golden. Weldborough (Tasmania) and Perth (Western Australia) were closely connected by wealthy business interests and in 1905, Walter returned to Weldborough from Perth. With his two brothers, Charles and George, he took out a 20 acre mining lease at Moorina.
Walter and Sarah Ann had six children in Weldborough and remained there until around 1925 when the family crossed to Victoria. In 1938 Walter is listed as working as a fruiterer in Victoria. He died in Victoria on 25 April 1962 aged almost 83. His brother Charles had died in 1959 following his wife in 1953 and his baby son in 1920.
The Maa Louey legacy lives on in his family and also in a road and bridge named after him in Weldborough. 'Maa Louey Road' existed for many years and in 1947 an application was made for a 'Maa Louey Road Bridge'. The bridge was completed by the Public Works in 1965.
Researched by Kerry Burge, great granddaughter of Maa Louey and granddaughter of Walter Mar.
