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Mei Quong Tart (1850–1903), businessman and community leader, was born in Hsinning, Canton. He was only 9 years old when he migrated to the New South Wales goldfields near Braidwood with his uncle. He joined the household of a Scottish family, the Simpsons, who converted him to Christianity, and taught him to read, write and speak English, albeit with a Scottish accent. From an early age he used his language skills as an interpreter, becoming government interpreter for the districts of Braidwood, Araluen and Majors Creek. During the increase in anti-Chinese activity in 1887 Quong Tart spent much of his time acting as an interpreter and assisting his countrymen.
Quong Tart became a naturalised British subject in 1871, entitling him to buy land and to vote. He married an Englishwoman, Margaret Scarlett, in 1886. They baptised each of their six children in a different Christian denomination. He was the first Chinese to be elected to an Oddfellows Lodge in New South Wales and became a Freemason in 1885.
He campaigned passionately against the opium trade and its effect on his fellow Chinese. In 1883 Quong Tart was appointed to a commission of inquiry into the disturbances in the Chinese camps in the Riverina. He was very perturbed at the level of opium addiction in these camps and gave public lectures to raise support for the anti-opium crusade. He petitioned the government to ban opium imports and published A Plea for the Abolition of the Importation of Opium in 1887. The proceeds were used to aid the Bulli Disaster Relief Fund, established following one of the worst Australian mining disasters in the coal mines near Wollongong, New South Wales. Quong Tart was recognised and honoured with high distinctions granted from the Chinese Imperial Court in Beijing for his extensive work with the Chinese communities in Australia.
As a businessman, Quong Tart was respected by both the Chinese and Australian communities. The Simpsons had encouraged him to acquire shares in gold claims, and he later became a highly successful tea and silk merchant. He opened restaurants in George, King and Pitt streets, Sydney, which became popular meeting places. His employees greatly benefited from his enlightened attitude to working conditions. He allowed them time off for shopping, and sick leave with pay.
Quong Tart died in 1903, having never fully recovered from a savage attack by an intruder in his Queen Victoria Markets office in 1902. He was one of the only Chinese of his time to be fully accepted by the European Australian community.
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