Ashby-Z and the Reverend Soo Hoo Ten

Ashby-Z, 21 Broughton Road, Homebush, October 2021. Courtesy Strathfield Council

Every home has a story to tell. The unusually named Ashby-Z was built for carpenter, George James Astle on Lot 8, Section 4 of the Underwood Estate in 1916. The lot was subdivided as part of Rochester Street, although the house actually fronts Broughton Road at number 21. Astle had been born in Blackfordby, Leicestershire, England in 1854 – just two miles from the market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and its 12th Century ruined castle.[1] The town, once known simply as Ashby, was in existence in 1086. The remainder of its name was added during the 13th Century when the town and castle were owned by the noble Norman French La Zouche family. Today, the title belongs to James Assheton Frankland, the 18th Baron Zouche.[2]

George Astle sold the cottage in 1921 and moved to Pennant Hills with his wife, where he died in November 1926, aged 73.[3] The new owner of Ashby-Z was another retiree named George – the remarkable Reverend George Soo Hoo Ten.

Sydney Morning Herald 26 September 1934 p.18
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17120465

The first Chinese Anglican minister in Australia, he had spent many years ministering to the market gardeners of Botany and the opium dealers and gamblers of the Surry Hills slums. Born in Hoiping, Kwangtung, China, he migrated firstly to San Francisco, where he learned English and was converted, before arriving in Sydney during the 1870s. This was a difficult time for the Chinese community in Australia and the census of 1881 recorded just 1321 Chinese residents of Sydney – mostly men.[4]

With a genuine concern for the welfare of his countrymen, Soo Hoo Ten visited the poor and sick of Sydney. When he came to the attention of the Anglican Church, they employed him as a catechist. He began services at Botany as well as at St Andrew’s Cathedral in the city, where he also held English classes. He was regularly called upon to act as an interpreter at public events.

The foundation stone of the first Chinese Anglican church was laid in North Botany (Mascot) in 1885. In December of that year he became deacon and missionary to the Chinese community with authority to officiate at the new Christ Church, Botany. He also founded a Chinese YMCA in Sydney.[5] Upon the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Lett in 1889, he was presented with an illuminated address which praised ‘… the kindness which he had always displayed towards the poor, the friendless, the sick, and the dying among them, and the loving spirit in which he had sought to relieve those who had come to him in distress.’ The new Mrs Soo Hoo Ten was presented with a purse of sovereigns and a handsome bracelet.[6]

Reverend Soo Hoo Ten travelled widely, conducting missions in Melbourne and Brisbane as well as country towns such as Bathurst. By 1890 he was conducting 38 services a week in suburbs including Botany, Waterloo and Canterbury as well as the city. During the mid-1890s he worked to raise funds for a church in Surry Hills. With its distinctive steeple, St Luke’s Chinese Church was opened in Wexford Street in 1898, after which time Soo Hoo Ten confined his work to the inner city. He was also priested in that year. The prominent Sydney merchant and philanthropist, Quong Tart presented a silver trowel, with Chinese inscriptions, and mallet for the laying of the foundation stone of St Luke’s in 1896. The trowel had been made by well-known silversmiths and jewellers, Hardy Bros.[7] John Hardy himself was a local resident, then owning Strathfield House, the home that gave our district its name [8] and which currently features in an exhibition of Historic Houses of Strathfield at Strathfield Council Library & Innovation Hub until 6 February 2022. The exhibition is hosted by the Strathfield-Homebush District Historical Society. Further details are available at: https://strathfieldhomebushhistory.org/2021/12/23/historic-houses-exhibition-and-talk-6-feb-2022/

Quong Tart had also been present for the opening of the Chinese Church in North Botany in 1885.[9]

St Luke’s Chinese Church, Wexford Street, Surry Hills, 1908. Courtesy City of Sydney Archives

The Reverend Soo Hoo Ten and Quong Tart were both well-known, respected residents of Sydney and worked together for the welfare of the Chinese community. In 1894 they became founding members of the Australian Anti-Opium League.[10] When Quong Tart died, aged just 53, in July 1903, 1500 mourners ‘marched in procession to the grave, where Archdeacon Langley, assisted by the Revs Joseph Best and Soo Hoo Ten, read the burial service. The Rev. Soo Hoo Ten read a portion of the service in Chinese …’ [11] Photos of the procession from his home in Ashfield to Rookwood Cemetery appeared in The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser of 5 August.[12]

Portrait of Quong Tart, c.1880s. Courtesy State Library of NSW

Wexford Street Surry Hills c.1906. Courtesy City of Sydney Archives

 

 Bedroom of Chinese residents at rear of no.50 Wexford Street Surry Hills, 1900. Courtesy State Library of NSW

 

January 1900 saw the bubonic plague arrive in Sydney, brought by the rat-infested ships docking in the harbour. By April there had been a death in densely-populated Wexford Street, Surry Hills and the street was quarantined. The cleansing teams moved in.[13] As the Australian Star reported on 11 April: ‘Unspeakable conditions have been disclosed in the Wexford Street isolated area. The structural defects of many of the tenements lend themselves admirably to an accumulation of filth, and render the work of cleansing more difficult. There are 2000 people behind the barricades, and they will have to remain there until the cleansing operations are completed. … Several places have been condemned as unfit for occupation by human beings, and a recommendation has been made that about 40 other buildings be pulled down.’[14]

After a week of quarantine, cleaning, waste removal and burning, the residents of Wexford Street were released from quarantine.

Professional ratcatchers in Surry Hills, 1900. Image courtesy State Library of NSW

Their reprieve was short-lived, however. In 1906, 724 (mostly Chinese) residents of Wexford Street were displaced when the street was resumed for widening during the construction of Wentworth Avenue.[15] St Luke’s Chinese Church was still standing in 1908 but ultimately did not survive the resumptions.[16] Reverend Soo Hoo Ten’s church had stood for a mere ten years.

Roof tops of Surry Hills with St Luke’s Chinese Church in the foreground – prior to the resumptions, 1906. Image courtesy City of Sydney Archives.

The Reverend appears to have led a quieter life after this time, although he remained in Surry Hills until his move to Homebush in 1921.[17] He and his wife, Elizabeth, seem to have separated as she was living in Tupper Street, Enmore by 1916 and remained there until her death in 1928.[18]

Soo Hoo Ten was in residence at Ashby-Z by Christmas 1921 when he offered a reward for the return of his missing young white cockatoo.[19] He died of cancer, aged 86, in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in September 1934, receiving glowing tributes in the newspapers of the time.[20] His only child, Elsie Chan, remained in Homebush, residing at Ashby-Z with her husband, Charles until her death in 1973. According to valuation records, the house retained its distinctive name until at least the 1960s.

 

By J.J. MacRitchie

Local Studies Advisor

 

References

[1] Wikipedia ‘Ashby-de-la-Zouch’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashby-de-la-Zouch

 

[2] Wikipedia ‘Baron Zouche’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Zouche

 

[3] Sydney Morning Herald 11 November 1926 p.8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16317390

 

[4] Fitzgerald, Shirley (2008) ‘Chinese’ in The Dictionary of Sydney https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/chinese

 

[5] South Australian Weekly Chronicle 7 May 1887 p.21 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/94959312

 

[6] The Australian Star 28 June 1889 p. 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227317365

 

[7] Sydney Morning Herald 9 October 1896 p.3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14070045

 

[8] Jones, Cathy ‘Strathfield House’ – Strathfield Heritage https://strathfieldheritage.com/2018/01/29/strathfield-house/

 

[9] Australian Town and Country Journal 2 January 1886 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71071397

 

[10] Evening News 19 April 1894 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114077477

 

[11] Sydney Morning Herald 29 July 1903 p.7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14549900

 

[12] The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser 5 August 1903 p.349 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165192336

 

[13] The Australian Star 10 April 1900 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229374656

 

[14] The Australian Star 11 April 1900 p.5 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229365749

 

[15] Doyle, Sue ‘Doomed streets of Sydney 1900-1928: Images from the City Council’s Demolition Books’ SCAN: Journal of media arts culture http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/display.php?journal_id=64

 

[16] Sunday Times 7 June 1908 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126727383

 

[17] Sands’ Directories

 

[18] Daily Telegraph 11 October 1928 p.12 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246858430

 

[19] Sydney Morning Herald 23 December 1921 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15979312

 

[20] Sydney Morning Herald 25 September 1934 p.10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17115214