A'Fok, Fok Sing and Co

Political correctness and revisionism has made more out of Fook Sing than should be the case.  He was simply a man of his time, playing both sides against each other for his own benefit.  This eventually caught up with him and he lost the respect of his own community.  But that is for others to debate. 

It is easy to believe that the early brick makers were of European origin, but this is nor the case.  When the gold started to run out, the Chinese miners, like the Europeans, moved into other occupations.  One of these was Fook Sing, or Fok Sing, depending on the reference you consult.  He began making bricks in Bendigo in the late 1850s, possibly 1857.  He had arrived in Australia from China to seek his fortune along with many of his countrymen.  It is hard to know where he came from, but it is reasonable to assume that he left southern China to come to Australia.  Arriving in Adelaide in 1854, he undertook the arduous trip overland to the gold fields.  

An only child, Fook never married nor had any children.  He appears to have been fluent in English as he is recorded as being an interpreter in July 1856.  He is also recorded as being a faction head during September in what has been called the “Chinese Riots” in 1856.  The two faction leaders were locked up and bail refused.  Fook was head of the “Four Districts” (known as the Headman of the Long Gully Camp) and Ah King was head of the “Five Districts.”    The four districts were the former counties of Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping and Enping in the Pearl River Delta of Southern Guangdong Province of China.  The Chinese were located in Emu Point at what was known as the “Ironbark Camp.”

These groups had an internal system of Justice that included flogging for offences proven.  The “Bendigo Advertiser reported in 1856; “We also had handed to us the other day a specimen of the English calligraphy of Fok Sing the head-man of the four districts, which would not disgrace some of the members of our precious House of Lords.  The freedom of hand and the accuracy of spelling were quite creditable to this intelligent specimen of the Chinese race.”  

Poor Fook seems to have been an early casualty of the “tall poppy syndrome” being arrested when another Chinese was wanted by the police.  He had previously been arrested during the “riot” but was “bound over to keep the peace.”  It appears that Fook was well known to the police as his name appears regularly in relation to various offences committed by other members of the Chinese community of Bendigo.  He was also described as a “Police Informer.”

Whilst the rebellion at Eureka in Ballarat, has become a well known episode in Australian history, the Chinese in Bendigo were just as incensed over the enactment of a £4 per year residency permit. In May 1859 around 1000 Chinese massed and marched on the Warden.  Fook Sing was their spokesperson and managed to delay collection of the fee until the Legislature in Melbourne had a chance to reconsider the matter.

  

“CHINESE BUILDERS. Those indefatigable people, the Chinese, have now gone into another branch of "trade. Fook Sing, the brickmaker, has taken a contract to build a smithy for Mr Bailey, of Hargreaves street,of Chinese bricks. Yesterday a party of them might have been seen at work. They are constructing the walls on a peculiar principle. It is of two bricks in thickness, whose length runs parallel with the length of the wall, and a space is left, between which is filled up with mortar. Many disparaging remarks was expressed of the work by European bricklayers, but there appeared nothing to justify them. It appears to be well executed, and will cost infinitely less than if done by Europeans, the difference in price amounting to upwards of 30 per cent. “

“The Star” Ballarat Friday 3^rd of February 1869 from the Bendigo Advertiser.

  

Fook Sing built his own brick kiln from hand-made bricks in Bendigo in 1859.  The remains of this kiln now in Thunder Street have been excavated and are the only known brick kiln of Chinese origin outside China.  It appears to be a form of beehive kiln, about 15 metres long and 10 metres wide.  It made bricks that were smaller and a different colour to those of the day, as a standard size had been creeping into European works since the early 1800s.

It appears the a firebox at the front, about 3 metres square sent heat uphill into the kiln, creating a hotter fire than other European kilns of the day.  This crossdaught kiln operated until the late 1880s when the land was converted to market gardens.  In 1859, a firebug was at work in Bendigo and one of the victims was Fook sing’s brickworks when a large supply of firewood for the kilns was burnt.   

The Victorian Heritage website says; -

"Newspaper records indicate that the kiln was constructed by the A'Fok, Fok Sing and Co in 1859 when the site was immediately south east of the large Chinese camp known as Ironbark, established in 1855. The kiln appears to have been in use until the 1880s when a market garden was established on the site, the land having been acquired by Ah Jet in 1884. The market garden was abandoned around 1950 however several trees on the site still reflect this commercial use. The current owners purchased the land in the late 1970s.

Partial archaeological excavation of the site in late 2005 revealed the remains of a large domed clay brick kiln built into the bank in the west of the site. The arched firebox leading to the firing chamber is at least 1.5 metres deep and buried along with the fire box, flue, and lower section of the circular firing chamber which is estimated to be around 10 metres in diameter, extending under Thunder Street. The kiln originally stood about 10 metres high but the top of the dome has been partially demolished during construction of the road. The design of the kiln strongly suggests Asian, probably Chinese, technology especially in the construction of the wall-through firebox.

Excavation on the kiln also revealed arteiacts associated with the use of the kiln including brick fragments. Bricks used in the construction of a garden wall in Rowan Street Bendigo are thought to have been manufactured in the kiln.

Excavation of the later deposit which has filled the firebox and a transect of test excavations across the site revealed a dense in situ deposit of mainly late 19th century artifacts such as English and Chinese ceramics, including a number of complete or near complete large earthenware jars, Chinese glass gaming counters and bottle glass related to use of the site as a market garden and residence from the 1880s.”

Fook died in Castlemaine in 1896 at the age of 68.