Mei Quong Tart

Quong Tart, or Moy Quong Tart, often anachronistically known as Mei Quong Tart, was a prominent nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and political scene of Sydney at a time of strong anti-Chinese sentiment. His Australian contemporaries referred to by him by his Chinese given name, Quong Tart, which would go on to be the surname used by his descendants, such as Josh Quong Tart. Public life A prominent businessman, he owned a network of tearooms in the Sydney Arcade, the Royal Arcade and King Street. His crowning success was the ‘Elite Hall’ in the Queen Victoria Market, now the Queen Victoria Building. He was also a community leader, well connected with the local political and social elites. The Imperial government of China awarded him the status of a Mandarin of the fifth degree, with blue feather, in 1887, in acknowledgment of his service to the Overseas Chinese community and to European-Chinese relations in Australia and for assisting with the 1887 Chinese mission to Australia sponsored by Zhang Zhidong, which was the first official Chinese mission to visit Australia. In 1894, he was advanced to the fourth degree by the Emperor personally and was appointed Mandarin of the Blue Button, honoured by the Dragon Throne with the Peacock Feather. Quong Tart's parents and grandparents were also granted titles at the same time. An active philanthropist, he often provided dinners, gifts and entertainment at his own expense for recipients ranging from the Benevolent Society home at Liverpool to the newsboys of Ashfield, Summer Hill, Croydon and Burwood. From 1885 to 1888, he provided a series of dinners for the inmates of destitute asylums. He also had progressive ideas about Sydney social politics. His tea rooms were the site of the first meetings of Sydney's suffragettes, and he devised new and improved employment policies for staff, such as paid sick leave.