TAM KWONG

Cameron Tam

Description

This biography is about the life’s journey of the late TAM Kwong through the eyes of his children growing up in Hong Kong and Brisbane from the 1960s. It entailed the times and life of a seafarer’s journey sailing the seven sea from 1940s during the golden age in Shipping era and eventually settled in Brisbane in the 1970s.
The writer’s recollections of memories of his late father throughout different timelines at Pearl Sea (Zhuhai, Sanzao Dao,Guangzhou)/Hong Kong/Brisbane was turned to a collection of flashbacks, moments in time, portraying a historical account of a life lived through hard work, struggles and determination to succeed. The gallery of historical account was partly based on a manuscripts hand written by TAM Kwong in 1965 and skillfully built up to form the comprehensive account of a life that set the cornerstone to the foundation of the TAM’s Clan in Brisbane.
The book represents the culmination of years of research. Diligently researched over the years and densely informative. The author’s work is a biography in full, and particularly rich on his father’s character, personality, and his way of life. The writer paints a vast canvas of his father but still maintains a sharp focus on his character, his reactions to people and events around him.
Each chapter contains a wealth of fascinating historical Information. It is especially touching to read his description of his father to whom the writer here offers a gracious tribute. Perhaps the most poignant section of the book is a collection of essays and reviews about his father. He has turned his memory of his father, among many others, into a virtual reality by display of various miniature models for those younger generations to capture their interest and brought his father’s characteristic in exhaustive details. A wonderful sense of narrative pace and style, and surely a passion for his aim .The writer succeeds in portraying his parents come to life in this clearly written while entertaining and well-researched biography - an extraordinary piece of family historical account pieced together from scratches over the years.
Overall, the book is engaging. Interspersed throughout the book are little asides of easy reading. There may be sensitively written vignettes from the life of his late father that Cameron is writing about, autobiographical episodes from his own life, or fanciful stories or determination. In short, densely intertwined with tales makes it nearly impossible for readers, once drawn in, to lose interest, an uncommon achievement of both style and substance. The real stuff is in the writer’s individual pieces - passionate, thoughtful and, usually, enlightening …riveting. The historical context of his father was well described by the writer while the strength of the book lies in the way he conveys his father’s virtues and outlook on life, which are inspirational and educational for his children and progeny to follow.
I would recommend that anyone living in Brisbane should read the book if they want to add or share the writer’s memory (of course in a less than pedantic way) of the development history of Brisbane in the recent decades as witnessed by the writer over the years. Looking back, an account of the embryonic growth of Brisbane is particularly lively and informative from the perspective of an ordinary resident ever since living through his boyhood and growing up in this wonderful city.
There are many model displays of various scale for readers to visualize the scenes mentioned in the chapters and to capture readers’ attention on some history events/places to arouse their interest from a historical perspective. As Dad’s grandchildren are all born in Australia, hopefully the grandchildren and their progenies can get to know this mild mannered chef and pastry cook and learn how he shaped the family future in the land “Downunder” where “Women glow and Men thunder”.

Sujets

• MasterChef
• Biography
• Cruise ship
• Autobiography
• Migration
• Zhuhai
• Brisbane
• Hong Kong

Informations

• Publié par: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781543773033
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 16 Mo

Extrait

Tam Kwong
 
A Journey in Time
 
 
Cameron Tam
 
Copyright © 2023 Cameron TAM . All rights reserved.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
ISBN
ISBN: 978-1-5437-7302-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-5437-7304-0 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-5437-7303-3 (e)
 
 
 
11/20/2023
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tam’s Clan
譚氏家族
 
(祖籍廣州省中山市珠海三灶島)
(澳洲布里斯本、墨爾本 及 香港)
Tam families – Guangzhou Zhuhai Sanzao Dao, PRC
Brisbane, Melbourne and Hong Kong
 
 
 
Dedication
To Mum,
Your legacy and stories of Dad inspired me to put my hands and pen together to write a biography about Dad, Tam Kwong, through the eyes of his children.
Mum, you were a grande dame in your own right, a self-sacrificing, all-giving lady who glued us together through thick and thin throughout the decades, in good and bad times, with all your enduring, unconditional love to each of your children.
Through this book, we hope your grandchildren and their grandchildren will come to know how fortunate we all are and what a great dad, our father, Tam Kwong was. As the family and friends come together to celebrate Dad’s legacy through this book, we just want to tell you that we miss you so dearly. Life has never been the same without you as our most respected family “torch bearer.” I promised you on your temporary departure from this world that the family torch will be kept lit and the relay baton will be passed on from generation to generation. Hence, this book is the vessel to carry on that burning flame of Dad’s legacy.
Mum, I take pride to present this book to keep the promise I have made to you. I trust that the stories told by our dear father will provide a solid foundation of our family heritage and our cultural background living in our adopted lucky country, Australia, with our roots originating from Sanzao Dao, Zhuhai, in Guangdong Province, in the People’s Republic of China.
 
“I am a determinist , compelled to act as if free will exist, because if I wish to live in a civilized society, I must act responsibly.”
—Albert Einstein
Foreword
The author, Cameron, had recently told me he wrote a book about his family in remembrance of his father, the late Mr. Tam Kwong. He asked me to read the manuscript and give him some thoughts as a foreword. This is actually new to me. I have never written a foreword for a book. With a feeling of some trepidation, I have accepted the honour.
This biography is a thoroughly readable insight into his late father’s life and his legacy established over various timelines. The writer’s recollections of memories of his late father were turned into a collection of flashbacks, moments of time that had a profound effect on his children and grandchildren. Though Cameron was an occasional, novice writer, I was impressed by his momentous work and his command of sources, eye for details, perception of character and shrewd judgement, which enabled him to bring the past truthfully to life.
Without any doubt, the book represents the culmination of years of research. Diligently researched over the years and densely informative, Cameron’s work is a skilfully written and impeccably accomplished comprehensive history of the Tam clan in Brisbane. The biography is full and particularly rich on his father’s character, personality and way of life. Cameron paints a vast canvas of his father but still maintains a sharp focus on his character and his reactions to people and events around him.
As far as I know, this is the writer’s first book. The book would not have come into existence without the writer’s passion to write a biography and memorise his father. Each chapter contains a wealth of fascinating historical information. It is especially touching to read his description of his father, to whom Cameron here offers a gracious tribute. Perhaps the most poignant section of the book is a collection of essays and reviews about his father. He has turned his memory of his father, among many others, into a virtual reality through the display of various miniature models to capture the interest of the younger generations.
Paying a gracious tribute to his late father, Mr. Tam Kwong, Cameron brought his father’s characteristics in exhaustive details, a wonderful sense of narrative pace and style and surely a passion for his aim. The writer succeeds in portraying his parents in this clearly written, entertaining and well-researched biography – an extraordinary piece of family history on an academic level! Overall, the book is engaging. Interspersed throughout the book are little asides of easy reading. There may be sensitively written vignettes from the life of his late father that Cameron is writing about, autobiographical episodes from his own life, or fanciful stories of determination. In short, the book is densely intertwined with tales, which makes it nearly impossible for readers, once drawn in, to lose interest, an uncommon achievement of both style and substance. The real stuff is in the writer’s individual pieces – passionate, thoughtful and usually enlightening . . . riveting. The historical context of his father was well described by the writer while the strength of the book lies in the way he conveys his father’s virtues and outlook on life, which are inspirational and educational for his children and progeny to follow.
As a side note, I would recommend that anyone living in Australia should read the book if they want to add or share the writer’s memory (of course in a less than pedantic way) of the development history of Australia in the recent decades as witnessed by the writer over the years. Looking back, an account of the embryonic growth of Australia is particularly lively and informative from the perspective of an ordinary resident ever since living through his boyhood and growing up in the city of Brisbane.
Wholeheartedly, I wish Cameron would meet his expectations with the book, which will help achieve his aims with its coming into being.
Towards our ever-lasting friendship, I wish Cameron all the best!
 
 
Table of Contents
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER I       THE HISTORY OF THE TAM CLAN
Ancestoral History of the TAM’s Clan
1.   The History of the Tam Clan
2.   The Shandong Province Descendants
3.   History of Shandong Province
4.   Present-Day Shandong
CHAPTER II       EARLY YEARS IN SANZAO DAO, GUANGDONG PROVINCE
1920s to 1930s
1.   Sanzao Dao, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, PRC
2.   The Pearl Sea–Pearl River Delta Development
3.   Brief History of Zhuhai – Sanzao Dao
4.   The Bloody History of Sanzao Dao
5.   Present-Day Zhuhai – Gateway to Sanzao Dao
CHAPTER III       THE BEGINNING OF LIFE AT SEA
Timeline 1940s
1.   The Young Tam Kwong
2.   Life at the Old Fishing Village, Sanzao Dao
3.   The War-Torn Years in the 1940s and Life’s Struggles
4.   The Crossroad Ahead
CHAPTER IV       THE FOUNDATION YEARS
Timeline 1950s–1960s
1.   A Hong Kong Story
2.   Start of a Shipping Career
3.   Head of the Tam Family Clan
4.   Tam Kwong’s Own Biography Dated 24.12.1965
5.   Modern-Day Hong Kong (1950s to 1960s)
6.   The Tsimshatsui Clock Tower Revived
CHAPTER V       DAD’S LONG CAREER AT SEA
Timeline 1940s, 1950s to 1970s
1.   Serving the Fleet: From the Taiping to Marco Polo
2.   Dad’s Career Highlight: The Royal Visit in 1954 and 1963
3.   A brief recap of the Queen’s visit to Queensland
4.   The 1954 Royal Visit to Australia
5.   The Golden Age of Shipping
6.   Flashback to Dad as a Mild-Mannered Chef
7.   The Ships: A Link to the Past and a Bridge to the Future
CHAPTER VI     OFF TO THE NEW WORLD – AUSTRALIA
(Timeline – 1970s)
1.   The White Australian Policy
2.   Chinese Immigration to Australia and Chinese Australians
3.   The Great Migration
4.   Reminiscence of the yesteryears
5.   How food has changed in the last fifty years
6.   The Flourishing Years (Timeline 1970s to 1990s)
List of Chinese Proverbs and Quotes
List of Songs Quoted
References
Epilogue
Author’s Profile
Preface
The most important job parents have is to pass on some basic virtues onto their children. As it has been said, children are the reflection of their parents. We all want our children to inherit some likeness from us, not just our outer appearance and physical features, but also our characteristics, values and virtues, to shape them in a way a child should be brought up for a proper upbringing.
As one gets older, we take pride in saying that our children were raised by virtue in our likeness, and when the time comes that we leave this worldly domain, our children are the best link to our past and the stories of our forebears. There will come a time when we all get a bit older and get a little nostalgic and tell stories of our childhood days to our little ones and walk them down memory lane.
How did we get through that stormy weather and life