Sydney James Lee Soon, eldest son of Lee Soon (Li Jiquan) and Elizabeth Lee Soon, was born in Ballarat on 27th June 1875. Little is known about his early years, other than he grew up with his family around Golden Point (China Town), where his father Lee Soon owned hotels, a gaming house and ran a wine store at various times. In 1884 at the age of nine, Sydney was recorded as attending the Chinese Sabbath School, (a Chinese Sunday School).

On the 4th August 1900, Syd as he was known, married Mary Ellen Cartledge at Ballarat East and on 15th August the same year their first child was born. This child was named Sydney James Lee Soon after his father and from here on referred to as Sydney James Lee Soon 11.

Syd and Mary remained in the same district and had four more children;

• George Edward born in 1905,
• Levina Maude born in 1911 (here on referred to as Levina Maude 11),
• Maxine Elizabeth born 1912 and
• Ernest birth unknown at this point.

In 1915 at the age of four, Levina Maude11 passed away. In 1921 at the age of sixteen, George also passed away. The following year (1922), Syd’s wife Mary was to pass away at the age of forty-one.

Most of his working life Syd spent as a miner and in his spare time was known to play Iron Quoits, a common game of the time, often played between hotel patrons. Syd played in the same team as his Sister Levina’s husband, John Hustwayte.

After the death of his wife Mary, Syd moved to West Geelong where his eldest son Sydney James Lee Soon II was now living and starting his own family. It was during this time that Syd lived with a woman in Gertrude Street and fathered a child who was also named Sydney but was given the mothers surname of Jennings. After an argument with the woman he was living with, Syd left Geelong to work in the mines around the Meredith and Elaine areas with his daughter, Maxine Elizabeth (Liz)’s husband Les Latter. Syd lived with them until his death in June 1942 at the age of sixty-five., as a result of pneumonia. Syd was buried in the New Ballarat Cemetry in the same grave as his wife Mary, son George and daughter Levina.

Although slight in stature, Syd was known to be quick tempered and handy with his fists. A story is recounted of Syd drinking in a Ballarat hotel and being on the receiving end of some derogative remarks about people of Chinese origin. Syd responded by knocking the offender to the floor before anyone had time to think about it. Despite this, Mrs. Jennings described Syd as being a well liked and respected gentleman.

It is a sign of the then times and the views that were still held about the Chinese that Syd’s grandchildren, the children of Sydney James Lee Soon II, grew up not knowing their grandfather even though for a period of time he lived but a few streets away.

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As there is no record of Lee Soon entering the country and as there is also no record of the ship he lists on his naturalisation application as having travelled on, it is assumed he was one of the many Chinese immigrants tricked into paying the Victorian Immigration tax before leaving Hong Kong only to be dumped off the South Australian coast near Robe and Left to their own devices. During a large fire in Hong Kong most of the departure records were destroyed and therefore there is no official record of him leaving China.

The first record of Lee Soon in Australia is to be found in the Ballarat Star Newspaper, dated early December 1867, in which his intention to apply to the justices sitting at the court of petty sessions, to be held on January 2nd 1866, for a certificate authorising the issuing of a publicans licence to open a house situated at the Chinese township of a Golden Point. This was to be known as the Golden Point Hotel. In 1870 he applied for and was granted naturalisation, of which a copy of the correspondence and certificate are available.

On the 4th October 1871, Lee Soon married Elizabeth Houston at Ballarat. Elizabeth was the Daughter of a pastry cook named John Houston, who was also Chinese but who had changed his name upon being baptised, and Mary Houston,( nee. Naylon) of Irish Descent.

Elizabeth was born in Corio Street Geelong on the 24th December 1856 showing she was not quite 15 years of age when she married Lee Soon, disputing the age of seventeen which is shown on the marrage register. It appears this was an arranged marriage, which was customary amongst the Chinese at the time. This was later born out by their daughter who told her Children that her mother had been sold into marriage.

On the 2nd of August 1872 Lee Soon appeared before the courts on a chage a perjury for which he was found not guilty. At that time Lee Soon and Elizabeth were living in a house in Young Street, China Town.

Their first Child was born on the 8th December 1873 and named Levina Muade. Their Second child was born on 2nd June 1875 and was named Sydney James. In 1887 Lee Soon was listed as operating a gaming house, gambling being a favourite pastime of many Chinese at that time.

In 1878 Lee Soon became the publican at the John O’Groates Hotel and it was during this year their third child, James Houston was born. After the birth of James, Elizabeth was very weak and confined to bed. Each day , Catherine White, a family friend whose husband George is shown as a witness to the marriage of Lee Soon and Elizabeth, travelled the two-mile distance to nurse Elizabeth and James. As she could not continue to do so, it was agreed she would take James home to her house where she could tend to him whilst Elizabeth recovered.

James was described as a feeble child and Catherine tried to feed him a mixture of milk and maizena in order for him to gain some form of nourishment. On the 5th October 1878, James at the age of one month, died at the home of Catherine and George White. An inquest into the cause of death found he had died as a result of the administration of improper food through the ignorance of his nurse, Catherine White. (a copy of the inquest findings are available.)

It is assumed the family remained at the same location until 1881 when Lee Soon was listed as the manager of a wine shop some ten doors down the street. The premises comprised a shop and dwelling in which the family resided until the death of Lee Soon in 1883 as a result of heart disease. Lee Soon was buried in the Chinese section of the New Ballarat Cemetery where his grave can still be found today.

Lee Soon was described as being a well-groomed man, dressed in suits and wearing his hair in a ponytail, which was the custom of his native land. It is believed Lee Soon was a gambling man as it would seem there were periods during his life in Ballarat when he was quite wealthy, buying his wife jewellry etc. and running his own businesses, then later working for others.

Lee Soon and Elizabeth also adopted two children, a boy found on the steps of the Barkly Hotel and therefore named Barkley and a girl named Ethyl. Nothing is known of Barkley but it is known that Ethyl remained in contact with the family in later years.

After the death of Lee Soon, Elizabeth remarried a Chinese market gardener named Ah Lee and moved to Dimboola where they worked allotment 11. Elizabeth died in May 1904 at the age of forty-one and was listed as being buried in the Dimboola cemetery although inspection of cemetery records shows no record of this.. At this time, Ethyl was listed as the only dependant as the other children had all left home.

Ah Lee remained in contact with his stepdaughter Levina, occaisionally travelling to Melbourne to visit her and her family. On these occaisions, Levina would meet Ah Lee in Melbourne and they would travel to her home by horse and buggy. Whilst they were travelling through populated areas, Ah Lee would hide under a blanket for he was obviously Chinese in appearance and fraternisation with the Chinese was frowned upon by society of the time.

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