Mike Dixon

They introduced themselves and followed her into the
house. Tim went off to join Humphrey in the kitchen and
David accompanied her into the living room. He handed her
the journal and she sat down to examine it.
At some time in the past, a collection of documents had
been bound together to form a single volume. Kirstin
flipped through the pages and was intrigued. Tong Yee
came to Australia in the 1890s at the age of nineteen. Years
passed. He changed his name to Tom Lee and died in the
1950s, a rich and respected citizen of his adopted country.
The earlier pages were written in pre-revolutionary Chi-
nese characters and gave a vivid account of life on the
Palmer River goldfields in Far North Queensland. According
to Tong Yee there were more Chinese on the Palmer than
any other nationality and there was a Chinese consulate in
Cooktown to cater for their needs.
In those days, Queensland was a British colony and the
authorities issued licenses and extracted royalties from the
miners. The royalties caused deep resentment and there
were numerous attempts to smuggle gold. The journal described
how the Chinese hid theirs amongst the remains of
their dead and shipped them back to China for burial.
Kirstin was engrossed in a passage about hollow bones,
filled with gold dust, when her granddaughter came into the
room.
Elizabeth had changed out of her school clothes and was
wearing a stylish pair of denims with matching top. Humphrey
had given a glowing account of David and Elizabeth was
keen to meet him. She watched them together. Her granddaughter
was growing up fast. Although four years younger
than David she was behaving towards him as a mature
young lady, without any shyness or silliness.
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