Rings, Palmer River goldfields
Date Published
: Mining (gold fields), personal apparel (jewelry)
: Far North (Qld)
: Palmer River goldfields
: c.1878
Palmer River goldfields rings
ring, Palmer River goldfields
Pictured is one of a set of three gold rings reputedly given by John Ah Chin to his three sons and now in the possession of their descendants.
ring, Palmer River goldfields
ring, Palmer River goldfields
John Ah Chin, according to his marriage certificate came to the Palmer River goldfields from Macao and was born around 1858. Perhaps he dug for gold but afterwards he was a storekeeper and then farmer. He married Jean Simpson Thompson in Townsville in 1890 with whom he had eight children. The family changed its name from Ah Chin to Archer in 1917 and John Ah Chin himself after a number of trips back to China felt the need to return as his death approached and did so in 1924, perhaps dying in a HK hospital soon after arrival. Jane died in 1954.
The ring is finely worked and appears to show a fruit on the face. These rings are a very rare survival of the Palmer River goldfields from the many thousands of men from China that arrived to seek gold in this relatively harsh landscape. Like John Ah Chin most of those who did not return to China went into various commercial or agricultural pursuits around Far North Queensland.
John Ah Chin and family
References to rings:
Ring maker on petition - Rocky River
On Ah Keong had his ring stolen - "On Ah Keong being called, he was sworn in the usual manner on the Bible . He said I am a miner living on the Lower Indigo He lately missed several articles from his tent. The ring and other articles produced are my property. My name was engraved inside when the ring was made."
