Accounts ledger, paper, Wong family, Australia, c.1862-1867.

Buff cloth covered accounts ledger with metal clasp. On one cover is Chinese script. The other cover has the handwritten words 'Wong Sat [?]....oly'.

The pages inside the front cover are a printed 'Almanack for the Year 1860', recording important British events for days of the year. The pages inside the back cover are marbled. Sixteen of the ledger's pages are in English, twenty five pages are in Chinese script and the remaining pages are either blank or have been torn out.

The pages in English mainly record the accounts of two people, Cam Cheng and He Lum. The remaining pages contain single account entries for payments made by a number of individuals.

The account for Cam Cheng begins with the entry 'commenced work today May 15th/65 at the rate of [pounds]32 per year. Columns record the date, item purchased (this is sometimes a cash sum) and the amount in pounds, shillings and pence, which is totalled over the page. The final entries for Cam Cheng's account list the wages due to him. The amount Cam Cheng owes has been deducted from his wages, with the remaining amount 'paid to CC'.

It appears that He Lum was some kind of employer as cash payments to various people with Chinese names are debted to He Lum's account. Items purchased include a coat, belt, 'cash for grog', and 'cash for opium'. One of the other items is a 'miner's right' which was an official licence to dig for gold, so it is possible thst He Lum employed the named individuals for mining work.

Pages in Chinese script list items purchased and the amounts of money owed by a number of individuals.

Made: 1857 - 1867

97/92/5-1/1

1857 - 1867

135 mm

85 mm

12 mm