Beneath the North Queensland mining ghost town of Ravenswood is an eerie , lost world of old , well timbered tunnels and drives in which the ghosts of the past dwell .
One of them may well be the Chinese boxer , Rud Key , of "Chinese descent", also known as Kee in the media , who first came to this blog's ken through a slim 1997 booklet , Ravenswood Remembered , by May Crow , whose childhood memories of the town , going back to WW1, make an absorbing read . She mentioned a respected Chinese family which ran Lee Gow's shop bakery, one of the children , "Choonga " , fond of boxing , had joined the famous Jimmy Sharman travelling boxing troupe.
He arranged that when he died , his ashes be returned to Ravenswood and his brother saw that this was done . Following up this brief information resulted in a round or two for a pound or two . Records for the Chinese section of the Ravenswood Cemetery list a storekeeper named Key Jung , a storekeeper, 56, who died on July 17, 1927.
Rud Key , at times billed as the boxing champ of all China, had a long association with boxing troupes over 35 years from 1916 ,variously attributed to also beating the drum and ringing a bell to attract a crowd , selling tickets for two and three shillings . This brought him into contact with the many Aboriginal boxers who fought in the Sharman troupe . One study of Aboriginal boxers mentioned Key and talks about Socialism.
May's book tells how her mother, at the age of 12 , had suffered terrible burns when her dress caught fire ; as she was running towards a creek , a Chinese miner rolled her in sand to extinguish the flames , probably saving her life .
Blind for a year , probably from shock , she had to lie face down , naked , fanned by family and friends 24 hours a day in summer , a coal fire kept burning during winter . Chinese herbalist Jimmy Ah Lum , a former cook at the Imperial Hotel , fed her with potions and applied herbs to her burns .
The author's grandfather , Fred Knight , a large , bearded American , known as "California Fred " , taken across America in a covered wagon when he was child on the way to the Californian goldfields , had jumped ship in Australia and made his way to Ravenswood with other Americans ; he was buried there on October 20,1931, aged 82 listed as C of E. In the case of his Irish wife, Mary Ellen , she died in June 1928, aged 77, R C.
The Chinese contribution to Ravenswood is commemorated in this sculpture not far from the Railway Hotel which still exists , there being 42 hotels at one time , some of the publicans Chinese -Ah Sin (1871) , Yet Wah, George Ah Kay , Ah Gawk. May's book also contains other Chinese licencees -Ah You, Ah Leong . Others with business interests were Jang Lum Kee , Sun Lee Sing and Sun Chong ; Youn Pan was a jeweller .
May is to be congratulated for the amazing number of names and information packed into this publication which no doubt could be helpful in genealogical research . During the boom times , people of many nationalities were attracted to Ravenswood ... Cornish , Welsh, Scottish, Germans, Italians, Americans and , of course, Chinese .
From time to time , torchlight Ghost Tours are made from Townsville to Ravenswood , a 45 minute drive away , which takes in the cemetery and old buildings .
May's book tells how her mother, at the age of 12 , had suffered terrible burns when her dress caught fire ; as she was running towards a creek , a Chinese miner rolled her in sand to extinguish the flames , probably saving her life .
Blind for a year , probably from shock , she had to lie face down , naked , fanned by family and friends 24 hours a day in summer , a coal fire kept burning during winter . Chinese herbalist Jimmy Ah Lum , a former cook at the Imperial Hotel , fed her with potions and applied herbs to her burns .
The author's grandfather , Fred Knight , a large , bearded American , known as "California Fred " , taken across America in a covered wagon when he was child on the way to the Californian goldfields , had jumped ship in Australia and made his way to Ravenswood with other Americans ; he was buried there on October 20,1931, aged 82 listed as C of E. In the case of his Irish wife, Mary Ellen , she died in June 1928, aged 77, R C.
From time to time , torchlight Ghost Tours are made from Townsville to Ravenswood , a 45 minute drive away , which takes in the cemetery and old buildings .
