Stephen Chen with his nieces and nephew. Wahgunyah Primary School’s new House team was named in honour of Chinese pioneer 'Jimmy' Chen Ah Kew, Mr Chen’s grandfather.
Wahgunyah Primary School and the local community were saddened to hear of the passing of Stephen Chen whose grandfather father, 'Jimmy' Chen Ah Kew was a prominent early pioneer.
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Mr Chen’s father, George Wing Dann and Uncle Mathew Wing Tang attended the Wahgunyah Primary School.
Jimmy Chen Ah Kew first arrived in the area searching for gold along with large numbers of Chinese.
After the gold petered out, many Chinese stayed on to live and work in the area operating market gardens and working in the vineyards and as hotel cooks.
Jimmy opened a store and become a successful business man, importing goods from China to sell in his shop in the busy Chinese section of Blanche Street.
He brought 500 men from China, organising them into groups of 30 to 40 men to work on the properties of new settlers who were farming in southern NSW and North Eastern Victoria.
The gangs of workers would ring bark trees, clear the land, sink dams, often staying on the one property for up to six months at a time.
In 1887, he sought a wife from China and Jimmy and Lum Gum had six children. The two older boys attended Wahgunyah Primary School.
With the introduction of Federation in 1901, all Chinese born people were forced to return to their homeland and soon after their return, Chen Ah Kew and their youngest daughter died.
In the 1920s all four brothers returned to Australia, living in Melbourne becoming successful in the food and fruit industry.
Their Mother Lum Gum and surviving sister also returned.
Stephen Chen: January 19, 1932 – August 22, 2025
During a family reunion on May 3, 2019 at Wahgunyah, Stephen aged 87 and his nieces and nephews and their families were very happy to meet Wahgunyah School principal Josh Reid.
One of Stephen's nieces Gabrielle Wang is a children's author, and much to her and the family’s delight, the library contained 25 of her books, which she happily signed.
At the time, the school was changing the names of the School Houses, naming them after Wahgunyah Pioneers.
Two had been named Foord and McCrae and in the school library with the Chen family, principal Josh had no hesitation in announcing the third house would be named Chen.
Stephen was very happy and proud and responded saying he would donate a Perpetual Shield, which is to be presented at the end of the school year by a member of the Chen family.
Gabrielle explained the Chinese word Jing means energy, essence, spirit, precision, excellence in execution, sharpness, refined ability and vitality.
The Chen family donate a Perpetual Shield and annual bursary to Wahgunyah Primary School.
It didn’t end there; the Chen family announced they would donate an annual $500 bursary to the school for the next five years.
Last November, the Chen family visited Wahgunyah Primary School again to announce the annual bursary would be increased to $1100.
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