As the Earth Turns Silver

by Alison Wong

  Over the years a number of people helped in many and varied ways: Michael Gilchrist, Pepe Choong, Andrea Hudson, Ruth Pink, Pam Atkinson, Shanti Setyowati-Anderson, Don Anderson, Caroline McCaw, Martin Keane, Lindsay Forbes and Phil Castelow. I particularly want to thank Linda Tyler, Kevin Yelverton and Toni Atkinson, who were always there for me through hard times.

  My family are owed the greatest thanks: my mother and father, Doris and Henry Wong – Dad, you gave me the permission to write this story and this is for you – my brother, Graeme Wong, and sisters, Sharon King and Janice Young, and their families, without whose support this book would never have been written, and especially, the best little guy in my life, my son, Jackson Forbes, whose patience and tolerance made this possible.

  This novel was written over many years. To those who declined to be acknowledged and also those whom I have inadvertently neglected to acknowledge, please accept my heartfelt thanks.

  Many written sources were consulted in the course of research and writing. What follows is only a partial listing. Newspapers included the Evening Post, Dominion and Truth and websites included the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/.

  The New Zealand Medical Service in the Great War 1914–1918, Lieut.-Col. A. D. Carbery, Whitcombe & Tombs was particularly useful for its descriptions of shell-shock and Sojourners: The Epic Story of China’s Centuries-old Relationship with Australia, Eric Rolls, University of Queensland Press for its descriptions of opium smoking. The words of Po Lo in the chapter ‘More Than Horses’ are based on Arthur Cooper’s beautiful translation of Lieh Tzu in Li Po and Tu Fu, Penguin Books. Lionel Terry’s recital in the chapter ‘A Fine Example of a British Gentleman’ is quoted from his long poem ‘God or Mammon?’ which he self-published. Dictionary entries in the chapter ‘The Little Orange Book’ are quoted from Glossary of English Phrases with Chinese Translations, Woo Kwang Kien, Commercial Press.

  Other books and theses which I particularly drew on included: Doctor Agnes Bennett, Cecil & Celia Manson, Whitcombe & Tombs; Lionel Terry: The Making of a Madman, Frank Tod, Otago Heritage Books; The Shadow, Lionel Terry, self-published; Truby King: The Man, Mary Truby King, Allen & Unwin; A Brief History of the Chinese in New Zealand, Joe Y. Sing, self-published; Black November: The 1918 Influenza Epidemic in New Zealand, Geoffrey Rice with the assistance of Linda Bryder, Allen & Unwin: Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs’; Old Wellington Days and More Wellington Days, Pat Lawlor, Whitcombe & Tombs; ‘Representing Haining Street: Wellington’s Chinatown 1920–1960’, Lynette Shum, MA thesis for Victoria University of Wellington; Zengcheng New Zealanders: A History for the 80th Anniversary of the Tung Jung Association of NZ Inc., Henry Chan (ed.), Tung Jung Association of New Zealand Inc.; ‘The Poll-tax in New Zealand: A research paper’, Nigel Murphy, The New Zealand Chinese Association; The Kelburn Cable Car: Wellington – New Zealand; Always a Tram in Sight: The Electric Trams of New Zealand 1900 to 1964; The End of the Penny Section: When Trams Ruled the Street of New Zealand; and When Trams Were Trumps in New Zealand: An Illustrated History, Graham Stewart, Grantham House; Supreme Court (42 Stout Street, Wellington) Conservation Report for the Ministry of Justice, Chris Cochran; and Twentieth Century China, O. Edmund Clubb, Columbia University Press.

  Other useful books included: Windows on a Chinese Past, vols 1–4, James Ng, Otago Heritage Books; The Basin: An Illustrated History of the Basin Reserve, Don Neely and Joseph Romanos, Canterbury University Press; ‘Psychiatry & Seacliff: A Study of Seacliff Mental Hospital and the Psychiatric Milieu in New Zealand 1912–1948’, Susan Fennell, BA (hons) essay for University of Otago; Backblocks Baby-doctor, Doris Gordon, Faber & Faber; Lady Doctor: Vintage Model, Frances I. Preston, A. H. & A. W. Reed; Stethoscope & Saddlebags: An Autobiography, Eleanor S. Baker McLaglan, Collins; Wellington’s Old Buildings, David Kernohan & Tony Kellaway, Victoria University Press; The Chinese Century, Jonathan Spence & Annping Chin, Cassell Paperbacks; Songs of Gold Mountain: Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown, Marlon K. Hom, University of California Press; Yuan Shihk’ai, Jerome Chen, Stanford University Press; Reader’s Digest New Zealand Yesterdays, text: Hamish Keith, picture research: William Main; Anzac Diary: A Nonentity in Khaki, N. M. Ingram, Treharne Publishers and Distributers; and Dear Lizzie: A Kiwi Soldier Writes from the Battlefields of World War One, Chrissie Ward (ed.), HarperCollins.