I was born in , China, but my mum had a lot of kids so she sent me to Hong Kong to live with my grandma. That’s where I grew up.
I lived there until the early 1980s – around the same time when the Australian government introduced the family sponsorship visa. My two sisters had already moved to Australia and were living in . One sister asked me if I would like to come over to live in Australia and be sponsored. We said yes.
So in April 1984, I came to Australia directly from with my husband and two daughters. We went straight to Townsville: it was very different than Hong Kong.
Back then, there were only a few Chinese restaurants in Townsville and not many Chinese families living there.
"In 1984, I came to Australia directly from Hong Kong with my husband and two daughters. We went to Townsville: it was very different than Hong Kong." Lily King Source: SBS
When we were in Hong Kong, my family ate mostly vegetables and chicken, pork and fish dishes. We steamed our meals with ginger, and soy sauce, or we had with oyster sauce. But when we came to Australia, cooking Chinese dishes at home was hard because it was difficult to find authentic Chinese ingredients – like and Chinese spinach – at the shops.
It was also tough to look for a full-time job because Townsville is only a small place. So I did part-time work for a few months and then I decided to buy a business. I first bought a fish and chip shop. A few years later, around 1993, I acquired an already established Chinese restaurant – Nanking Restaurant - in the suburb of Aitkenvale and a takeaway shop in the Woodlands.
Asian ingredients, like choy sum, were hard to find. (Sharyn Cairns) Source: Sharyn Cairns
I had the restaurant for 15 years and also had a Chinese takeaway at the same time, where we sold traditional Chinese dishes. Most of our diners – around 80 or 90 per cent – were Caucasian because most Chinese people like to cook at home and don’t eat out a lot. Back then, customers were very happy to stick to ordering the most popular Chinese dishes, like black bean sauce, , and honey chicken.
Around 2006, the landlord decided to rent the land to the bank. So the restaurant closed but we continued to run the takeaway shop in Woodlands.
Kylie Kwong's sweet and sour pork Source: Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul
These days, the Asian population in Townsville seems to have tripled. When I first came to Townsville, there were only a few Chinese families – maybe 20 families – and now there would be hundreds. There are also a few more traditional Chinese restaurants in Townsville, but there are also many noodle bars.
But when we came to Australia, cooking Chinese dishes at home was hard because it was difficult to find authentic Chinese ingredients – like choy sum and Chinese spinach – at the shops.
I think if someone moved from Hong Kong to Townsville today, it would be a lot easier to settle in and become familiar with the food sold in Australia compared to how it was years ago. In Hong Kong and China now, they have adopted a lot from Western culture, so they'd be used to Western food.
And, nowadays, it’s more common to find Chinese ingredients in Australia. People are even growing Chinese radishes in their home gardens. Coles and Woolworths sell many kinds of Chinese sauces, , ginger, shallots and all sorts of other authentic ingredients. Any vegetables we can’t get from the main supermarkets, we can easily get from the Sunday market in Townsville.
So now, we cook more Chinese food at home. We mostly make traditional foods like steamed chicken, roast duck, , a lot of stir-fries and .
We can also order ingredients from a larger supplier that imports products and vegetables from overseas. It’s made it a lot easier to eat authentic Chinese dishes at home in Townsville like we used to eat in Hong Kong.
Roast duck is a popular recipe to make at home. (Brett Stevens)
Today, I am still running my Chinese takeaway shop, . It’s very busy and as popular as ever. There are a lot of workers, including people from the mines and local tradespeople, who visit our takeaway shop and buy a Chinese meal for dinner on their way home from work.
I’ve been in the food business in Australia for more than 25 years – and it’s amazing, but many of the people in Townsville still order the same dishes today as they did 25 years ago.
I don’t know why, but Australians still want to eat authentic Chinese beef in black bean sauce, and sweet and sour pork. Although times really have changed some things – like ordering Chinese takeaway – has stayed the same.
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