About Ely
Ely is an Australian translator and consultant linguist who specialises in historical texts written in Literary (Classical) Chinese, Cantonese, and other southern Chinese languages. His main focus to date has been texts that pertain to the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Chinese diaspora in Australia, with respect to which he has undertaken work for historians, archaeologists, universities, museums, family-history researchers, historical societies, doctoral students and others. Being a speaker of English, Mandarin and Cantonese, with some knowledge of Teochew and the See Yip language, and a broad interest in pre-twentieth-century writing of virtually all genres and time periods, as well as in the history of China and the Chinese diaspora, Ely is also happy to consider commissions that relate to Hong Kong, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S.A. and southern and/or pre-modern China. Ely’s largest translation is Australia’s and possibly the West’s first Chinese-language novel, Wong Shee Ping’s The Poison of Polygamy: A Social Novel.
Photograph by Hilary Finch 2020.
Previous Work—an abridged list
Books
Finch, E. (translator) and Kwok, J. (historian) (2022) Bew Chip’s Register: a Chinese Australian remittance register from the Tambaroora and Hill End goldfield. Carlton, NSW: Hill End and Tambaroora Gathering Group Inc.
Wong, S. P. (author), Finch, E. (translator), Williams, M. and Kuo, M-f (historian contributors) (2019) The Poison of Polygamy: A Social Novel. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Contributions to Books
Jacobs, J. M. (2020) The Compensations of Plunder: How China Lost Its Treasures. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Translation of a note written to Aurel Stein by a Keriya magistrate in 1913.)
Hobbins, P., Frederick, U. K. and Clarke, A. (2016) Stories from the Sandstone: Quarantine Inscriptions from Australia’s Immigrant Past. Sydney: Arbon Publishing. (Translation and interpretation of the Chinese inscriptions.)
Choy Flannigan, A. (2018) Chinese Whispers: In Search of Ivy. Sydney: Black Quill Press. (Translation of a Chinese gravestone inscription.)
Forthcoming:
Red Doors: an introduction to the Chinese temples of Christmas Island, soon to be published by BooBook Editions. (Translations of historic inscriptions associated with Chinese temples, gravestones and secular buildings.)
Translations
2021:
An Annotated Translation of Text on the Verso of Two Nineteenth-century Oil Paintings in the Collection of the State Library of New South Wales.
Commissioned by the State Library of New South Wales.
Translation of Text on a New Year’s Greeting Card that Features a Portrait of Mr. George Gwan.
Commissioned by Amanda Gwan, descendant of Mr. George Gwan.
Translation of Text on Temple Artefacts of Uncertain Provenance.
Commissioned by historical archaeologist Gordon Grimwade.
Summary of Text on a Chinese Screen.
Commissioned by Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel.
Translation, summarisation and commentary on a set of 33 late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century articles from Chinese-Australian newspapers that make reference to Australian Indigenous peoples.
Commissioned by doctoral candidate Austin Tseng.
2020:
Translations of Chinese-character Inscriptions on a Paktong Teapot.
Commissioned by Asian Art consultant, collector and dealer Carl Wantrup.
Translations, summaries and research for an episode of the Who Do You Think You Are programme.
Commissioned by Warner Brothers.
Translation of a Chinese Inscription on a Bronze Censer.
Commissioned by Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel.
Summary of Australian Chinese-language Newspaper Content that relates to the Sydney Firm of Kwong War Chong and Translation of a December 1936 Advertisement for the Sydney Firm of Kwong War Chong.
Both of the above commissioned by the Chinese Australian Historical Society.
Annotated transcriptions and translations of Chinese-language newspaper articles from 1906 and 1925; a gravestone inscription; and an address on an item of registered mail dating from 1937.
Commissioned by Griffith University doctoral student Natalie Fong.
Transcription of names written in Chinese and English on two New South Wales petitions from the 1860s, and comparison to identify matches.
Commissioned by historian Dr. Juanita Kwok.
Annotated transcription and translation of a Chinese Poem inlaid in silver running-script characters on an archaistic red-sandalwood box, with laquered interior, and gilded mark of the Qianlong emperor.
Commissioned by Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel.
2019:
An annotated transcription and translation of an advertisement for Sue Shing Lung Co. from the front page of San Francisco’s Chung Sai Yat Po daily newspaper for Friday 31st May 1901.
Commissioned by Griffith University doctoral student Natalie Fong.
Cantonese and See Yip romanisation of 30 Chinese names listed on a historic Harrietville Joss House plaque, and review of traditional-character transcriptions and Mandarin romanisations.
Undertaken for historian Paul Macgregor, in support of his research for The Uncovered Past Institute’s Harrietville Chinese Mining Village archaeological dig.
An Annotated Transcription and Translation of the Chinese Inscription on the Gravestone of Lee Kee Chong.
Commissioned by the deceased’s great-great-granddaughter Kira Brown.
Translation of the obituary of Chin Kitt, of Launceston, Tasmania, from page 4 of Melbourne’s Chinese Times for 11 June 1902.
Written for the deceased’s great-granddaughter Megan Neilson. The quality and importance of the translation were acknowledged by the same in a presentation entitled “A tale of two translators”, which was delivered at the Dragon Tails 2019 “Translation and Transformation” conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
2018:
Summary of an Article in the 22 June 1923 Edition of the Tung Wah Times; translation of eight Chinese gravestones and preparation of a composite document of these and previous translations entitled An Annotated Transcription and Translation of Eleven Chinese Gravestones from Bathurst and Hill End, New South Wales, and Two of Unconfirmed Origin; changes to an Excel spreadsheet for personal and business names connected with the Chinese history of Bathurst and district, and related research.
All three of the above commissioned by Juanita Kwok, Charles Sturt University doctoral candidate.
An Annotated Transcription and Translation of Nine Chinese Gravestones in the Collection of the Cooktown and District Historical Society.
Commissioned by the Cooktown and District Historical Society following professional photography of the gravestones, which come from North Queensland’s Palmer River gold field.
Transcription of donor lists, and text associated therewith, from historic Chinese temples in Innisfail, Cairns, Atherton and Georgetown.
Undertaken for historian Paul Macgregor. The transcriptions contributed to a presentation entitled “Who supported the temples? Investigating the name lists on the artefacts of the Cairns, Atherton and Georgetown and Innisfail temples”, which was delivered at the Chinese Heritage in Northern Australia Inc. (CHINA Inc) March 2018 conference in Townsville. Paul Macgregor acknowledged the translator’s assistance with respect to the transcriptions and advice on historic variant characters in the presentation.
2017:
An English Translation of Bew Chip’s Register (劉妙㨗寄金簿英文譯本).
An annotated translation of a Chinese gold-remittance register from the New South Wales gold fields, commissioned by the Sydney Zhongshan Society. The register and this translation were the subject of a presentation delivered by historian Dr. Juanita Kwok at the Dragon Tails 2019 “Translation and Transformation” conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Inscriptions on an 1870s Joss House in Tambaroora, New South Wales.
Written for Juanita Kwok, Charles Sturt University doctoral candidate, and the Hill End & Tambaroora Gathering Group.
Transcriptions and summaries of Chinese documents held in the family collection of Kira Brown, descendent of Tingha Storekeeper Quin Jack.
Commissioned by the eponymous Kira Brown.
Translations of Chinese annotations on certificates dated 1883 and 1885.
Commissioned by historian Dr. Michael Williams, Western Sydney University.
2016:
Précis of a 1906 Chinese-language proclamation issued by the superintendent of foreign labour in the Transvaal for the information of Chinese miners.
Commissioned by historians Dr. Robert de Jong, heritage consultant and Curator of the Maritime Museum of Townsville, and Dr. Johnny van Schalkwyk, Senior Curator for Archaeology and Anthropology at the Ditsong Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria, South Africa.
Transcription of Chinese personal and place names and checking and correction of English transliterations in the 1866 Petition of Bah Fook.
Commissioned by Juanita Kwok, Charles Sturt University doctoral candidate, and the Hill End & Tambaroora Gathering Group.
2015:
Transcriptions and Translations of a Sample of the North Head Quarantine Station’s Chinese Character Inscriptions; Assessment of Recordings of Sixty Inscriptions with regard to their Suitability for Meaningful Translation; Transcription and Translation of the North Head Quarantine Station’s “Uncoded Inscription”; and Transcriptions and Translations of Three Images of Inscriptions in Chinese Characters from the North Head Quarantine Station, Manly, New South Wales.
All commissioned by the University of Sydney’s Quarantine Project.
Transcriptions and Translations of Chinese Inscriptions on Three Bathurst Cemetery Gravestones.
Commissioned by Juanita Kwok, Charles Sturt University doctoral candidate.
A Transcription and Translation of The Chinese Advertiser, and The English and Chinese Advertiser, Including Editions 7, 8, & 20 of The Chinese Advertiser, and Editions 3, 7, 23, 58, 60, 87, & 95 of The English and Chinese Advertiser, which represent all known extant editions.
Written voluntarily in response to ongoing calls from historians and researchers for an English translation of these, Australia’s earliest Chinese-language periodicals, which had hitherto gone unanswered. The document is available on the State Library of Victoria’s electronic catalogue (at http://cedric.slv.vic.gov.au/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3658278&custom_att_2=direct), and has been indexed to Trove by the National Library of Australia. The translation was featured in a special exhibition on the newspapers at the former Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, Ballarat, in 2015.
Transcription and Translation of a Chinese Gravestone from Gilberton, Queensland.
Written for archeologist Jacinta Warland and historian Sandi Robb.
A Transcription and Translation of a Chinese Gravestone in the History Hill Museum, End Hill, New South Wales; and A Transcription and Translation of a Chinese Gravestone in the Museum of the Bathurst District Historical Society, Bathurst, New South Wales.
Both written for Juanita Kwok, Charles Sturt University doctoral candidate.
A Transcription with Notes, and English Translation, of a Poem by the Qing Dynasty’s Gaozong Emperor: “An Ode to the Brush-rest Peak of Borhot’s Eastern Mountains”.
Written for pleasure, and to highlight deficiencies within the English translation of this poem that was displayed in the National Gallery of Victoria’s Golden Age of China exhibition, for the information of the Gallery.
A Transcription and Translation of a Literary Couplet in the Hou Wang Temple, Atherton, Queensland.
Written for the information of temple staff.
A Transcription and Translation of Chapter IV “Giants” of the Qing Dynasty Work “A Lamplit Account from a Rainy Autumn Night”.
Written for Dr. Sophie Couchman, curator of the Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne.
2014:
A Translation and Transcription of the Cursive Script 1862 Preface to “English through the Vernaculars of the Canton and Shiuhing Prefectures” and of its Seal Script Colophon, and an Appended Translation of its Table of Contents; and A Transcription and Translation of a Literary Couplet on a Chinese Canopy Bed.
Both written for the Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne. The former contributed to an article about the phrasebook on the Culture Victoria website.
2013:
Personal Account of Zhung Sing Long, Written for the Authorities during the Land Reform: Chinese Transcription and English Translation.
Written for the writer’s granddaughter, Chinese Australian journalist and author Helene Chung. The document can be accessed via the Services page and Helene Chung’s website.
Translation of the Text on the Golden Dragon Museum’s “Hills and Waters Screen”, and Associated Transcription; Transcription and Translation of a Chinese Letter written in 1937; and Transcription and Translation, with Explanatory Notes in Chinese, of Pages in a Grocery Ledger.
All written for the Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, Victoria.
Translation of a Creswick Grocer’s 1865 Invoice from the Chinese.
The document is available on the Public Record Office of Victoria’s PROV Wiki website.
Newspaper Articles
2019:
The great Australian (Chinese) novel, September 2019 special China issue of the Australian Newspaper’s companion business magazine The Deal.
Guest Lectures and Conference Presentations
2021:
Historical Translation: A Practitioner’s Perspective, Master of Translation and Interpreting programme, Asia Institute & School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne.
2020:
An Introduction to the See Yip Language, online presentation for the annual general meeting of the Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria (CAFHOV).
Historical Translation: A Practitioner’s Perspective, Master of Translation programme, Asia Institute & School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne.
2019:
Dragon Tails 2019 conference “Translation and Transformation”, Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand book launch for The Poison of Polygamy.
Chinese Australia’s First Novel: The Poison of Polygamy, dedicated seminar, Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University.
The Poison of Polygamy—An Early Australian Novel and the Complexities of its Translation, Translation History Seminar Series, Asia Institute & School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne.
The Eleventh International Convention of Asia Scholars, Leiden: Gold, Migration and Modernity: “The Poison of Polygamy”, a joint presentation with historian Dr. Michael Williams.
The Poison of Polygamy: Chinese Australia’s First Novel, Chinese Australian Historical Society Lunar New Year Talk.
2017:
Dragon Tails conference, Bendigo: Australia’s First Chinese Novel: “The Poison of Polygamy”.
The Tenth International Convention of Asia Scholars, Chiangmai: Australia’s First Chinese Novel (The Poison of Polygamy), and issues relevant to its translation and the translation of literature of its type.
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature conference Looking In, Looking Out: China and Australia, Melbourne: Australia’s First Chinese Novel, and issues relevant to its translation and the translation of literature of its type.
2016:
The International Symposium on Transnational Migration and Qiaoxiang Studies, Wuyi University, Jiangmen, China: “華僑文海拾珍 A Treasure of Chinese Diaspora Literature from the Late Qing”.
2015:
Dragon Tails conference, Cairns: A Practical Introduction to Chinese Digits.
Banner image: the translator in what is now Zili Village in Guangdong province’s See Yip region (廣東省四邑地區自力村); photograph by Michael Williams 2016.