Lily Ah Toy (born Wong Wu Len) (24 October 1917 – 15 October 2001) was an Australian pioneer and businesswoman famous in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Biography

On October 24, 1917, Ah Toy was born in Darwin to Chinese parents. Her father Wong Yueng, who worked as a timber cutter and fencer, had come to the Northern Territory from Hong Kong in the 1880s where he married Linoy Moo, her mother. She was raised in a 'strictly Chinese' household and was raised with the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

faiths. The family lived in a small house, constructed of stingy bark, bush timber and second-hand galvanized iron, which her father had built for them and they grew much of their own food. Ah Toy remembers walking in to town each day to collect meat and groceries the family could not grow using an old flour bag; she said that her clothes also were made from flour bags. Ah Toy attended Darwin Public School and left when she was 14, in 1931, to become a housemaid for Lyle Tivendale, the Darwin health inspector, in his home at Myilly Point; she worked there for three years and it is here that she met Jimmy Ah Toy, her future husband as he would go there selling vegetables. On 9 November 1936 they married in a Chinese style ceremony and she took his surname. After they married they moved together to Pine Creek where the Ah Toy family had a store and bakery and began working there in the bakery section. Ah Toy had five children of her own (Edward, Laurence, Joyce, Grace and Elaine) and adopted five more. Following the

Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Empire of Japan, Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the ...

she was evacuated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, where Jimmy worked in a munitions factory, before being able to return to Pine Creek in 1945. When she was able to return to Pine Creek she found that the shop had been looted and stripped of anything that could be moved but they started again and reestablished the business. She said of her return: " had land here, and our roots are here". In 1982, Ah Toy graduated from Darwin Community College (now

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

) with an Associate Diploma of Arts (Ceramics) and she was, at that time, their oldest graduate at 65 years of age. Ah Toy died in Darwin on October 15, 2001.

Awards

In 1988, as a part of Bicentennial Celebrations she was honoured as one of eight Northern Territorians who had made a significant contribution to the Northern Territory and, in 1985, Film Australia produced her biography. In 2003, she was honoured in the ''Tribute to Northern Territory Women''.

Resources about

Ah Toy's has two oral history recordings available through

Library & Archives NT Library & Archives NT is the "state" library and archives for the Northern Territory of Australia. It has three venues located in Darwin (on the ancestral lands of the Larrakia people) and Alice Springs (on the land of the Arrernte people). It ...

one recorded by Sandra Saunders in April 1981 (NTRS 3164 BWF 424, NTRS 226 TS 1/2) Jane Bathgate in July 1996 (NTRS 3164 BWF 1771, NTRS 1983 TS 8706). There is also an oral history recording of Ah Toy recorded in December 1982, this was created for the Australia 1938 Oral History Project, at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ah Toy, Lily 1917 births 2001 deaths People from Darwin, Northern Territory 20th-century Australian businesspeople 20th-century Australian businesswomen Australian people of Chinese descent Charles Darwin University alumni