SS Ventnor doco ‘lacks respect’
In 1902, the body of Jenny Sew Hoy Agnew’s ancestor, Choie Sew Hoy, was lost at sea.
Now, 118 years later, the Project Ventnor Group and Definitive Productions claim to have found Sew Hoy’s remains while filming a documentary, along with those of 500 other Chinese gold miners.
But Sew Hoy Agnew says the disruption of the wreck is disrespectful, and the family read about the discovery of the bodies in the media.
Her great-great grandfather Choie Sew Hoy was a well-known Chinese merchant, originally from the Guangdong province, who arrived in Dunedin via California and Australia in 1869.
He helped organise the repatriation of the bodies of those who died in the goldfields.
In a sad twist of fate, he died in 1901, and ended up on the very repatriation ship he had organised, the SS Ventnor.
The ship left Westport in 1902 but sank off the Hokianga Heads after striking a reef near Taranaki.
Sew Hoy Agnew said the family was not aware the bodies had been found until last week, despite the discovery being made in May.
‘‘If someone disturbed your parents, or your ancestors’ graves, you would be quite put out, wouldn’t you? It’s a lack of respect.’’
The bodies were being returned to China to be buried in a place for their families to visit them for Ching Ming, a festival held each April to honour the dead. That ceremony included burning incense, laying flowers, and bowing – something Sew Hoy Agnew said the family did at Hokianga every year.
While she was aware of some family members who wanted to see the bodies returned to China, she would prefer
they were left to ‘‘rest in peace’’.
Her ancestor was a respected member of the Dunedin community and in 2017, he was inducted into the New Zealand business hall of fame, recognising him as an important businessman in 19th-century New Zealand.
Despite his standing, he still experienced day-to-day racism. Sew Hoy Agnew said the family was aware of one incident where he was spoken to in pidgin English because it was assumed he was unable to speak the language. He responded in perfect English.
He felt it was his responsibility to return the bodies of miners to China, successfully doing so with a repatriation ship in 1883.
‘‘One of the brilliant things that Choie Sew Hoy said throughout his life, he said any of the miners who are repatriated who have no resting place
can be buried with me and I will look after them. It was just an irony that he was on the Ventnor.’’
Sew Hoy Agnew, along with her husband, Trevor Agnew, has written a book on the life of Choie Sew Hoy called Merchant, Miner, Mandarin: The Life And Times Of The Remarkable Choie Sew
Hoy, which was released this month. A police spokesperson told Stuff they had not been made aware of the discovery of the remains.
Project Ventnor chairman John Albert was approached for comment.
When the discovery was announced, Albert defended the documentary, saying he had ‘‘every legal right’’ to film the ship, and he had contacted senior members of the New Zealand Chinese Association about the find.