hassin dicton

(1874-1927)

Hassin ‘Frank’ Dicton arrived in WA some time in the 1880s. He was the fifth son of William and Catherine Dicton, of Penang in the Straits Settlements; a group of territories located in Southeast Asia, originally colonised by the British (1826) and controlled by the British East India Company. They were split under British control in 1867 and although English was the official language, many other languages were spoken.

Dicton became well known in Fremantle as an Interpreter. He spoke ‘splendid English’, Japanese and Chinese, and often acted as intermediary, some might say ‘informer’ between the Police, Customs and Chinese speaking people in Fremantle. (reference)

Moon Chow was the first recorded Chinese immigrant to arrive on the Emily Taylor, in Fremantle in 1829. He became a well-known boat builder and carpenter. (reference) Later, Chinese immigration became very strictly controlled. In the early days of the colony there was a shortage of skilled labourers so Chinese men were brought in as indentured labourers under the Imported Labour Registry Act (1874-1898). Private merchants in Fremantle usually acted with agents in Singapore to bring in the Chinese ‘coolies’, who often had to endure sub-standard conditions while waiting to be sent to work in the pastoral areas in the North-west. In one case- in April 1881, 35 labourers were accommodated in the old whaling establishment at Fremantle while waiting for boats to take them to Cossack. The building was described by the Fremantle Resident Magistrate as ‘ruinous and unfit as a place of shelter' and the men had no bedding and became sick. The Colonial Surgeon A.F. Waylen recommended they receive medical attention and be moved to a place less exposed to the weather. The local agent responsible for the maintenance of Chinese until they were handed to their employer was W.D. Moore, who denied any wrongdoing. (Atkinson p 61)

Most Chinese labourers were prohibited from bringing their families with them and this exclusion of Chinese women led to lives of loneliness and hardship for Chinese men. A few, such as Hassin married European women- but this was a small minority. Gambling, visiting prostitutes and opium smoking were the main ways the men distracted themselves from their lonely lives. Physical assaults against Chinese people were also common- one carried out as early as 1880 in Fremantle (Atkinson p 101)

When Responsible Government arrived in 1890 there was a marked increase in anti-Chinese sentiment. In 1901 one of the first acts of the newly formed Federal Parliament was the Immigration Registration Act, the basis of the White Australia policy, which effectively excluded Asians from immigrating to Australia. The punishing 1904 Factory Act was also passed in an attempt to curb the hours worked by Chinese businesses; Asiatics were unable to work before 8:00am or after 5:00pm- so in summer Chinese bakeries and laundries would have to work during the hottest part of the day. Factories also had use an 'Asiatic labour' stamp, to deter consumers from purchasing Asian made products. Employing 2 or more Asiatics classified a business as a factory and all such factories were required to pay an annual registration fee of £5.

…Fear and prejudice by locals often gave rise to harsh living conditions, society isolation, despair and loneliness within the Chinese community. It was against this background that the Chung Wah Association was formed in 1910. (reference)

However as early as 1895 there is mention of a Chinese Club in Packenham St, Fremantle. (reference) Upstairs was often used to smoke opium and it was also raided for being a ‘gaming’ house. (reference)

In January 1887, the Fremantle Club engaged five Chinese on two year contracts. All were originally from Hainan Island. (See Atkinson p 230). Other Chinese cooks in hotels or restaurants were engaged as temporary or casual labour -for only a few weeks or months at a time.

The language barrier was difficult for many Chinese Immigrants and they were forced to rely on interpreters- whose impartiality could not always be trusted. It was not until 1899 that the government acknowledged the need for a ‘small gratuity’ for the services of an interpreter to deal with legal and immigration matters. (Atkinson p 105)

This may have been because of a scandal associated with a ‘Chinese interpreter’ Mr Edward Teaguer, who worked in Perth in 1898. (reference) Teaguer (1865-) had been charged with perjury in Melbourne, while working as a Chinese interpreter in 1893 and served 2 years in prison. After discharge in 1894 he married Gertrude Pearce and moved to WA. In 1899 Teaguer was charged with obtaining what we would call ‘protection money’ from Ah Cooey, who ran a gambling house in Perth. (reference)

In Sept 1898 it seemed another Chinese interpreter, Mr Frederick George Washing (Wah Shing 1871-1906) was used instead of him- and Teaguer was most put out- writing a letter to the paper to complain. (reference) The Wah Shings, immigrants to the goldfields in Ararat, Victoria, moved to Perth around 1899 and established a cabinet-making business- Washing Bros. in Murray Street, East Perth, specialising in high quality gramophones.

Fred Wah Shing and Teaguer (now described as half-caste), continued to be enemies until they joined forces in 1902 to run a bigger ‘protection racket’ in King St, Perth. (reference) In Dec 1902 Frederick Washing, and his brothers Ernest Washing (aka Ah Wit 1879-1936) and Alfred Washing (aka Ah Tim 1869-1935), attempted to take over what had been a ‘gambling den’ in King St and were attacked in the street by a group of Chinese men. This was dubbed “The King St Fracas – Chinese versus half-castes”… (reference) Both sides charged the other side with attempted murder and finally the court decided that there had been “a free fight, and that equal blame rested on both sides”. (reference)

Washing acted as an interpreter for a case brought against Ping King -a raid on a gaming house in Fremantle, in Sept 1903 ( reference) and was still working in 1906- although by now the court employed two interpreters to keep watch on each other. (reference) Washing died aged 34, in 1906. You can read more about the history of Charles Washing, his extraordinary family, and furniture business in David Kennedy’s book Charles Washing & Racist Furniture, 2021 (link)

HASAN DICTON (aka HASSAN, ASSAN DICKEN, DICTON HASSAM), arrived in WA in 1873 and found work as a Cook at Guildford in 1888. (Ref: Atkinson C) He moved to Fremantle the year after.

Hassin first appears in court records on 18 April 1889:

At the Fremantle Police court Hassin Dicton, a Chinaman was charged with assaulting Jim Swee Liong, another Chinaman, by striking him on the face. (reference)

In 1891 ‘Hassen’ Dicton was charged with loitering in High-street (reference) and from 1893 Dicton was constantly in Fremantle Court for not paying debts to local shopkeepers- perhaps he ran a mixed grocery shop? He seemed to make it a habit never to actually defend his cases: 9 Aug- Geo. Headley v H. Dicton, (reference), 28 August- Higham & Sons v Dicton (reference), 31 Oct- J. McKimmie v Dicton (reference), 15 Dec- Thomas Smith v. Hassan Dicton (reference)

On 18 January 1894 the Bailiff called an auction at the shop of Hassin Dicton in Pakenham St – all his stock-in-trade was to be sold. (reference)

He continued to be chased for debts from 1894 until May 1899 when a particularly serious case; E. Motais v. Hassin Dicton 11s.6d. (reference) saw him arrested and held in Fremantle Gaol for 7 days, in default of paying the fine £1 3s. 6d. (reference)

In 1897 Hassin Dicton married Martha Catherine Jones (1873- 1947) in Fremantle. Martha, born in Fremantle to Irish father William Jones and mother Mary Young. They had married in Belfast in 1849 and arrived in WA in 1870. The family lived in Attfield St and Martha had 7 siblings.

At that time there were few Chinese women in Perth. Census figures for 1901 show 18 women of Chinese nationality in the whole of WA. European wives of Chinese men, such as Martha and Elizabeth Gipp, the wife of Charlie Ah You, and their children, added to the size of the local community. (reference)

Hassin and Martha had 5 children: Stewart Frank Dicton (snr) (1899-1975), Evelyn May (1901-1973), Kenneth Aubrey (1904-1949), Mervyn Young (1908-1961) and Gordon Gilbert (1912-1971)

In 1898 Dicton was charged two more small misdemeanors… (reference) (reference), in 1899 with tricking a local Japanese Boarding house owner, Mr Okawa ( reference) and in October 1899 achieved some notoriety in Fremantle after he was shot by accident, by the barman of the Oddfellows Hotel (see photo): 

PLAYING WITH FIREARMS. A BARMAN SHOOTS A COOK. Some excitement was caused in Fremantle this morning when it became noised abroad that 'Dick' Neale, the barman of the Oddfellows' Hotel, South Terrace, had shot the cook of that establishment. From inquiries instituted, it has been ascertained that the whole thing was purely accidental… The billiard marker at the hotel, Julien D. Eatker, made the following statement: “Last night the 'buttons' at the Hotel Fremantle sold me an airgun… Dick wanted to have the next shot, so I pushed back the spring, loaded the air-chamber, placed the slug in position, and handed him the gun. 'Dick,' seeing the cook in the back yard, ran out towards the kitchen, and the next thing that I heard was that the cook had been shot in the neck by 'Dick’. Mrs. Nellie Neale said: ''My husband did not know the thing was loaded. Shortly before the accident he saw the cook, who is called Hassan Dicton, and called out, 'I say, chef, when will you have my breakfast ready?' and the cook said. 'I will have it ready soon for you, Mr. Neale’. Dick replied, 'All right, hurry up'. My husband then got the gun from the billiard-marker Julien, and, not knowing that it was loaded, ran towards the kitchen, and saying 'Now, then, hurry up, chef, or I will shoot you’ -pointed the gun at Hassan, and inadvertently pulled the trigger, the bullet striking the cook in the neck. Hassan did not appear, to be much injured, and wanted some of us to pick the slug out with a knife, but Dick at once rang for Dr. White, who, on arrival, examined the wound and ordered the cook to go to his surgery, where he would operate on him.' Sergeant Woods subsequently arrested Richard Neale on a charge of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Hassan Dicton. Neale was placed in the lock-up, bail being refused. Dr White, who extracted the slug, said 'The man Hassan has a very weak heart, and there is at present a danger of his collapsing from shock or excitement. He has had a very narrow escape as it is. The slug passed into the neck within the sixteenth of an inch of the carotoid artery, any puncture of which, by even such a small slug would probably have been fatal. The man is at present very far from well’. When Sergeant Woods went to visit the wounded chef he found him lying in Dr. White's in a semi-comatose state. The sergeant asked him what had happened, and the man answered, 'Dick, he shoot me. He want me hurry up with breakfast.' The man could say, no more, but, half faintly, turned over in bed, and the doctor would not allow the police officer any further conversation with him. (reference)

The case was dismissed when Dicton informed the police that he thought the barman was only ‘larking’ when he pointed the gun at him. (reference) It was soon after, in 1909 that Hassin held a Certificate of Domicile.

It seemed that at around this time Dicton first began work as an Interpreter for the local Police and Customs department. Customs authorities were concerned about Chinese men who arrived at Fremantle. Many of these bore the appearance of ‘new chums’, smuggled illegally into local market gardens, and unable to speak English or pass the English dictation test.

1899. The government assented to paying an interpreter, H. Dicton, a gratuity of £5 after he had asked for some funding as a `favour' as he was dealing with all Chinese and Japanese entries and departures at Fremantle for which he received no payment. (Atkinson footnote 88) (reference)

From 1903- 1916 the Dicton family lived at 8 Davis St, Beaconsfield.

Hassin was rarely out of trouble.

In October 1906 along with Ah Moy, George Gorklet, Jimmy Dixon, Lim Ah Lee, Ho Ah Ching, Georgie, Ah Boo, and Bert Lee- Dicton was charged with having been found in a common gaming-house in Fremantle, without lawful excuse. (reference)

This was most likely in the west end of Fremantle, where the Chinese community met, not only in the Chinese laundries in Pakenham St but also at the Chinese Club in Leake St, which was regularly raided by the Police. (reference)

On 1 August 1908- Dicton acted as an interpreter for Mr Frank G Unmack but he was also a witness:

Hassan Dicton, Chinese interpreter, remembered during February last having paid a visit to the steamer Charon, then at Victoria Quay. He noticed the accused coming ashore with other Chinamen, and saw Inspector Smith, of the Immigration Department, speak to the accused on the wharf. Witness next saw the accused at the garden of Quong Fat and Ah Yung (see photo), at Bibra Lake, and subsequently accompanied Sergeant Hopkins and Inspector Smith to the garden and pointed out the accused. Ah Yung on seeing witness with the officers, said to witness in Chinese, "If you bring officers here to catch my new chums I'll chop your head off."

He recognised the accused as a ‘new chum’ when he first saw him near the Charon, owing to the fact that all Chinese regular sailors from the steamers were members of the Fremantle Chinese Club of which he (witness) was a member.

This left him opened to being questioned as to being an informer:

Mr. Hourigan: Is it not a fact that you are continually informing on your countrymen, and receiving money from the police for per services? Witness replied that he had been paid for his information on two or three occasions by the police. He had a regular income of £6 weekly for rent, and about £4 weekly additional as a commission agent. (reference)

Six months later in Feb 1909, Dicton was held in remand at Fremantle Prison for 8 days before being bailed on a charge of Fraud (reference) :

Hassan Dicton, a well-known Chinese interpreter at the Port- It is alleged that by means of a fraudulent trick he obtained from a Chinaman named Lee Kee the sum of £12 12s. 6d. (reference)

In May 1909 A gambling raid took place and 25 Chinese people were arrested in Bannister St. Dicton was suspected of tipping off the Police and in revenge, a day later, he was badly beaten up at the Chinese Club. (reference)

In a subsequent court case brought against the perpetrators-sailors on the Paroo, Dictions’ lawyer Mr. F Unmack asked that half the fine be paid to Dicton. He said “My client did not supply the information to the police which brought about the raid, and therefore he has suffered unduly”… The sailors’ fines were duly paid by the agents waiting to take the ship to Singapore. (reference) 

In February 1911 Dicton faced court over an allegation of attempted bribery:

Hassan Dicton asked a taxi driver James McShane to say that he didn't recognise Wing Ah Kee as the man he took up to Perth and brought back. He said “I’ll give you a fiver, and I'll give you another fiver after the case”… It seemed that he acted alongside Albert Washing (also now a Chinese interpreter) to cover up the smuggling of  Chinese stowaways from the Mindaroo and Charon… (reference)

In April 1911 Dicton gave evidence against Customs Officers Bryant and Smith. The complexity of a Customs officer’s job was described in this article and Dicton was described as ‘unreliable’… (reference)

Nov 1912 Dicton’s reputation was further questioned and Frank Unmack refused to use Dicton’s services again as an interpreter. ( reference) Others said:

“Hassan Dicton, whose loyalty can hardly be depended on, a man who runs with the hare and hunts with hounds. A few months ago it suited Hassan Dicton to betray three of his countrymen to Farrell and Pickett. The officers shadowed the Chinese over some sandhills out at South Fremantle and finally came upon them after they had boarded a tram at the terminus. The Chinese were arrested and searched, but nothing was found on them and they were allowed to go…” (reference)

In 1920 an ‘Ashton’ Dicton acted as an interpreter in a case involving an opium raid at no 10 Bannister St, Fremantle (reference)

During the early 1920s he acted as a Commission Agent in Fremantle. In 1924 the Department of Immigration issued an order that he was not to be used as an interpreter as he was suspected of conspiring to make a false statement with a suspected prohibited immigrant. (Ref: Atkinson G)

 In 1920 Hassin’s first grandchild was born to his son Stewart (reference)

25 Sept 1922  Silver Wedding Anniversary- DICTON-JONES, On August.26, 1897, at the bride's residence, South-street, Fremantle, by the Rev R. Hanlin, Frank Hanin Dicton, fifth son of the late William and Catherine Dicton, of Penang, Straits Settlements, to Martha Catherine Jones, fifth daughter of the late William and Mary Jones, of Fremantle. Present address, 67 Skinner-street, Fremantle. (reference)

1925 Living at 41 Tuckfield St ( occupation – Interpreter)

Oct 1926

When Mr. Hassen Dicton, the Port's well-known Chinese interpreter, gets up in the Local Court and puts complicated English into some simple Asiatic dialect, few if any, of the spectators would give a correct guess as to his age. He landed in Fremantle over 60 years ago, and will celebrate his 80 th birthday shortly (sic). Looks good for many years ahead in the useful service of telling the puzzled Chinese how much be must pay for smuggling opium or playing fan-tan. (reference)

March 1927 Dicton was acting as an interpreter in what would become his last job- a murder case involving a Sue War, who was accused of having wilfully murdered Ah Poy, at Bibra Lake:

“The proceedings were prolonged by the evidence given by Dicton, an interpreter, who was taken by the detectives to Bibra Lake on the night of the tragedy. Because of this witness's excitable nature the Coroner, counsel, and examining sergeant had difficulty in distinguishing evidence from comment. Eventually Dicton was ordered by the Coroner to confine his evidence to what was said by the Chinamen concerned while he was acting as interpreter. Sue War sat unmoved during the whole of the evidence, but showed a little amusement when Dicton's loquacity earned the displeasure of the Coroner.” (reference)

 Frank Hassen Dicton died 16 April 1927, aged 65 years, in Fremantle

“Frank Hassen, dearly beloved husband of Martha Kathleen, and father of Stewart, Evelyn, Kenneth, Mervyn, and Gordon”. (reference) 

 In 1943 Martha lived at 104 Forrest street, Fremantle, until she died 1 Dec 1947, aged 74. She was buried in Fremantle Cemetery with Hassin.

In Nov 1927 fifty Chinese men from Hong Kong were found by customs officers in the ballast tank of the Almkerk. They had payed people smugglers for passage from Singapore to Fremantle and had been promised work on arrival. (See photo)

The 'White Australia' policy officially only ended in 1973.

Researched by David Dowley and Jo Darbyshire. Written by Jo Darbyshire Dec 2021.

Any further information welcomed. Contact Jo- jo@museumofperth.com.au

References: Anne Atkinson's Dictionary (Bicentennial Vol V - Asian Immigrants to WA)- (C): Colonial Secretary's Office Records (CSO), 1842-1900. (Acc 527: Battye Library, Alexander Library Building, WA) and (G): Records of the Department of Immigration. (Department of Immigration, W.A. Branch, General Correspondence. PP 6/1: Australian Archives, W.A. Branch).

Atkinson, Anne, `Chinese Labour and Capital in Western Australia, 1847 – 1947, PhD thesis submitted to Murdoch University, 1991 (LINK)
1905 Photo of Ah You (left) and N. Pung, Chinese sailors, SLWA 009788PD and 1905 Photo of, Chong Sium Li and Ah Yung, Chinese sailors SLWA 009713PD