Page 64 - Tropic Magazine Issue 34

TROPIC • CAIRNS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Bold and brave

REGIONAL HISTORY

The civilian life of one of Cairns’
most decorated war heroes
reflected his conduct on the
battle ground.

‘Never-failing fearlessness, resource and
initiative’ was how Caleb Shang’s citation
for a Distinguished Conduct Medal
(DCM) described his actions
in WWI. He was awarded the medal
as a runner in Belgium’s Messines
Ridge, during which he carried food,
water and ammunition to the front line
through barrages and fire-swept areas.
Subsequently, he was decorated with 2
The Bar to the DCM and the Military
Medal for his bravery in Villers Buick-Six car – the latest model –
Bretonneux, France, where he’d crawled which he hired out until it was destroyed CHINESE GAMBLING GAMES
out under fire to reconnoitre enemy in a fire. He was also into racing
positions, successfully establishing a motorboats, winning the 1922 Lucas Fan-tan
forward observation post and directing Trophy in his 20-foot motor launch Similar to roulette, players place
artillery fire onto German positions. Fitzroy which disappeared from its bets on a number, 1 to 4.
The medals made Caleb Shang the mooring later that year. At the time, The dealer covers a random
country’s most decorated Chinese Caleb Shang was also advertising himself group of more than 200 buttons
Australian war hero. After being shot in in local newspapers as a Chinese herbalist and then removes four until
the leg, he returned to Cairns amid much with ‘all complaints successfully treated’. 1, 2, 3 or 4 remain.
fanfare as well as a bulging testimonial His survival skills came to the fore in 1925, Pakapu
fund set up to assist him resume when he and his brother Fred – one of A form of lottery played with
civilian life. 13 siblings – spent three days drifting in slips of paper marked with
Over the next few years, Caleb (who was the Coral Sea without food or water after columns of characters.
known as Charlie) forked out £400 for a their fishing boat engine died.

The big guns in law enforcement were
sent up from Brisbane but despite
numerous raids on both land and sea,
An attempt was made to they could never find any evidence.
row to the land, but after It was thought Caleb was paying off local
customs officials
10 hours they made no and police, who gave them tip-offs.
headway and being in an During the 1930s, though, Caleb received
numerous convictions for operating
exhausted condition gave illegal gambling dens in the
up the attempt Chinese quarters of Sachs Street,
now Grafton Street. The following decade,
Cairns Post, 1925 aged in his 50s, he reenlisted in the
Australian Army when WWII broke out,
serving in the voluntary Defence Corps.
They were eventually rescued by a passing He died in 1953 and is buried in Martyn
launch. Curiously, Caleb and his brothers Street Cemetery.
were then also suspected of
importing opium. Large quantities were
1
being brought into north Queensland In partnership with the
from China and sent south by train and a Cairns Historical Society
1. Caleb Shang. Credit: Australian War Memorial customs official claimed it was ‘common
2. Caleb, his wife Anna and daughter Delta at the talk that the Shangs were making a
only Anzac Day March he attended in 1943. MORE: cairnsmuseum.org.au
Credit: Cairns Historical Society fortune out of opium’.

64 • Tropic • Issue 34