Late on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 26th, 1930, Luoi Quay, the then oldest identity of the Central West, died.
He was known locally as ‘Laffie ‘ because of his ever jovial disposition.
On 10 April 1930, The Queenslander published ‘Laffie’s’ orbituary, ending with words that would probably not be used today but which would have been a great compliment for an immigrant at the time.
'Laffie' was only a Chinaman but he had a whiteman's heart.
The week before, Laffie had complained of not feeling too well, and said he had the dengue fever and could not eat.
When he was absent from his usual beat for a couple of days the matter was reported to the police.
A constable went out to the hut and found Laffie very ill.
Sergeant Davies then went out to Laffie’s and found him in a weak condition.
He found nothing at the camp in the way of edibles on his arrival but a bit of flour, rice, and dried fish.
‘Laffie’ said he had eaten nothing for five days.
The Sergeant brought the old man into town on Wednesday morning by car and took him to the hospital. He died later that day.
Who was 'Laffie'?
‘Laffie’ was generally acknowledged as a wonderful old man. He claimed to be 102 years of age. He spoke very good English, but was quite uneducated and could neither read or write.
Laffie was perfectly sensible and coherent to the last.
He told Sergeant Davis he arrived In Australia from China in 1845 when he was 17 years of age.
Where was he born?
He did a lot of prospecting and made money. It was an accepted fact in the early days of Barcaldine that Laffie had a quantity of precious stones, gold, and jewellery, which gradually disappeared.
On the day he was brought into town he had £60 in notes on his person; he banked over £40 of this and kept the balance. He told the Sergeant some of his countrymen knew where he had money planted. The police found several lots of silver and copper after his death.
Laffie told the Sergeant he was with a Chinese party in the Cooktown district before the advent of the whiteman, and was pioneer of a Chinese early settlement on the Palmer. The Palmer River goldfields failed in the late 1870s and hundreds of Chinese left and went South, among them being the Ah Foo and Young Sing families, who settled in Springsure.
How did he come to live in Barcaldine?
Laffie said he was ten years at Springsure, nine years at Emerald, and five years at Clermont before he went west.
He started a garden at Lagoon Creek at Barcaldine three years before the line reached the town where he remained until his death.
‘Laffie’ lived on his garden on the Alice at the old Cooperative Settlement, four miles from town. He came into town daily with his horse and cart.
The cart was drawn by a horse described to be ‘as ancient as himself’.
He was a great supporter of football and never missed a match. The local footballers called him their mascot.
Big Footy Fan
Like many of his countrymen ‘Laffie’ was of a generous disposition. An example of his generosity was when a child would ask him for a bit of fruit, an apple or banana would be handed over with a laugh. He was, however, not known as a push-over – he would be not imposed upon.
Laffie apparently never appeared to become aged or decrepit.
'He had not a grey hair on his head, and his sight was perfect'.
The old man claimed to be Church of England, so arrangements were made for him to be interred by Rev. K. V. Burrowes. M.A., at 1.30 p.m. on the following day, Thursday afternoon.
