Six generations gather

More than 150 members of the Sew Hoy family gather in Stafford St during the Sew Hoy family...
More than 150 members of the Sew Hoy family gather in Stafford St during the Sew Hoy family reunion walking tour on Saturday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
After nearly 250 descendants of New Zealand Business Hall of Fame importer and gold miner Choie Sew Hoy congregated in Dunedin at the weekend to celebrate the sesquicentennial of his arrival in the city, plans are beginning to take shape for the next clan gathering.

This time, perhaps, 9590km away in Guangzhou, China.

There are just eight generations of Sew Hoys - the name, now indelible in Dunedin's history, was adopted by the family's forebear after 19th century European New Zealanders mistook his given name as his family name.

But the Choie family has much deeper roots in southern China.

Marcus Sew Hoy, an Otago Boys' High School and University of Otago alumnus and now Singapore currency trader, said the reunion's organising committee had already been approached by family members who wanted to help organise the family's fourth reunion.

"That's what a lot of the talk is about, the next one being in Guangzhou itself so [family] can go and visit his hometown and graves," he said.

But over this weekend the family had already become better connected.

"Choie Sew Hoy had six children so we did generational photos. And there are family members that I'd never seen before, and vice versa. A lot of [reunion attendees] came down and said we only know the three of us here."

Among the highlights of the family's third reunion over the weekend was a Saturday walking tour of the city that included stops in Stafford St where Choie Sew Hoy established his first warehouse, documentary film screenings at the University of Otago's Castle Lecture Theatre, and visits to Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Dunedin Chinese Gardens.

Yesterday, Toitu Otago Settlers Museum curator and historian Sean Brosnahan visited the reunion to give a talk about the family's history.

Six generations of the Sew Hoy family took part in the reunion at the weekend.

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