Digging in the Garden

Ah Teu was charged by the Redan police for digging in the garden on a Sunday in October 1879.

Sunday work was not permitted in Victoria in the 1870s, very different from the society that we now live in: "STRAINING THE LAW - Ah Teu, a Chinese gardener, was charged at the instance of the Redan police with having carried on his usual business avocations on Sunday. Defendant resides in the Redan neighborhood, and had on the day in question been seen by the police in the act of digging in his garden. The charge was a very trumpery one, which should not have been brought into court. After some goody-goody remarks by Mr Robert Lewis from the bench the case was very properly dismissed."