[2] He later described witnessing many of the thousands of fellow Chinese immigrants dying in the harsh labor conditions of railway construction.
[3][5] Walter Smith recalled his visits there and said it was a time of great excitement for his as a boy and that Hong had the best garden in the area; he said that "fresh fruit and vegetables were not a luxury so much as a necessity for good health".
[3]Ada, who before the move had been working as a governess at Ryan Well, struggled to adapt to life in a Chinese village and is reported to have died during World War II in China.
His other children did return with Dempsey coming back to work on Thursday Island and in Darwin where he died while still a young man.
When he died, the Centralian Advocate described his passing as marking a milestone in local history:[2] Even those who did not know Ah Hong personally, felt that he was somehow indestructable, that he was in affinity with the early heroic days in the north of Australia.
[9] A short biography of Hong was written by Alice Springs based historian Adele Purvis and is available as a part of NTRS 1/P1 at Library & Archives NT.