'A sober, industrious law-abiding people':
Chinese market gardeners and storekeepers in North Sydney, 1870-1940

Thousands of Chinese people came to the Australian colony of New South Wales (NSW) in the 50 years between the discovery of gold in 1851 and 1901, when the Commonwealth of Australia was established.

From 1901, entry of any 'non-white' people was made difficult by the Immigration Restriction Act which underpinned what is generally called the White Australia Policy.

Having headed in great numbers to the 'Gold Mountain' of California in 1849, the Chinese called Australia the 'New Gold Mountain'. As in the United States, the general intention was to find gold and return home. Most were men. Their numbers in NSW peaked in 1861 at nearly 13,000, when the population of that colony was 350,860. Race-based hostility from European colonists led to immigration restrictions in the interests of social order. A law passed to that effect in 1861 was repealed in 1867 with the end of the initial gold rush and the consequent reduction in violence and disorder. However, more gold strikes encouraged further arrivals; 15,574 people came to NSW between 1872 and 1881. In that time 8491 left - with or without the treasure they had sought.

'Certificate Exempting From Dictation Test' for Ah Poo who arrived in Sydney in 1894 from Canton and worked as a gardener for two years in North Sydney, 1909. (National Archives of Australia)

There remained around 10,000 Chinese people in NSW. Racial antagonism increased and the Colonial Premier, Henry Parkes, reintroduced legislation to restrict Chinese immigration in 1881. By then the emphasis was on the cultural and 'racial' incompatibility of the Chinese rather than the threat to social order.

In 1885 Parkes became the parliamentary member for the electoral seat of St Leonards – North Sydney today. He campaigned for even greater restrictions on Chinese arrivals in 1888. You can read part of a speech promoting that 'Chinese Bill' that Parkes gave to his constituents in the Centennial Hall, Walker Street, North Sydney, on 26 May 1888. In it the Premier called the Chinese 'a sober law-abiding, industrious people' as he had done in 1881, when he went on to argue that their sheer numbers threatened to 'swamp' the colony. Furthermore, the immigrants' 'willingness' to work for little pay undermined the wages of white colonists. The compliant Chinese would become an underclass in a country that prided itself on egalitarianism. But in St Leonards in 1888 Parkes added another biological dimension to the case against Chinese immigration. The preponderance of Chinese men increased the probability of relationships with 'white' women and therefore 'Asiatic blood' mixing with the 'British type' which Parkes held in almost sacred esteem. The Act for the Restriction of Chinese Immigration was passed in December 1888 and, with its counterparts in the other colonies, foreshadowed the idea of 'White Australia' which defined the new Commonwealth of Australia from 1901.

The Sydney Ferries Limited wharf at Milsons Point was a landmark on Sydney Harbour before the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This gateway would have been familiar to the Chinese gardeners and shopkeepers who worked on the north side but did business in the city on the southern shore. (National Archives of Australia)

This website explores the Chinese community who lived and worked in St Leonards/North Sydney over 70 years - before and after Henry Parkes made his case against them. Most were market gardeners and shopkeepers. Municipal records name at least 60 individuals between the 1870s, when the first reference appears, and the 1930s, when the market gardens had mostly gone and the Chinese shopkeepers had left. Their departure from North Sydney coincides with the consolidation of Chinatown in the city of Sydney and the return of Chinese people to their homeland following the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1920. The community in NSW halved between 1901 and 1933, when just 5870 people of Chinese heritage remained.

North Sydney is often overlooked in broader histories of Sydney. The Chinese have been barely visible in historical accounts of North Sydney itself, which is typically characterised as a place of boat builders, ferry wharves and grand homes with splendid water views. But it was also a place where Chinese people made their lives, often as outsiders. Sometimes they were accepted as a 'sober, industrious and law-abiding people' in the grudging words of their nemesis, Henry Parkes. This website goes some way to writing the Chinese back into North Sydney's history and, in the process, extending the history of Chinese Sydney.