Online exhibition celebrates early Chinese residents in North Sydney

20 September 2024

By Hannah Wilcox

North Sydney Council launched a new online exhibition to commemorate the area’s past contributions of the Chinese community. 

Chinese Market Gardeners and Storekeepers in North Sydney 1870-1932 draws on Council archives, immigration records and contemporary press to bring stories to life. 

It aims to write the Chinese community back into the area’s history and ‘enrich the broader story of Sydney’ – delving into the personal accounts of gardeners and shopkeepers, and how they worked and lived. 

Most of the businesses were found to have been located in a central hub around the modern day Crows Nest area, running down into North Sydney and out into Neutral Bay.

This was along Lane Cove and North Sydney Roads, now Pacific Highway and Willoughby Road.

Some outliers included Chinese-operated gardens and houses on Fairfax Street Mosman, or Chinamans Beach, between 1871 to 1887 as well as shops and residences at 12 Kareela Street Cremorne, owned by James Chuey between 1924 to 1932. 

Curated by historian and author Dr Ian Hoskins, the website’s curation was mainly inspired by North Sydney Council’s property ledgers, Valuation and Rate Books – of which a complete original set of these books from 1867 to 1940 still exists. 

History buffs are able to have supervised viewing of the books at the North Sydney Heritage Centre at Stanton Library, anytime between 1 to 5pm on Monday through Friday.

“Despite the challenges posed by the White Australia ethos, these individuals made their mark on the local area in ways that are only now being fully recognised,” a statement by North Sydney Council reads. 

The announcement came as a part of History Week 2024, which ran from September 7 to 15.

The exhibition can be found at www.chineseinnorthsydney.com.au.