Market gardening
Sydney's market gardens were small-scale businesses which supplied fruit and vegetables.
They were established on cleared but undeveloped land, typically at the outskirts of suburban areas. That meant finding a suitable patch of fertile earth amidst Sydney's characteristic arid sandstone-derived soil, or establishing a garden beside a stream or wetland where flooding over time had deposited arable loam.
The 1892 Chinese/English phrase book, The Self Educator, included words and terms of relevance for 'Vegetableman & Fruiterers'. Among the produce listed that was probably locally-grown were strawberries, watermelons, asparagus, cabbages, celery, onions, potatoes, water cress, lettuce, carrots, spring onions, radishes, pumpkin, cucumbers, turnips and French beans (below page left).
The book carried advertisements for seed suppliers based in Haymarket where the main city markets were located and where Chinese market gardeners were likely to travel to sell their produce. ED Reid and Co. had their shop at 437 Pitt Street, Haymarket while E Horton and Co. were in Hay Street (below page right).
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The earliest Chinese operated market gardens on the lower north shore were established far to the east of the municipality of St Leonards at Shell Cove, Middle Harbour, around 1871. The site became known colloquially as Chinamen's Beach. St Leonards municipality became North Sydney in 1890. From 1893 this was Mosman municipality but by then the gardens had probably been abandoned and the area given over to recreation. In the 1880s at least 10 acres [four hectares] were planted alongside Willoughby Falls Creek, part of present-day Cammeray in North Sydney.
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This photograph shows a Sydney-based Chinese market gardener hand watering his crop with a yoke and two watering cans. It is likely similar methods were used to irrigate fields near Willoughby Falls Creek in Cammeray. Daily Telegraph, 30/12/1913 |
Many Chinese immigrants turned to gardening after gold prospecting, or as a first job if they managed to migrate directly to Sydney in the late 19th century. In NSW and Victoria between 1891 to 1911, as many as 30% earned their living by growing fruit and vegetables. Indeed, the Chinese became synonymous with market gardening and the provision of affordable produce. As the English-born Australian writer Ada Cambridge put it: 'With a poultry yard and a cow, and John Chinaman's vegetables, even a poor parson could live like a prince'. (30 years in Australia, London, 1903, p.75)
This happened for several reasons. The majority of Chinese men came from rural areas and so many possessed horticultural skills. They adapted these to local conditions while prospecting for gold, for the Chinese tended to be self-sufficient. This, itself, was a consequence both of their focus on sending money home and their place as outsiders in a European-dominated society.
This photograph shows a Sydney-based Chinese market gardener hand watering his crop with a yoke and two watering cans. It is likely similar methods were used to irrigate fields near Willoughby Falls Creek in Cammeray (Daily Telegraph, 30/12/1913).
The Chinese were renowned for their work ethic which would see them in the fields from sun-up to sun-down. Their gardening was characterised by physical labour rather than the use of machines. In 1891 it was estimated that gardeners saved up to £60 a year through frugality and hard work; a considerable amount for anyone in a labouring position. Gardening required little capital outlay while allowing economic integration in the existing Chinese community through 'syndicates' and employment agreements formed with established gardeners, landholders, storekeepers and merchants.
Storekeepers might also provide credit or act as bankers for market gardeners. And the Chinese largely employed their own. CF Yong, the pioneering historian of the Chinese in Australia, noted that immigrants often displayed a 'tenacious allegiance' to the counties from whence they had come. (The New Gold Mountain, Richmond, 1977, p.3) Both loyalty and hostility might flow from that.
The merchant, Chen Ah Teak, enlisted up to 50 men to work at various sites including Chinamen's Beach in the far eastern shoreline of what was then the municipality of St Leonards. These men were engaged in Australia rather than recruited from China. From 1879 to 1880 Ah Teak lived in a brick house on Lane Cove Road, not far from the Milsons Point ferry. He briefly owned a neighbouring timber house.
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A Chinese man on what is possibly a North Sydney market garden. The photographer Arthur Syers took several candid pictures of Chinese hawkers in Sydney around 1904. Syers also travelled to North Sydney. Note the rain tank which suggests this house was located away from the mains water piped to the north shore in the 1880s. The man appears to be collecting eggs. State Library of NSW |
Some men did come from China specifically to work in market gardens, despite the taxes levied on each Chinese immigrant in the 1880s. Dr On Lee brought out several men to work on his market gardens to the north of Cammeray in the municipality of Willoughby. In 1888 he ran afoul of his employees when one was allegedly not paid and consequently stole clothing and other items from his employer. The aggrieved, Fong Tack, was tried, found guilty of theft in the St Leonards [later North Sydney] Police Court and sent to gaol. His co-workers then took legal action against On Lee to recover £1000 in unpaid wages they were due.
From 1899, north shore gardeners took their produce to the Belmore Markets at Haymarket in the city via the Blues Point horse ferry. For those from Cammeray or further north, the journey required a pre-dawn start in order to arrive in time for the first morning customers. Travelling in the dark carried with it some risk. In 1903, North Sydney market gardener, Ah Tick, was at Belmore Markets in the Haymarket area by 3.30am. In February of that year he was accosted by a man who attempted to steal produce from his cart ( Discrimination). Many Asian-Australian fruit and vegetable vendors still sell their produce at the famous Paddy's Market in Haymarket.
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