Fight Not Over to Save Chinatown Landmark

BY ANN TOY, INDEPENDENT CURATOR

barrister of Chinese origin, and Arthur an English professor at Amoy University in China. The younger sons, Harry and Norman, managed the Kwong War Chong Company. As the privileged wife of a merchant, Yee See was permitted to migrate from China and stay in Sydney, unlike lower classes of Chinese women. Little is known about her life, or her three Australianborn daughters – Linda, Lucy and Lily. However, this is changing through ongoing research and interviews with descendants.

For the past four years, Chinese community organisations and the National Trust have been fighting to save an important building linked to a previously uncelebrated trove of ChineseAustralian heritage and family stories. The simple Edwardianstyle shop and residential accommodation at 82-84 Dixon Street in Haymarket was headquarters for Kwong War Chong & Company (KWC) and the high-profile Lee family, becoming a commercial and social centre for a large section of the Chinese community in New South Wales.

The site was purchased by Phillip Lee Chun in 1909, making it one of the earliest acquisitions of land by a Chinese person in what would later become Sydney’s Chinatown district. He built a pair of adjoining three-storey buildings, with No. 84 serving as head office and shopfront for the company from 1910 to 1987.

The shop sold a wide array of imported Chinese goods and local produce, and was a distribution point for similar stores across New South Wales and Queensland. Lee’s business acumen also led him to found stores in Hong Kong and the Chinese county of Zhongshan. As a remittance agency and vital service provider, the company also provided financial loans and assistance with correspondence, travel arrangements, Immigration Restriction Act paperwork and taxes; offered migrants short-term accommodation and even arranged for the repatriation of bodies back to China.

From 1910 until the early 1930s, Phillip and his wife, Yee See, resided on the first floor of No. 84 with their eight children. Their sons studied at Sydney University, with Phillip Lee Some graduating in medicine, William becoming Sydney’s first

Stories also continue to emerge about No. 82. Its commercial spaces were leased to other businesses, and an upper floor served for decades as a social club or meeting place for the Xiangyi Long Du Tong Sen Tong – a mutual benevolent society for people from Zhongshan County. Through this clan association, overnight dormitory accommodation was provided to market gardeners travelling into the city. On Sundays, Lee hosted a lunch that allowed them to socialise before returning to their often-isolated homes. In 1971, Eva Lee and Wong So Lin Pang, who lived on-site with their families, opened the famous Hingara Chinese Restaurant. The restaurant closed 46 years later, in 2017, after the property was sold.

Uncertain future

When Elegant Dixon Property Pty Ltd sought permission to demolish the building, the Chinese Australian Historical Society Inc (CAHS) and the Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA) united with the National Trust, and other community organisations, to oppose the plans. They were relieved when the City of Sydney issued an interim heritage order and commissioned an independent heritage assessment by Hector Abrahams Architects. Supported by research from historian Dr Michael Williams, the final report confirmed that the building is highly significant, noting the rare surviving original shopfront and internal fittings, and an extensive in-situ collection of ephemera.

The owners have since submitted a new development application to convert the building for mixed retail use, with space set aside for a museum. Last year, they agreed to provide council with a management plan that incorporated other purposes, such as exhibitions and community meeting rooms. Months after the February 2023 deadline, the plan has still not been submitted. Even more concerning, serious damage is occurring due to water leaking from the damaged roof and windows.

As an Australian of Chinese descent, I believe that nurturing public understanding and engagement with our history and culture is paramount. After 200 years of Chinese settlement in Australia, it is disheartening to discover that so few Chinese-Australian historic buildings, landscapes and collections of material culture have been documented and protected. The Dixon Street building offers a rare opportunity to address this and make more visible important stories relating to the domestic and commercial life of the Chinese diaspora. This extraordinary building is still in jeopardy, and needs your support to ensure its preservation.

For more information on the community campaign for 82–84 Dixon Street, visit the Chinese Australian Historical Society website at chineseaustralianhistory.org