The ‘Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage Project’ at UWA takes a biographical approach by weaving snippets from historical sources to uncover stories about Chinese people who came to Western Australia.
In addition to a publicly accessible research portal, the project also involves a series of podcasts, an exhibition, events and a book.
This series of articles profiles many surprising stories discovered and recorded as part of this history project.
This month we examine: See Sing & Co.: a pioneer Chinese-Australian business in Remote WA
by Benjamin Smith & Yu Tao
If you had wandered through Cossack – a town nearly 1,500 kilometres north of Perth – in the late 19th century, you would have been hard-pressed to miss See Sing & Co. Founded in 1888, this Chinese-Australian enterprise was more than just a shop in a regional settlement; it was a crucial hub for traders and workers in one of Western Australia’s most isolated regions.
Founded by See Sing and Yee Ah Chan, the company started as a modest general store but quickly became an essential local hub for goods and services. Its success was built on adaptability and strong community ties, alongside everyday necessities and imported Chinese goods.
The store sourced fresh produce from Chinese market gardeners, who were among the few able to cultivate vegetables in the harsh conditions of the northwest. It also served as a meeting place and a support network for Chinese immigrants navigating life in a foreign land.
Expanding beyond Cossack, the company later established stores in Roebourne and Broome, operating under various names, including Kwong, Sing & Co. and later Jock Sing & Co. These businesses catered to a growing population engaged in the pearling and pastoral industries. However, running operations in such remote areas came with significant challenges.
In 1898, a powerful cyclone devastated Roebourne, destroying See Sing & Co.’s warehouse and storerooms. Despite this setback, the company adapted, relocating its headquarters from Cossack to Roebourne as regional trade patterns evolved.
As the company evolved, so did its leadership. The original founders eventually handed control to a new generation, including figures like Fong Ham and Fong Warley, who took over in the early 1900s. By this time, See Sing & Co had become a well-structured enterprise with a British company secretary, A. Fletcher, handling legal and financial matters in Perth. The business was thriving, with an annual turnover of up to £14,000 in the 1920s—a significant sum for the time.
Despite its success, the company struggled against increasing restrictions imposed by the White Australia Policy. The transition to a third generation of managers, including Fong Hing and Kwong Sam Kee, proved particularly difficult. Both had worked in a Cantonese apothecary before coming to WA and were trained as shop assistants within the company. However, their residency in Australia was constantly challenged by immigration authorities, who forced the company to repeatedly justify their presence. Extensive paperwork, annual renewal applications, and bureaucratic hurdles made running the business an uphill battle.
The company adopted strategic workarounds, such as rotating names on official documents to navigate restrictions on the number of Chinese employees legally allowed to stay in Australia. While Perth-based officials, acknowledging See Sing & Co.’s economic significance to the remote WA towns it served, often lobbied in its favour, federal authorities in Melbourne remained resolute in enforcing exclusionary immigration policies. As a result, sustaining the business became increasingly unfeasible, and by the late 1920s, See Sing & Co. vanished from official records.
Though See Sing & Co. eventually disappeared, its impact on the region endured. The Broome store continued operating under different ownership and remains a part of the town’s Chinese heritage today. While Cossack became a ghost town, traces of See Sing & Co.’s presence – preserved in archival records, business documents, and community memories passed down through generations – stand as reminders of the challenges and contributions of early Chinese entrepreneurs in some of the most remote towns in Western Australia.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore the UWA research database and other aspects of the project at: www.chinesewa.net/.
As research material is being added constantly, the project team would love to hear from anyone with information about early Chinese migrants.
