Delving into WA’s Chinese heritage

Courtesy State Library of WA, 047686PD, South Perth, 1928 Chinese Market gardens

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 will also involve a series of podcasts, an exhibition, events and a book.

This series of articles profiles many surprising stories being discovered as part of this history project. 

In this article we examine:

Chinese Market Gardens – ‘Watching the Alien’
by Lucy Hair

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, many Western Australians obtained their fresh vegetables from market gardens operated by Chinese Western Australians. 

Chinese market gardeners traditionally favoured wetlands and swamplands around Perth. These wetlands were the traditional sources of food for Noongar peoples for generations prior to the arrival of British or Chinese immigrants. 

From 1901, various State and Federal laws created barriers for the Chinese community in Western Australia. Tight controls determined that mainly men of a certain age entered Australia and they were often only allowed to stay for a fixed period and were then forced to return to China. Chinese men who worked in Western Australia often had a wife and children living in China. 

Market gardening was a popular occupation for Chinese immigrants, probably because it was an industry which least threatened white labour and capital. According to census figures, there were 109 Chinese men employed in agricultural areas in 1891. By the 1901 census, this figure had increased dramatically to 571 workers. Immigration restrictions introduced from 1901 were effective in slowing the increasing number of Chinese workers. Only 709 Chinese agricultural workers were recorded in the 1911 Census. 

Chinese immigrants leased their gardens as it was almost impossible for them to own land. 

Market gardens appeared in most major population centres throughout metropolitan and rural areas in Western Australia. Gardens were usually managed by a small team of two or three men. Workers were often employed on a casual basis, moving from place to place in accordance with seasonal requirements. Many workers moved between metropolitan and rural areas to obtain a full year’s worth of employment. 

Chinese people dominated the market garden industry, despite attempts to curtail their success. They were scrutinised heavily, often under the guise of health concerns. There were racist suspicions of human excrement being used as a fertiliser. Local councils regularly inspected market gardens for sanitation and hygiene. Newspapers reported these inspections under provocative headlines like, ‘Watching the Alien’. 

Chinese workers had to prove they had entered the country legally. In 1926, Ah Hing who was working on a garden in Guildford was detained on suspicion of being a prohibited immigrant. After failing the dictation test, he was tried and received a four-month sentence. His appeal was heard in the High Court where the Chief Justice likened Ah Hing’s treatment to ‘using a steam hammer to crack a nut’. 

Anti-Chinese sentiment in the late 1890s excluded Chinese growers from selling produce at the Wellington Street and local markets. It was not until 1908 that a market in James Street opened from which Chinese growers could sell their produce. The markets were located near other Chinese business enterprises on the northern side of the railway line in the area now known as Northbridge. 

Many gardeners survived by selling door to door or opening their own grocery shops to sell their produce. The stereotyped image of a horse-drawn cart with a Chinese market gardener selling produce would have been familiar to people at this time.

As restrictive immigration policies actively discouraged Chinese men settling with their families, generational succession was not possible. Most Chinese market gardens failed by the 1920s and the influence of Chinese market gardens waned after this time.

The Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage project database contains biographical entries on many of the hundreds of Chinese market gardeners known to have worked in Western Australia from the 1880s through to the 1920s.

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.