51 Lane Cove Road Case Study

In the space of eight years, 51 Lane Cove Road housed five Chinese storekeepers. Each supplied the residents of North Sydney with various goods. The store itself was the final shop in the row, almost reaching the southern corner of Berry Street. Anthony Ebert leased the premises from James Wheeler, who owned a string of properties along the road. Ebert did not use the lot himself, but opened the door to occupants selling their wares. None of his Chinese occupants stayed longer than two years.

A one room wooden building stood at Number 51 when Shew Tey War set up shop in 1886. On arrival, he was the third Chinese vendor in the short row of shops. Next door, at 49 Lane Cove Road, Ah Ling Sam sold his wares. Three doors down, War Sing worked at 45 Lane Cove Road. With such close proximity, these Chinese men likely formed a small community, fostering working

He added a second room to the small building, while constructing another identical two room store alongside it. This gave his tenants space to live, as well as work. After completion in 1889, two separate businesses worked from the stores. Yee Hop, who previously worked next door at Number 49, ran the first. Sing Tack occupied the second. They both left within the year.

With no occupants using the space in 1890, Ebert moved in for a year before Wang Ling set up shop twelve months later in 1891. While he traded from the store, a hotel serving drinks to patrons stood directly across the road. In the evenings, as he closed the store, the raucous of the pub rang out along the sleepy road. Whether or not it was the nightly noise that influenced Wang Ling to move, he too left after one year.

Ah Tong was the last short term Chinese occupant of the store. The hotel still operated across the road, and new Chinese vendors had moved into Numbers 45 and 49. He sold goods there from 1892-1894, before shutting shop and moving