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Wing On Woo & Co.

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DescriptionGeneral store in Marine Terrace, Geraldton, directly opposite the Wesley Church. Established in 1888. In its first year it traded as Wing On Wo & Coy but by December 1890 it was trading as Wing On Woo & Co.Corporate historyWing On Woo & Co. was established by Fong Lang at least by November 1888 in Geraldton (first newspaper advert on 17th November 1888). Lem Chung (aka Charles Lamb) was the Assistant Manager in the Wing On Woo firm in the early years. Mr William Carson was also employed in the firm (later, in 1908, he became the Geraldton Town Clerk). See Tong Fong was a Branch Manager in 1898.

In 1901 Fong Lang's nephew, Sydney Fong, moved to Geraldton (previously in Broome and Perth) and he was employed to assist in the store. In 1903 a newspaper article on 7th October noted that Wing On Woo were growing lucerne "most luxuriently" at their market garden, which was close to Spring Vale at Ridley's swamp about 20 miles northwest of Northampton.

In 1904 Harold Stewart sued Fong Lang for wrongful dismissal. He had been employed as an accountant for the Wing On Woo & Co. in 1903 on a salary of 5 pounds per week. When he was dismissed in January 1904 he claimed that he had been doing the work of a manager and was due unpaid wages. He stated that the annual turnover of the company at that time was between 50,000 and 60,000 pounds.

The business ran as a successful general store for nearly two decades, serving the community of Geraldton. The company made a considerable profit from supplying materials to build the rabbit-proof fence through a middleman in 1905. After Fong Lang returned to China in 1906 the business was slowly wound up and, in 1910, Sydney Fong established a new and larger store at 190-192 Marine Terrace.Alternative titleWing On Wo & CoyDate active1888-1909Address,,Marine Terrace,,Geraldton,,Location^[1]

Person

AH TIN (4)

FONG BEAN Andrew

FONG David

FONG GET ROY

FONG JOE

FONG KING YICK

FONG LANG

FONG Sydney

GANG MING

KING TONG

LEM CHUNG

SEE TONG FONG

Document

AAC-Box-007-8-0346

Ah Tin, Gew Thorne, King Tong 1901-1204

Box-007-Sorb-Box-0278

Box-007-Sorb-Box-0291

Box-007-Sorb-Box-0489

Fong You 1901-2797

Gang Ming 1900-0035

Joseph Fong 1898-0295

Samuel Fong 1901-0458

See Tong Fong 1898-1712

Ephemera

Wing on Wo advert 1889

Newspaper advert for Wing on Woo & Co. on December 20th 1890 (source: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article211273200.4)

Connections

Subject (person)FONG LANGFONG SydneyAH TIN (4)FONG BEAN AndrewFONG DavidFONG GET ROYFONG JOEFONG KING YICKGANG MINGKING TONGLEM CHUNGSEE TONG FONGSubject (place)GeraldtonSubject (topic)Chinese heritage in Western AustraliaRelated collectionAnne Atkinson CollectionCelebrating 200 Years - National Foundation for Australia-China Relations Project

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Wing On Woo & Co.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA