Wing Sang & Co

In 1892, Ma Ying Piu together with fellow villagers from Zhongshan including Ma Wing Chan, George Kwok Bew and James Hing Choy formed Wing Sang & Co., based in Haymarket, Sydney, a company that was engaged in wholesaling and retailing fruit and vegetables. 

Wing Sang Campbell Street Building 2017

Image Courtesy of: Denis Byrne

Originally, the company imported bananas from northern Queensland, especially from Chinese growers in Cairns and Townsville. In 1902 a joint venture company ‘Sang On Tiy & Co’ was formed with two other Chinese fruit merchants in Sydney, Wing On & Co (established 1897) and Tiy Sang & Co (established 1893). They acquired a 350-acre piece of land near Suva in Fiji to develop as a banana plantation. 

The bananas imported from Fiji by ‘Sang On Tiy’ were distributed to fruit shops in Sydney and regional NSW. From 1902 the company imported at least 2000 bunches of bananas from Fiji per week. It was estimated that the yearly turnover of Wing Sang from the Fijian trade was between £18,200 and £31,200 between 1901 and 1913. Wing Sang & Co was the top three banana importers in Sydney. Three generations of Ma family managed Wing Sang & Co from the early 20th century to the 1980s. After the growers market had been relocated to Flemington in the 1970s, the Ma family sold the company to Wing Sang & Co. to a group of Italian buyers in 1984, citing the reason the younger generation of the Mar family had no interest in continuing the fruit wholesale business.

Wing Sang advertisement in Tung Wah News

Image Courtesy of: Tung Wah Newspaper

Wing Sang founders

Image Courtesy of: Howard Wilson