Sun Tong Lee's Sydney Branch Store, Gulgong
1872
Glass photonegative
Many goldfield stores were notorious for price gouging, but not all. The D70, 26 July 1873, observed:
It is astonishing to many how low prices are in the drapery and grocery lines, as many articles are sold only a shade over Sydney prices, and this can only be accounted for by the Iarge stocks kept by the two Chinese firms, On Hing and Company, and Sun Tong, Lee, and Company …
From Gulgong Evening Argus, July 9 1874
“A few days ago, during the heavy rain and piercing winds, a poor woman has been observed passing up Herbert Street, with an infant in her arms and another unfortunate child clinging to her skirt. Heavens knows where she was straying but her appearance was that of abject poverty. A few persons were looking on with pity when a Celestial was observed to hurry from his place of business with a large parcel which he gave to the woman, and at once returned to his store. The parcel proved to be a pair of superior blankets. The gift was made in a quiet manner without the slightest ostentation, that it took those who witnessed it by surprise. The donor was Sun Tong Lee, a Chinese merchant in this town, and this generous action is in the highest degree creditable to his humanity.” [Gulgong Evening Argus, July 9 1874]
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