Next time you wait for your order from Joe Kwong On Takeaways on Jellicoe Street you might like to think about the family behind the name: they’ve been associated with this town for more than 115 years.
If you were around Martinborough before the early 2000s you will remember the fruit and veggie shop on that site which Robert Bing and his wife Kim ran for 40 years. Robert was the 3rd generation of the family to be involved, being the grandson of Joe Kenny Young the original Cantonese immigrant who founded the business back in 1909.
Kenny Joe, as he was known locally, arrived in a very different town from the one we know today. There were many retail businesses and factories, every one of them vital because travel was time-consuming and difficult and people needed to be able to shop locally.
He set up a “Fruiterers, Confectioners & Grocers” in the building, operating under the business name Joe Kwong On & Co.
You might think Joe Kwong On is a family name but it is a Cantonese expression meaning Everyone is welcome all the time. A fine sentiment which was not reciprocated at that time by New Zealand society, with Chinese residents subject to both legal and social discrimination and punitive taxes.
It must have been a lonely life too, with no other Chinese families in the area, a wife and children left behind in Canton and a very different culture.
As was usual for Chinese greengrocers, Kenny Joe established his own market gardens to supply the shop. The arrival of refrigeration and supermarkets led to a major change for small greengrocers like this. Perishables could be stored and distributed centrally and local suppliers were no longer essential. The old system of small-scale growers selling at auction to fruit shops slowly disappeared.
In 1996 Robert and Kim diversified and opened the takeaway business. They closed the fruit and vegetable shop in 2001. The takeaway is now run by a different family, and there’s a woodworking business in the other part of the building. There’s nothing to see of what was once an essential local business.
Robert grew up here and is widely known and respected in the community. Kim came from China to New Zealand as a young woman. Her welcome was a lot warmer than those early arrivals enjoyed. Robert says the community has been “wonderful” to them.
His hardworking ancestors would not recognise Martinborough today but can be proud of the contribution they and their descendants have made to the life of the town. It is only right the name of their business should live on.
(Jo Bing (Robert’s father) was interviewed in 1982 for the NZOHA Martinborough Project. This is held in the Turnbull Library.)
Prepared by Martinborough Museum 2025 (including information collated by Mate Higginson).
Museum opening hours: Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays 10:30 – 2:30.
