The Choy family’s Reliance Garage and Eclipse Café, Grong Grong in the 1930s. Private collection
customers from Tumbarumba, Adelong and Batlow.138 The Choy family from Grong Grong and Narrandera, who were related to the Hay-based Pack family, played a very significant role in the commercial life of Grong Grong. The sons and stepsons of Charlie Choy, the patriarch, owned a large number of enterprises in the town. Bert Choy was the first barber in Grong Grong and owned a pool hall, next to which was the Reliance Garage, opened by Harry and Percy Choy in the 1930s. Harry also ran a garage with his son Bill, which later became an engineering and steel fabrication business. Bill also ran the local school bus service, which by 1976 was catering for 120 children. Harry ran picture shows in the local hall every Saturday night. The shop and deli next door to the Reliance garage was owned originally by Florence Choy (Harry’s wife and a daughter of Ah Pack from Hay), and sold vegetables and groceries and supplied school lunches. In 1965 Betty Menzies (Florence’s daughter), Jean Choy (Florence’s daughter-in-law) and two other ladies reopened the café (it had closed in 1963). Albert Choy ran a garage in Griffith, later shifting to Narrandera where he opened the Sunshine Dry Cleaners. The Choy family still run the business today. Percy eventually moved to Leeton, where he also opened a dry cleaning business.139 Another garage operator was Tommy Ah Wah (originally Ah War), who built a garage, service station and boarding house in Junee in 1928. The garage was rented out until 1933 when the family took over, running dealerships for cars, trucks, tractors and all types of machinery, such as dozers, front-end loaders and concrete mixers. In its heyday the garage had a fully equipped panel beating and spray painting shop. From the 1930s to the 1950s the family also owned a garage in Wagga Wagga. Thomas Allan, the youngest son, drove a taxi (the business was owned by his sister Linda), ran a newsagency, and
138
Recollections from Grace Ching, September 2011.
Grong Grong History Committee, Grong Grong. The Spirit of a Small Town, The Committee, Grong Grong, 2003, pp.34-130, 169-170. 139
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