Chinese in Avoca cemetery

The Avoca cemetery dates from 1857. It is laid out in denominational areas.

The Chinese section was sheltered from the rest of the cemetery by pine trees and the major item in this area is the brick funerary oven. This is a small red brick structure with an oven opening in one side with a semi-circular head. The top three courses of brickwork are corbelled with the centre course being laid on the diagonal to give a decorative chevron appearance. The curved pyramidal shaped metal roof is capped at the apex with a ball decoration.

Several slate head stones inscribed with Chinese characters provide one of the few remaining signs that a large number of Chinese once populated the Avoca goldfields.

Between 1858 and 1899 at least 118 Chinese were buried in the cemetery.

The first identified burial of a Chinese in the Avoca cemetery was of Gee or Yee Hing, a miner of Avoca, who died of consumption. He was buried on 29 September 1859 in a common grave in section B. £2 0s 0d was paid for the burial. His age was not recorded. His denomination was recorded as “Worshiper of the Moon”.

His death registration regords his name as Yee Hing (6450 / 1859) and gives his age as 23. There is no digitised newspaper report of his death.

There was an inquest on 4 June 1855 of a male Chinese known as John. He was employed by Robert B. Patterson, the acting manager of the Bank of Victoria. It was determined he had died by visitation of God. The jury wished to add that “the deceased appears to have had every attention that could be paid to him by the manager of the Bank of Victoria his employer.” John would have been buried in the old cemetery near the present day Chinese garden.