Special Interests

The Chinese Section of Beechworth Cemetery contains the remains of many members of the Chinese community who lived and died here. It is estimated that about 2,000 were buried here.

The Victorian government would not allow Chinese women to enter the Colony (and the Chinese government discouraged women leaving home). For example, in 1861, of the 4,500 Chinese on the Ovens goldfields, only two were women.

The small footstones with their Chinese inscriptions are a silent testimony to the Chinese who came here, worked here and died here. The footstones are so named because they are erected at the feet, not the head, of those buried in this Section.

Chinese Buring Towers & Alter

The majority of Chinese buried here came from southern China, principally the province of Canton (Guangdong). The two burning towers reflect this, as burning towers were not used in northern China. The burning towers, erected in 1857, were not used for cremation, but for ceremonial purposes, involving the burning of paper prayers, “joss paper” (‘pinyin’ – ghost money), food and other things as part of a burial service.

The altar, built in 1884, was often used as a repository for food (e.g. roast chicken, rice, oranges) for the spirits of those who had died.

It was the wish of most Chinese to be buried in their home village back in China. For this reason, it was not uncommon for the Cemetery Trust to receive a request from relatives for the bones of a deceased person to be exhumed and sent back to their home village in China.

There was a certain procedure to be observed with these requests:

• The deceased person must have died at least seven years earlier.
• The Cemetery Trust had to seek the approval of the Victorian Chief Secretary to exhume the remains.
• Having received this approval, the Cemetery Trust then issued its approval for the exhumation, and the relatives were able to send the remains back to China.

Chinese Community

The Chinese community lived at Beechworth from 1855 to the early 1940s. They lived at Chinatown, the area along Lower Stanley Road. At first, their presence was unwelcomed by the community. But the Chinese population brought to Beechworth – and especially to its town processions – a culture that became respected and admired by most of the community.

On the day of a procession, the Chinese community would march from Chinatown, down to Ford Street. They wore their traditional Chinese costumes, consisting of colourful silk robes. As they came down Albert Road, they made an impressive and colourful sight, and marched “with a slow and stately tread”.

Today

As we look at the Chinese burning towers today, and the rows of neat footstones standing silently and respectfully at the foot of each grave, it reminds us of the contribution the Chinese population made to Beechworth’s history and development. Each footstone marks the grave of an individual Chinese person, who came here to look for gold, far from their homeland and family, and who died here because of illness or accident.

The Chinese section of the Cemetery is a special and unique part of the Cemetery, and is an important part of Beechworth’s history.

On a fine afternoon on Wednesday, 31st October, 1900, a number of ladies and gentlemen gathered at the Beechworth Post Office, from where they were conveyed in horse and carriage to the Beechworth Cemetery. They were then present at the inauguration of the new fountain.

As they came through the gates at the Cemetery, they saw, on the right of the path leading to the Rotunda, the beautiful new ornamental fountain, set in a circular concrete basin fifteen feet in diameter.

In the words of a journalist who was present on that Wednesday afternoon, the fountain’s structure consisted of a “cuticular pedestal with circular corners and ornamental panels with a dolphin at each corner, from whose mouths issue water jets. Above the spreads a circular shell, upon which stands a graceful female figure supporting another and smaller shell, above which is a circular spray, the whole standing about 15 feet high, and constituting a beautiful work of artistic design”.

Construction

The fountain was built by Danks and Co. of Melbourne, at a tendered price of 38 pounds 10 shillings. The total cost of the fountain was about 100 pounds.

Amongst those present to inaugurate the new fountain was Mr. A.A. Billson, Shire President, and his wife, Mrs Billson. Mrs Billson was invited to turn on the tap, and the effect was much admired as the jets of water descended with a pleasant rippling sound into the basin beneath. Those present then strolled along the path to the new Rotunda at the Centre of the Cemetery to partake of light refreshments and to admire the peaceful surrounds of the Cemetery, which had been beautified by the planting of hundred of trees and shrubs – many of which had been planted only a year earlier.

During the refreshments, Mr. Billson congratulated the Trustees on the quiet beauty of the Cemetery, and assured them that water to the new fountain would not be restricted by the Council.

In response, Mr. Ingram, Secretary of the Trust, and the sole surviving member of the original Trust, established in 1856, spoke of his memories of the early days of the Cemetery, and of the two earlier Cemeteries in Beechworth – the first on the Asylum Hill (Albert Road) and the second in Loch Street, where the Congregational Church was subsequently built.

So it was that the fountain was inaugurated, and those present on the sunny afternoon left the Cemetery with the thought in mind that the gentle water falling of the new fountain would add much peaceful serenity of the resting place of many of Beechworth’s pioneers.

Why does Beechworth Cemetery have a 'Strangers' area? Who is buried there? Why are those buried there designated as 'strangers'?

The answer to these questions are to be found in the teeming goldfields 150 years ago, when tens of thousands of men, and some women and children, tramped into Spring Creek to try to find their fortune on the Ovens goldfields. The miners came from countries around the world – Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, China, America, New Zealand to name a few. Most of them came alone, some with a mate. Most left wives and children behind, intending to make their fortune before returning to their families. Sadly, many would never return to their loved ones far across the sea. Their final resting place would be in the peaceful grounds of the Cemetery or in a quiet spot in the lonely bush where the breezes whisper amongst the gum leaves overhead.

Cemetery Division & Cemetery Trust

Churches were prominent in early Beechworth. In the first eight years of the goldrush, at least six churches were amongst the buildings which quickly emerged along the streets of the main part of the town. These were the Methodist (Wesleyan), Roman Catholic, Church of England, Baptist, Presbyterian and Independent churches.

In 1856, when the present Cemetery was established (there were two cemeteries before it), representatives of each of these churches made up the Cemetery Trust. Each church was allotted a section of ground in the Cemetery, the size of each section reflecting the size of the congregation of each church. Each section was given the name of the church it represented. Thus the Cemetery was laid out in denominational order with denominational names – names which are still used today to designate each section of the Cemetery. In addition to these sections, there was also a section allotted for burial of Chinese persons.

But there were many goldminers who did not belong to these churches. Where were they to be buried? There were also miners who died and no-one knew their religion.

So it was that the pioneer Trustees of the Cemetery allotted an area of land in the Cemetery called the 'Strangers' area. In this area were buried those who did not belong to the main-stream churches, or who were non-Christian, such as Hindus and Buddhists for example. Those whose religion was unknown were also buried as 'Strangers'.

An article about the Cemetery which appeared in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser on 27th January, 1906, (author unknown) described the Strangers area:

“. . .There is a considerable area marked off for the un-denominational, or those who may belong to unpopular or obscure sects. This area, though almost totally devoid of memorial stones, is nevertheless largely occupied, and throws an interesting sidelight on the psychological characteristics of many of those who frequented the early goldfields.”

Visitors to the Cemetery today who pause at the Strangers area will not see many headstones – six or ten at most. But the visitors’ discerning eyes will notice the rows and rows of unmarked graves in this area, little humps and hollows, side by side in long rows.

Descendants of 'Strangers'

The Strangers area is one of the saddest areas in the Cemetery. Here lie dozens of people who died alone in a strange country. No wives or children visited their grave; no-one left flowers on it; there was no-one to pay for a headstone to say who was buried there. They were strangers in a strange land, and even in the Cemetery, they are called “strangers”.

Occasionally, very occasionally, a descendant of one of these strangers comes to Australia in search of the grave of a great-great-grandparent they know came long ago to these hills in search of gold. Their search leads them to Beechworth Cemetery, and there, in an unmarked, lonely grave, they reach the end of their quest. One or two of these descendants have erected a plaque on the grave to memorialize their relative who was a stranger here, but much loved at home.

Long years have passed since most of these strangers were laid to rest. They remain in our midst as part of the history of Beechworth. We remember them and the pioneering work they did, with gratitude.

Originally, 145 Pioneers were buried in the Loch Street Cemetery between 1853 & 1855. 64 were exhumed and reburied in the New Cemetery in Balaclava Road in September 1857.

The Cemetery Burial Records were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1867, resulting in the loss of these burial records. James Ingram, the then Trust Cemetery, painstakingly reconstructed the names & dates of death of these Pioneers from newspapers and church records. This has resulted in the Cemetery now having a complete listing set.

Small wooden crosses, bearing the names of the deceased Pioneers once graced the Pioneers Section, these have long gone. Apart from the names listing of these early settles on the commemorative board at the Cemetery, the Trust has only an electronic version of this. These Pioneer interments form part of the burial records of the Beechworth Cemetery.

The Cemetery has an invaluable document titled – Deaths – Registration District of Beechworth – 1853 to 1857 by Fay & Graeme Johnson. This gives a complete listing of deaths as stated above (Including date & place of death & place of burial etc.)