Goldfields Historic Chinese Cemetary

Two weeks ago I moved to a new area in Bendigo. I’m now living in White Hills, on the opposite side from where I was previously, at Kangaroo Flat.
A very short walk from my house, is the White Hills Public Cemtary which includes the Goldfields Historic Chinese Cemetary. I really can’t wait to get in there and spend some serious time investigating, but this week I dropped in for a quick look. What struck me as I entered the large, beautiful wrought iron gates shadowed by two huge Moreton Bay figs, was the strong sense of history that was very obvious.
Many, many small stone heafstones inscribed with Chinese calligraphy were quite haunting to see. I couldn’t help thinking of these brave Chinese who dared to try for a better life in a new country, either as goldminers or providing services to the miners.
Situated close to the front gates is the Prayer Oven, where paper money for spirits of the dead was burned.
This is one of the oldest cemetaries in Australia, and was being used at the time of the Goldrush,when Bendigo was a very wealthy city due to the rush for gold. The wealth showed itself in the huge number of very large memorial stones.
Can’t wait to find a few spare hours to dig deeper into history in this beautiful cemetary.