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This is the burial place for approximately 60 Chinese people who lived and worked in Cloncurry. It is located across the Coppermine Creek from the site of "Chinatown", the unofficial name given to the Chinese camps and market gardens that prospered from the 1870s through to the mid 1900s.
Attracted to Australia during the gold rush days of the mid to late 1800s, Chinese immigrants settled and worked throughout Australia. These highly enterprising peop,e established market gardens in and around Cloncurry, supplying the local population with fresh fruit and vegetables. They also worked as cooks, labourers, miners and storekeepers.
Only a few of the graves are marked because the Chinese, list most early pioneers, were often too poor to buy a headstone.
The first recorded Chinese burial in Cloncurry was that of Tin Guee, on 27 March 1887. He was buried at Chinaman's Creek.
The next recorded burial was of a Chinese cook, Ah Shinh, although the records did not specify the Chinese Cemetery as the burial place.
The first burial officially recorded at the "Chinese Cemetery" was on 3 July 1913 and the last was Ah Sang Chong on 18 February 1953 aged 74 years.
Although many burial records prior to 1920 were damaged by fire, the following details are known about the Chinese people who are believed to be buried here. |