Burning Towers
Date Published
A distinctive feature of many though by no means all Chinese sections of many cemeteries is what is generally referred to as a burning tower. They have on occasions been erroneously referred as "Joss Houses" or even ovens. An unknown number have been destroyed but many remain. It is unclear when such towers began to be built as most appear to date only from the late 19th century.
Certainly, it is standard Chinese funeral practice to burn paper offerings and set off fire crackers at funerals, as well as to roast pigs and other foods during festivals such as Ching Ming. Burning towers in China are usually associated with temples rather than cemeteries. While in southern China with its damp climate any burning of paper is commonly done in the open air, the dryer climate of Australia and California may have inspired a change. There are numerous reports of grass fires being set off as a result of Chinese funeral practices, including on at least one occasional a death as an onlooker's clothes (a young girl) caught fire. It is possible the building of these towers was demanded by local authorities but no evidence of this has come to light as yet. Alternatively, the custom could have arisen in the Chinese villages or North America and spread to Australia.
The common feature of most towers is that they are tall and allow a small opening for placing the items to be burned. That at Cooktown is a notable exception. Otherwise, the remaining towers vary greatly in design with pointed or rounded tops and sometimes coming in pairs.
For a listing and discussion covering North America also see:
Chinese Funerary Burners: A Census by Terry Abrahams
Maldon - Chinese Altar at Maldon Cemetery | Inscription dated 1890 / … | Flickr - McKinnon
List of burning towers in Australia
Dunolly - Dunolly cemetery. Chinese funerary oven. | Chinese fortune s… | Flickr
Deneliquin - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljmck/41930095160/in/album-72157693816258930/
Melbourne Cemetery
Bendigo
Maryborough
Ballarat
Echuca
Nyngan
Cooktown
Glenpartick, Avoca
Castlemaine
White Hills
Gordon's extras:
Tumut NSW Extant
Windheyer NSW Possibly destroyed
Darwin NT Extant
Darwin Moo Toi temple Destroyed
Moorina Tas Unknown
Ballarat New Vic Extant
Ballarat Old Vic Extant
Bairnsdale Vic Destroyed
Bright temple Vic Destroyed
Jack, R. Ian. 1995. Chinese cemeteries Outside China. In Histories of the Chinese in Australasia and the South Pacific,
Abraham, T. and Wegars, P., (2003). ‘Urns, bones and burners: overseas Chinese cemeteries’ in Australasian Historical Archaeology 21:58-69.
