Burial records, Chinese in Camperdown Cemetery
Date Published
: burial records, cemeteries / graves / headstones
: Sydney
: Sydney
: 1860
Burial records of four Chinese (Ah Suce, Aha Cha, Ah Fay and A' Hook) at Camperdown Cemetery dated 1860s.
Ah Fay
Descriptions provided by Jenna of Newtown Erskineville Anglican Church:
The records that Ah Suce and Aha Cha were common interments, and Ah Fay was buried at the expense of the Infirmary. In these instances, no headstones were allowed, because if there was a relative/friend who could afford to erect a headstone, then the person shouldn't have been buried at government expense.
In A'Hook's case, under the words Camperdown Cemetery it says "No service. Not a Christian." Anyone was allowed to be buried in
Camperdown Cemetery, but the person who conducted all the funerals and oversaw the burials was the minister of St Stephens Anglican Church, so the Church of England burial service was conducted for all those interred (most of whom probably were Anglican/Church of England, but there were some of other Christian denominations). In this instance, it sounds like there was no funeral service held in the church.
These 4 burial numbers seem not to have been recorded on any of the section plans (although there are a couple that have gone missing over the last 180 years, and not every number seems to have been recorded on them). It is unsure where they were originally buried, but the common interments tended to be buried out on the edges of the cemetery, along Lennox St and Federation Street (the cemetery
originally extended throughout what is now the Camperdown Memorial Rest Park).
There are some other Chinese graves that I'm aware of. Two seem to have died at very similar times in the Infirmary (burial number 1537 and 1541), and must have been buried at its expense. Their numbers are also not on the burial plans.
Ah Suce
Aha Cha
A Hook
A Hong
