Exhumation request

From the beginning of the Chinese diaspora it was considered of great importance that the bones of the dead be returned to their villages of origin. This 1862 request is one of the earliest indications of this practice.

NSW State Archives, Col Sec; 4/3476, 62/4222, Molison & Black to Colonial Secretary, 26 August 1862.

Image Courtesy of: NSW State Archives, Col Sec; 4/3476, 62/4222, Molison & Black to Colonial Secretary, 26 August 1862.

In the early 1860s, representatives of three Pearl River Delta counties approached the firm of Molison & Black to help them obtain official permisson to remove bones to China. These are the same three districts mentioned forming the Yeung-Woo Company in California, namely Dongguan, Zengcheng, and Zhongshan.

According to Molison & Black they wished 'to exhume the remains of a number (estimated at 150 to 200) of their deceased countrymen with a view to their removal to China ,,,"

NSW State Archives, Col Sec; 4/3476, 62/4222, Molison & Black to Colonial Secretary, 26 August 1862.