Pig Oven, Jericho

“'The only sizeable Chinese settlement on the Jordan goldfield, of about 200 people, was located on the Jordan River between Red Jacket and Jericho. A joss house was established and several unmarked graves of Chinese are said to exist in the cemeteries at Jericho and Red Jacket.The ovens were used by the Chinese to roast entire pigs on feast days. A fire would be lit in the base of the oven and fed from the opening at the base, then large stones would be lowered and allowed to become red hot. A whole pig would be lowered onto the stones and a brass or metal covered placed over the opening until the meat was thoroughly cooked.Two ovens originally existed and were unearthed during sluicing operations in the late 1940s. Tins full of Chinese coins were found buried near one of the ovens. One of the ovens has since been destroyed by roadworks. The other was again hidden by undergrowth until its rediscovery in the 1970s. Officers from the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works reported that the site had deteriorated by the late 1980s."

Victorian State Heritage Register, Chinese Pig Oven

References: Mining Surveyors' Reports (Jericho Division), June & September 1872, June 1873 Steenhuis Supple et al, M21 Tomlin, Bosa & Chamberlain, pp. 99-100.