Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point

In 1903 the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in Victoria bought land at Harling Point. This land was chosen for its feng shui. This is provided by Gonzales Hill which rises behind the site and the rounded, rocky outcroppings nearby. From 1903 to 1908, many of the Chinese graves in Ross Bay Cemetery were exhumed and relocated to the new cemetery. It was general practice for overseas Chinese to exhume the remains after seven years, clean and dry the bones and then ship them back to China for burial. This also allowed the plot to be re-used. This practice had been followed at Ross Bay and continued at the Chinese Cemetery up until 1933, when war in China with Japan ended this practice. Most Chinese in Victoria were buried at Harling Point Cemetery until it was closed in the early 1950s