Chinese project primed for go-ahead

Work on a project to formally acknowledge Chinese miners buried in unmarked graves in Ararat Cemetery is on the brink of starting.

Friends of Gum San have been busy working on the $35,000 project, which involves erecting new headstones on 167 graves in a Chinese section of the cemetery.

The headstones will feature names of the 251 people registered as being buried in the unmarked graves.

Ararat has a unique claim as being the only Australian city founded by Chinese.

Chinese miners who had travelled

cross country from Robe in South Australia to avoid a Victorian tax established the settlement at the height of the 1850s Victorian gold rush.

Gum Sun Chinese Heritage Centre in Ararat provides insight into the historical significance and influence of Chinese diggers in the region.

Friends of Gum San is a group dedicated to helping run the centre and raising the profile of Ararat’s Chinese history.

Group spokesman Henry Gunstone said the cemetery project was a way of acknowledging and respecting Chinese diggers’ contribution in the creation of Ararat.

“The cemetery project was an obvious one to start with,” he said.

“There are only eight headstones standing in the Chinese section and we had to raise $35,000 to do them all.

“Ararat Cemetery Trust secretary Judy Barry collated all the information, based on what was simply numbered stones on the graves.”

Mr Gunstone said the project had to undergo various processes to proceed but was now waiting on a final ‘all clear’.

“It is a very important project,” he said.

“We want the Chinese recognised, not only in Victoria but also Australia and in China.”

Mr Gunstone said other Chinese miners were buried in unmarked graves in Christian sections of the cemetery and the friends group hoped to ultimately also provide them with headstones.

The project is set to start amid refreshed Chinese media interest in Ararat and other areas influenced by Chinese migration.

Friends group representatives met with a television crew from Beijing-based China CCTV, which was in Ararat filming a documentary, last week.

Mr Gunstone said the crew of about eight based itself at Gum San and were interested in the many stories about Chinese influence on the city, especially a significant Chinese contribution to Ararat’s first hospital.

“They told us that if the documentary was well received by the Chinese public they would consider coming back and making a full-scale movie based on the Chinese story involving Ararat,” he said.

Friends of Gum San representatives will travel to Taishan at the end of October to join in celebrations of Taishan Number One High School’s 110th birthday.

“Our group exists to ensure this wonderful representation of part of Ararat’s history is promoted and that the history is never forgotten,” Mr Gunstone said.

“At the same time it’s about fostering an international relationship.”