Chinese Pioneers of ManillaPrint Page

Plaque :

This garden honours the Chinese pioneers whose involvement in market gardening, tobacco farming with tin and gold  mining helped to make Manilla a thriving community.

Plaque :

All the deceased came from Quandong Province, whose capital is Guangzhou (Canton).
The principal spoken language is Cantonese but in the counties, there are many dialects such as Hakka, Say Yap, Zhongshan and Chiuzhou. 
The date of death is the first line of each headstone and was recorded from the Lunar Calendar, the dates begin from the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the proclamation of the Chinese Republic by Dr Sun Yat Sen in 1911.
The second line in each headstone gives the name of the deceased person.
The third line on each headstone tells of the city, town or village in the Guandong Province from where the deceased person came.
The red coloured character in the middle line on one of the smaller headstones denotes a General.
He probably held this rank in the Qing Dynasty and after the defeat of the Emperor, the General Lee Kam Min seemingly took refuge in Manilla to rebuild his fortune.

Plaque :

The Society gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mr Bing R. C. Chen in the translating of these historic tablets and to Manilla Shire Council for permission to stand these headstones at Royce Cottage.

Also to the Manilla Art Group and Mrs Joan Jack of Golden Dragon Museum Bendigo for their assistance in this Heritage Project.