Australians document an East India Company Cemetery in Macau
Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) Newsletter No. 56
October 2024
Abstract
This article documents an Australian-led heritage initiative to record and preserve the East India Company Cemetery in Macau, a site that bears witness to the global networks of trade, empire, and migration in the nineteenth century. Established in the early 1800s when Macau served as a crucial base for British commercial operations in China, the cemetery contains graves of merchants, sailors, missionaries and families connected to the East India Company.
Through detailed on-site documentation and historical research, the project highlights the fragile condition of the cemetery and the importance of international collaboration in safeguarding shared heritage. The article reflects on the cemetery not only as a burial ground, but as a material record of transnational connections linking Asia, Britain and Australia.