Looking at the history of Temples in New England North West region

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There were at least nine different temples in the New England North West region. Local histories state that the goldfields of Rocky River (modern-day Uralla) had a series of three Chinese temples built sequentially in 1857, 1866 and 1877. The tin-mining town of Tingha is also recorded as having “three joss houses” by 1885, with two of these opening in 1874 and 1883, and a fourth opening in 1901. The tinfield of Emmaville (originally called Vegetable Creek), had two temples, opened in 1878 and 1887.

Main temple at Tingha
The main temple at Tingha, photographed possibly in 1890. Photograph reproduced from Elizabeth Weidemann’s 1981 book World of Its Own: Inverell’s Early Years 1827-1920, p. 180.

Here are some historical images of the interiors and exteriors of some of these temples. As our research progresses, we hope to find out more details on these temples and their history, as well as provide detailed translations of the Chinese inscriptions in these photographs. For more information about the temples see Janis Wilton’s 2004 book Golden Threads, and her 2019 article The Most Beautiful Joss House: Chinese Temples in Emmaville and Tingha, published in the journal Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies (http://chl.anu.edu.au/…/chinese-southern-diaspora…).

Main altar in the "Joss House, Tingha", printed in The Sydney Mail, 3 August 1901
Main altar in the “Joss House, Tingha”, printed in The Sydney Mail, 3 August 1901, p. 292. To read the article, see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/17333660
Entrance of the 1887 Chinese temple at Emmaville
Entrance of the 1887 temple at Emmaville. Photograph by Robert Newby Kirk in 1899, reproduced from Golden Threads, p. 84.
nterior of the 1887 Chinese temple at Emmaville.
Interior of the 1887 temple at Emmaville. Photograph by Robert Newby Kirk in 1899, reproduced from Golden Threads, p. 88.
Main altar of the 1887 Chinese temple at Emmaville
Main altar of the 1887 temple at Emmaville. Photograph dated early 1900s, reproduced from Golden Threads, p. 88.
Main altar Chinese Temple Rocky River 1908
Main altar in what is believed to be one of the Rocky River temples, photographed around 1908. Photo from private collection, reproduced in Golden Threads, p. 87.