The Bendigo Joss House Temple was opened in 1871, at the height of Victoria’s Gold Rush, and is one of the few remaining Chinese Temples of its kind in Australia. There was initially a shrine here in the 1850s, then a wooden Temple in the 1860s before the larger brick Temple was constructed. A’Sam is named as the Temple’s first caretaker in the Bendigo Advertiser in 1859.¹

There were significant numbers of Chinese miners, merchants and market gardeners in the region from the 1850s, mainly from the Guangdong Province. There were seven temples in the Bendigo area, formerly known as Sandhurst, and also Temples in nearby Castlemaine, Daylesford, Maryborough, Ararat and Ballarat. These early Chinese Temples contain elements of Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and folk religions.

The structure includes a main hall dedicated to Guan-Di (Kwan Gong), a Han Dynasty general, deified as the God of War, who was prayed to for protection and prosperity, and an Ancestral Temple on the right and Caretaker’s residence on the left. The Temple main hall also contains a skywell, to let in light and let out smoke from offerings.²

This Temple was constructed of local handmade bricks and was painted red, for strength and luck. A similar style of brick Temple, the Hall of the Ranking Sages, can be found in Innisfail, Queensland. The Bendigo Joss House Temple was restored by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) in the 1960s, in consultation with the Bendigo Chinese Association, and is currently managed by Bendigo Heritage. ³

By Anna Halafoff and Sioh Yang Tan 

References:

1 Bendigo Joss House Temple. “Official Website.” Accessed July 3, 2026. https://www.bendigojosshouse.com; Kok Hu Jin. Chinese Temples of Australia: Castlemaine, Maryborough, Bairnsdale, Daylesford, Bright, Harrietville, Beechworth. Vol 1. Golden Dragon Museum, 2016.

2 Bendigo Joss House Temple; Kok Hu Jin

3 National Trust of Australia (Victoria). Bendigo and the Chinese Joss House, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1965; Waltham, J.F. Chinese Temples of Australia. Flinders University, 2014.