The Bendigo Joss House Temple is easily accessible by Vintage Talking Tram. Spend a day exploring our fascinating city.

In Imperial China, the colour yellow was strictly a representative of the emperor’s colour and was used for emperor’s robes and attire. Since the last emperor in China, the colour yellow often decorates altars and temples and can be found as the decorative colour on the altars in the Bendigo Joss House Temple’s Ancestral Hall.

Day Fong Sun is a figure representative of filial piety and wealth, symbolising love and respect of parents. After the death of his father he is said to have mourned so long and sincerely that his tears turned to blood.

Located within the Entrance Chamber of the Bendigo Joss House Temple, this altar is dedicated to the deity Confucius. Confucius is a patron saint of scholars and academics. Because of this, many scientists, academics, scholars and students pray to him. One of his teachings included “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

These entrance lions are the guardians of the temple. Chinese entrance lions come in pairs, one male and one female. They’re an additional measure to scare negative spirits away from the temple and draw the good in. In order to do this, they need to stay awake, that’s why the male is balancing a ball on his paw. If the ball falls, it will wake him up. The female is kept awake by her baby. It is believed that if you pat heir heads once and roll the ball in their mouth three times you will receive good luck. Make sure you try it the next time you visit the Bendigo Joss House Temple!

The Joss House Temple was built with efforts to ward off negative spirits (ghosts, demons etc ). There are many reflective surfaces in the temple as it is believed that negative spirits are frightened by their own reflection, and so are scared away. Additionally, negative spirits can only travel in straight lines so the temple has minimal straight passages. They also cannot travel far from the ground so steps hinder their access into the temple.

The Bendigo Joss House Temple was once home to more than 400 ancestral tablets. However, during the 1950s many tablets were lost when the temple was derelict and vulnerable to regular break-ins. Due to this, the tablet at the top represents all the lost ancestral tablets. If you have one of these tablets or any objects from the Joss House, we would be thrilled to have them returned to their rightful place. We don’t need to know any details and will greet any returns with gratitude and complete anonymity.

Ancestral tablets represent the life of a person and are created three days after their death. The tablets are miniature wooden versions of the footstones on the graves at Chinese burial grounds and bear the person’s name, where in China they were from and their age. When the tablet is created, two spirits are created; a heavenly spirit and an earthly spirit. One spirit goes to heaven and one is bound to the tablet, anchored to the temple to stop the spirit roaming and causing mischief.

The Ancestral Hall is dedicated to the memory of Ancestors. Great importance is placed on ancestors in order to gain self-understanding. The ancestral altar holds the few remaining ancestral tablets that were dedicated to the Chinese who died on the goldfields, and give a fascinating insight into the origins of the people that came to Bendigo during the gold rush years.

To let the Gods know that they are about to receive a prayer, this gong is hit three times. You’ll find the gong hanging on the wall next to the main altar within the Joss House.

The main altar within the Bendigo Joss House Temple is dedicated to Guan-Di (Kwan Gong), the god of war and prosperity. Guan Di was a general who played a significant role in the events that led to the collapse of the Han dynasty. He died in 220 CE and has since become a deity that opposes all disturbers of peace. A symbol of brotherhood, he was seen as a protective deity by the Chinese gold seekers that was a wise judge, guide, protector and provider of wealth and prosperity. This Taoist altar is often used to pray for good success in business.