1. Refer to the Ross Bay Cemetery map posted at the shed/bulletin board. First you need to know the plot coordinates. If you don’t, you can check with staff in this office, or check the Victoria City Archives web site, or contact the Old Cemeteries Society (see our brochures).
2. Looking at the map you will notice that the cemetery is divided into Sections (blocks) designated by letters of the alphabet.
3. The Rows run from south to north (i.e. Dallas Road to Fairfield Road) and are identified in sections N, O, P, Q and R (and western parts of sections K and L) by a letter of the alphabet and the remainder by a numeral, all running from west to east.
4. The Plots are numbered from south to north (except for sections L, E, D and W which go the other way). A plot is either east (E) or west (W) of a row.
5. A typical plot coordinate might appear as “A 36 W 30” where A is the section; 36 is the plot number; W means that the plot is on the west side of the row; and, 30 is the row number.
6. A single plot is 8’ long by 4’ wide. There is a 2’ wide path between plots and the row paths are 5’ wide. Many graves are unmarked, so, if you are pacing off plots, allow 6’ from the centre of one plot to the centre of the next.
7. Families who purchased side-by-side plots were allowed to use the in-between portion for burials. Therefore, you might see a plot described as “G 48b49 W 16” where “b” stands for between.

Row Marker Project

The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria (OCS) has undertaken a project to place row markers throughout the cemetery to aid in locating graves. Eventually, markers will be installed on every row in three belts across plots 1, 40 and 75 throughout the cemetery. To date we have completed every other row across plots 1, 40, & 75. We have also added a number of markers along the major roadways. We hope you find these markers helpful in finding the grave that you are searching for.