Ross Bay Cemetery (RBC) is bordered by Fairfield Road on the north, Dallas Road on the south, Memorial Crescent on the west and St Charles lane on the east side. The cemetery can be accessed from several entrances, including the Memorial gate located off Fairfield Road at the foot of Stannard Avenue. The cemetery is open to the public from dawn to dusk; pets are not permitted on the grounds.
It is organized in a grid pattern by BLOCK, ROW and PLOT; the cemetery itself is not laid out in a perfect rectangle and includes a few idiosyncrasies.
BLOCKS were initially organized by religious affiliation and/or ethnicity. BLOCKS are randomly labeled A through Z and 1 to 4. There is no BLOCK I or J.
A ROW, sometimes described as a road, is labeled in reverse alphabetical order and then numerically from west to east (Z, Y, X….C, B, A, 1, 2, 3….21, 21A, 22….54, 55, 56); note the addition of Row 21A. There is no ROW J.
A PLOT is labeled numerically from north to south (129, 128, 127…. 3, 2, 1, 0, +01, +02, +03….+27. +28, +29) and can be located east (E) or west (W) of a ROW.
PLOT numbers start at 1 and increase from south to north toward Fairfield Road except in BLOCK L, E, D, and W, located closest to Dallas Road; these plots (indicated by a plus sign “+”) start at +1 and increase southward. There are also a few instances where plots below 1 are named 1A through 6A in the southwest corner.
BLOCKS N, O, P, and Q on the west side were not part of the cemetery originally and the PLOT numbers do not align with the rest of the cemetery because PLOT 1 is located in the southwest corner.
BLOCKS 1, 2, 3, and 4 were added on the north side next to Fairfield Road when the cemetery was expanded to fill the excess road allowance.
BLOCKS X and intersections PR, FK, BC, CD occupy areas originally designated for pathways.
The southern most portion of the cemetery was washed out in a big storm and unearthed some remains. The city built a breakwater along Dallas Road to protect this from happening again.
There was a practice in the Chinese community to exhume bones after seven years and send them back to China to reunite them with the deceased’s ancestors. While detailed records were maintained when people were interred, likely because this involved assessing a fee, exhumations were often completed without naming individuals. It means some plots were used more than once and we cannot know for certain if a particular plot holds remains.
A single PLOT can hold two coffins and six urns. Some larger plots combine two adjoining plots, and have room for six coffins and 18 urns, and is indicted by a B (for “between”), as there is an additional plot between the two plots next to each other.
To locate a plot, remember that locations are described in this format –
BLOCK, PLOT, (B – between one or more plots if applicable), East/West side of a ROW
So the location “E +02B W 16”
translates to
A location in BLOCK E between PLOT +02 and +03, West of ROW 16 (so this particular plot is located south of PLOTS 3, 2, 1, 0, +01)
Many find it easiest to locate a specific grave by focusing first on ROW and then PLOT (E/W).
Individual location markers are placed throughout the cemetery indicating ROW and PLOT – find the ROW and then count the number of plots up or down to your intended destination. Please note that many graves are not marked by monuments.
With over 30,000 records and a history of over 150 years, there are bound to be gaps and errors in the RBC burial records. If you find something that needs attention, please share it with us. [Link to contact us]
