Occupation of the
Orange district by squatters and settlers commenced in the 1820s, when a Government Station was established at Frederick’s Valley. Early landowners such as Andrew Kerr and William Charles
Wentworth purchased holdings in the area during the 1830s.
The needs for a
cemetery lead to Andrew Kerr
clearing a site and establishing the Summer
Hill Cemetery. This site was used for burials from the 1820s until the 1850s when the
Orange Cemetery was established. The Summer
Hill Cemetery, located adjacent to the
Mitchell Highway some 5km south of east of
Orange is now known as Chinamen’s Bend
Cemetery. The site does not contain Chinese
graves but is located adjacent to an area used by Chinese market gardeners in the 1890s. While very few headstones remain it is believed the
cemetery contains a significant number of colonial era burials. The
cemetery's headstones date back to the early 1840s