The Bukit Brown cemetery, also known as kopi Sua, was initially a piece of land bought by a ship owner Mr George Henry Brown. He purchased the land in the year 1840s to do some coffee and nutmeg plantation.
Drawn by his illness, he was unable to make good use of the land, thus it was bought over by members of the Hokkie Huay Kwan. Ong Kew Ho, Ong Ewe Hai and Ong Chong Chew, contributed $500 each and made it into an Ong clan burial ground in the year 1860s.
In the year 1923, municipal commissioner, Tan Kheam Hock, commissioned the cemetery to the wider Chinese community – where Chinese with other surname or from other clans were allowed to be buried. The cemetery had its last burial in the year 1973, it has over 100,000 burials registered and has remained unscathed since then. The cemetery is spread across, Kopi Sua (Coffee Hill) consists of 5 hills, Lau Sua (Old Hill) and Seh Ong (Ong Clan Hill). Bukit Brown has also known to be the biggest Chinese cemetery outside China.
Bukit Brown cemetery sits along Lornie Road and in the junction of Sime Road, Kheam Hock Road and Lorong Halwa. And will be giving way for an eight-lane high way that cuts through the ancestral cemetery.
