I thought some of you may have been interested to read a visitor's impression of Beechworth (Circa 1880)
A writer in the “Brunswick Advertiser” has the following:; The line from Wangaratta to Beechworth, a distance of 26 miles, is one continuous, though at first gentle ascent. The first 12 miles shows a rise of only nine feet per mile; the next four miles, however, shows a gradient of 44 feet per mile rise; whilst the remaining 10 miles has an average ascent of about 100 feet per mile, the town of Beechworth standing 1775 feet above the level of the sea. This is the steepest incline on any of the Victorian railways, and would be considered an extraordinary one in any part of the world, at least for a locomotive to travel on. Up this tremendous incline, or rather series of inclines, at a very low rate of speed, the engine pants and puffs like a monster in distress, landing us finally, however, safe and sound at our destination. The view of the town from this point is very pleasing. Like the scripture city, being set on a hill, it cannot be hid. The wide streets, together with the shops, houses and public buildings, most of them substantially built of brick or stone, commend it at once to the eye of the stranger, and although first impressions are said to be generally deceptive, yet, at least in my case, the good opinion I was prepared to form of Beechworth from the description of my friends was fully borne out on a better acquaintance.
Leaving the railway-station, I crossed the Spring Creek on a causeway, the ground on both sides being turned up to the bed rock by successive hosts of diggers, which has given it the appearance of a Titan’s field, roughly cultivated by Cyclopean ploughs. This is a wonderfully rich golden field in the days of yore, and although it has been dug and paddocked and sluiced for a generation past, yet even now it continues to yield a golden harvest. One of the most plucky undertakings in the way of mining has just been completed and carried out entirely by local enterprise, that of washing down and sluicing the whole of the old worked ground on the Spring Creek flat. In order to understand the gigantic nature of the undertaking, it may be mentioned that the banks on both sides, some fifty or sixty feet high, are washed down bodily by powerful streams of water into a narrow channel, when the gold by its inherent weight sinks to the bottom, and the sludge and lighter matter is carried off. In order to get rid of the enormous amount of liquid mud, it was necessary to cut an underground channel for a great distance through the hard granite rock. This has been successfully completed, and the whole works are now in full operation. Once a year it is proposed to wash up or disinter the golden particles from the bottom of the channel, and afterwards will come the pleasantest process of all, that of declaring what I hope will be a satisfactory dividend to the enterprising shareholders.
Business people here, I found, were complaining of the hard times, just as they are in other places. Nothing whatever doing, some of them said; all the wealth of the place is being rapidly drained off to supply the insatiable maw of the monster, Melbourne. And yet the people were going about, busy enough, well clothed and apparently well fed; and still they were not satisfied. I endeavoured to show some of these good people that there was plenty of complaint and grumbling in Melbourne, and with perhaps more reason than they had to show for it; for in addition to the want of business, we had high rents and other expenses to contend with, which they had not. I am well assured that if the people of this country had only a more contented spirit, they would all be the better and the happier for it. The town of Beechworth, with its beautiful situation, its magnificent climate and bracing air, is a most desirable place of residence for families, and had I my choice in the matter, I would as soon live here as in any part of Victoria. From different parts on the hills round about there is a series of views of the most extensive description. I was particularly delighted with the prospect from a mass of granite boulders on a range at the end of Camp-street, looking towards the Yackandandah direction. My time being limited, however, I was unable to visit several other places I was told of, as being worthy of inspection. The principal public buildings are the banks, churches, court-house, Post-office and Athenaeum, the latter standing in a small but very neatly laid out public garden and recreation ground. Many shrubs and trees I noticed as flourishing with amazing vigour, which in other places are only artificially kept alive in a stunted condition, more especially the common laurel. There is a beautiful closely-clipped laurel hedge in the Athenaeum ground I was particularly struck with, and another grand specimen in front of the church of England, the largest and finest laurel I ever saw, being, I suppose, fully twenty feet high, and of a compact, pyramidal habit. I was much disappointed, however, with the collection of minerals in the museum. Knowing the great variety of gem stones and fossils which have been discovered at various times in the neighbourhood, I fully expected to find a complete collection of every kind, but what I saw was meagre in the extreme. My disappointment, however, was considerably lessened on visiting Mr Dunn, a gentleman who has made it his business, as well as pleasure for the last twenty years, in collecting specimens of every description of curious minerals to be obtained in the district, as well as a very large number from the African diamond fields and other parts of the world. A complete catalogue of this gentleman’s museum would fill a good sized volume, and I would strongly counsel the authorities of the local Athenaeum to make arrangements, if possible, with the proprietor for the purchase of the whole. It would be a thousand pities to have such a collection dispersed, a collection that illustrates the entire geology of the Beechworth district. Many of Mr Dunn’s specimens were superb of their kind, surpassing any I had ever seen before. One block of granite showed its component parts, quartz and felspar in large sized crystals, with mica thickly scattered throughout. There were several fine specimens of crystallised felspar, smoky quartz, agate and other pebbles. I saw a garnet as large as a boy’s marble, lying in its granite matrix, and specimens of every description of gem that had been discovered in the neighbourhood, including a number of diamonds of considerable size. No place in Victoria has contributed so large a number of precious stones as Beechworth, every variety having been obtained here at one time or the other, excepting, I believe, opal. Mr. Turner, watchmaker, of Camp-street, another indefatigable mineralogist, was also good enough to show me his collection, which contains many curious specimens, amongst others a quartz crystal nearly two feet long.
I bade adieu to Beechworth with regret. I would very willingly have stayed a week here, as there are several places I would like to have seen before returning to town; but the inexorable claims of business would not admit of further delay. I look forward, however, on a future day to again having the pleasure of visiting the capital of the Ovens.
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