In 2008 Beechworth celebrates the sesquicentenary of its nationally significant collection of gold era buildings known as the Historic & Cultural Precinct.
Indigo Shire Council will kick off a year of activities marking the 150th milestone of the Heritage Victoria, National Estate and National Trust-listed buildings with a public Open Day on Sunday 2 March offering free access to Precinct buildings, re-enactments and stalls.
Several of the buildings, including the Courthouse where Ned Kelly and his mother Ellen famously appeared, the Telegraph Station, and Gold Warden’s Office were completed in 1858. Built of local honey-coloured granite, they replaced the weatherboard structures that sprang up soon after gold was discovered in 1852. By then more than 8000 miners were camped on Beechworth’s Spring and Reid’s Creek goldfields alone, and as the population grew, so to did the need for improved services such as law and order, communications, town planning, education, goldfields management and local government.
Still with its original furniture and fittings, the Beechworth Courthouse is the jewel in the Precinct crown. Completed in June 1858, it operated continuously as a working Court for 131 years and has been the setting for some of the most fascinating court cases in Victoria’s history.
Ned Kelly appeared there twice, including his committal hearing over the murders of Constables Lonigan and Scanlon. Ned’s mother Ellen Kelly received a three-year jail sentence for the attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick and Elizabeth Scott, the first woman executed in Victoria, received the death sentence in this building.
Robert O’Hara Burke the ill-fated explorer, and Police Superintendent in Beechworth from 1854-58, once sat at the bench and Justice Sir Redmond Barry presided over many trials there. Sir Isaac Isaacs started his legal career here before rising to become Australia’s first native-born Governor-General.
The Precinct also includes the Chinese Protector’s Office, the Gold Warden’s Office.
Police Stables, Police Lockup, Police Reserve, Town Hall, Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum and the Powder Magazine, located a short distance from the Precinct complex.
The 150th anniversary of the Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct will be commemorated throughout the year.
Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct FREE PUBLIC OPEN DAY, Sunday 2 March, 10am – 2pm.
For more information or to book a Ned Kelly or Gold Walking Tour, contact the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre, phone 1300 366 321 or visit www.beechworthonline.com.au
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