Visitors to Beechworth and locals re-acquainting themselves with the delights of their home town can explore free of charge the Historic & Cultural Precinct this Sunday 2 March between 10am and 2pm.
The Precinct Open Day is the first of a number of activities being planned by Indigo Shire Council during 2008 to mark the 150th anniversary of the nationally significant collection of gold era buildings known as the Historic & Cultural Precinct.
Open Day activities include the recreation of a police camp in the Police Paddocks and marching drills by the Mansfield Re-enactment Group, Precinct guides in period costume, souvenir stalls and more.
The Heritage Victoria, National Estate and National Trust-listed buildings include the Courthouse where Ned Kelly and his mother Ellen famously appeared, the Telegraph Station which still operates as a centre for Telegram transmission, the Gold Warden’s Office, Chinese Cultural Centre, Powder Magazine and Burke Museum where the fascinating Cabinet of Wonders: Treasure from the Beechworth Community exhibition is currently on show.
Several of the buildings 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.
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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