Indigo Shire / Atauro Island Friendship Group

Indigo Shire / Atauro Island Friendship Group
Media Release

Indigo Shire is in the process of forming a Friendship Relationship with Atauro Island, just off the north coast of East Timor. We are establishing a Friendship Group in the Shire and invite you to attend our Information Day at The Old Priory on December 8th.

To assist our find raising efforts, entry for adults is by gold coin donation, children are free.

From 11.00am until 5pm there will be information stands in the grounds of the Old Priory representing H.I.A.M Health; the Australian East Timor Association (Melb); Great Divide Coffee Roasting (Fair Trade Coffee tastings); the unique eco-tourism development on Atauro Island and established Local Government Friendship Groups.

At 12.00 Gabrielle Samson will speak to a slide presentation about life on Atauro Island. A Community development worker, Gabrielle has worked on Atauro Island for more than 10 years. She originally went to the island to start a kindergarten and then began working with the high school. She has also helped the community start their own development organisation.

At 12.30 There is a singing workshop where we will learn the tune “Mai Mai O Nia Rain” a simple song in Tetum that we can sing together at the evening concert.

1.30 – 3.00 Workshop “What is a Friendship Group?” The aim of this workshop is to provide information to our community about the work and workings of other local government friendship groups and we are looking for ideas from within our own community on how we can support our friendship community, Atauro Island.

Guest speakers will include Gabrielle Samson, community development worker on Atauro Island for more than ten years; Dr.Wendy Connor who works on Atauro Island as a volunteer doctor and representatives from established local government friendship groups.

At 3.30 we are showing the very moving film, “A Hero’s Journey.” Entry is $5 Adults and children are free.

For more information about the day’s program, contact conthw@westnet.com.au.


The information day will be followed by a great concert in the evening featuring Bhan Tre, Braemar and Red Rock. These performers and the sound technician, Darren Christie, are all donating their time and Pam & Graeme at the Old Priory are donating their lovely venue.

The concert begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are $25 adults and $10 children. For more information and bookings, call (03) 5728 2275 or 0428 286 556. All proceeds from the concert will go to H.I.A.M Health. The concert is “café-style” with only 100 tickets available. The three bands have a great following in the North East and we suggest you book your tickets early

Relay for Human Rights on Olympic Agenda - Global Torch Relay to arrive in Beechworth 2nd December 2007

Following a two-month long European passage with its last stop being in the UK, the Global Human Rights Torch Relay (GHRTR) arrived in Australia, Sydney 27th October for a national tour.

The Torch arrived in Melbourne on the 16th November, and as part of the Victorian leg of the relay, will be received in Beechworth on the 2nd of December.


Torch Relay 9am – 10:30am

Main street Shopping Centre

Inspired by the Olympic torch relay, the GHRTR is an international campaign that seeks to put human rights on the Beijing Olympic agenda. The 12-month global relay calls for an end to all human rights violations committed by the Chinese communist regime. It highlights the persecution of Falun Gong, the most severely persecuted group in China today, the plight of Tibetans, Christians, democracy campaigners, outspoken lawyers and reporters, as well as the fueling of oppression and slaughter in Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

During the run up to the 2008 Olympics, the GHRTR will visit more than 100 cities on five continents to publicise its founding premise that the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China.

The GHRTR was initiated by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) which consists of over three hundred legislators, religious leaders, lawyers, medical doctors and human rights advocates from Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania. Established in 2006 its aim is to go into China to independently investigate the persecution of Falun Gong, especially the reported crimes of organ harvesting. www.cipfg.org

The GHRTR is sponsored and supported globally by Asia-Pacific Human Rights Watch Charitable Trust and All-China Alliance for Protecting Human Rights & Opposing Violence, and in Australia by Free China, Darfur Australia Network (DAN), Democracy for Burma (D4B), Tibetan, Vietnamese and many other communities and organisations as well as the Chinese pro-democracy movement.

Media contact: Philippa Rayment 0417 371 305
Website: www.HumanRightsTorch.org

Beechworth Visitor Information Centre News

The Beechworth Visitor Information Centre has been extremely busy booking accommodation and selling tickets to the Celtic Festival and Opera in the Alps. Over the Melbourne Cup break accommodation in Beechworth was very nearly sold out! There was an increase in visitor numbers for September as well as email and phone enquiries.

The Beechworth VIC is taking part in a program along with a number of other accredited Victoria information centres to collect data from visitors by getting them to complete a questionnaire. The end results will be used to help in identifying the value of visitor information centres to local communities and assisting to increase tourism yield in the future. The Beechworth online operators of the month for November are Colby Cottages, Railtrail Retreat, The Beechworth Sweet Company and Alba Country Rose B&B.

FIRST DEMAND FOR POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN 1853 Memorial Unveiled At Beechworth

The first demand for wider political representation in the Victorian Legislative Council was made at Madman’s Gully, Beechworth at a public meeting of about 800 gold diggers on 2ndApril 1853. It was a continuation of the underlying conflict about injustice and civil liberties which was first manifest in Victoria at Buninyong in August 1851 following the discovery of gold there. Meetings followed at all the major Victorian Goldfields, Mt Alexander, Bendigo and Ballarat. By April 1853 in Beechworth the diggers were disappointed that repeated requests for action to address injustice had been ignored or brushed aside. The demand for representation was seen as the only way to be heard and “to accomplish your objects and obtain your rights”. The unrest and conflict continued across the Victorian goldfields and culminated tragically in the Eureka Rebellion of 3rd December,1854 in Ballarat.

At Madman’s Gully, Beechworth in April 1853 as the rain poured down speakers called for the diggers to have a voice in the Legislative Council:

“Diggers must have a voice in the Council, if you will only combine together, hold meetings such as the present, express your will in a firm and detemined manner, you will accomplish your objects and obtain your rights; there is no need of force and of arms; for reason, mind, intelligence, are all-sufficent for the attainment of your rights. I trust this is not the last meeting that will assemble here, and that diggers will never rest till fairly represented in the Council.”
George Black, Chartist, later a founding member of the Ballarat Reform League


“Do you know what the word representation means? Of course you do! It means that if those who by wealth, or station, or authority, are placed over you, do wrong, you have the power of compelling them to do right. At present you have no such power ... This should not be.”
Dr J.D. Owens, Diggers’ representative, Reeds Creek Petition.
From “The Argus” Friday 8th April 1853

A Memorial Plaque will be placed alongside Stanley Road, Beechworth (Madman’s Gully) and be given to the Indigo Shire by the Ballarat Reform League Inc. This is the sixth plaque placed by the Ballarat Reform League Inc across Victorian goldfields marking the sites of major activity that led to the Eureka Rebellion and the beginnings of democratic reforms to our system of government. The project is generously supported by The Vera Moore Foundation.

An invitation is extended to the public to attend the unveiling of the plaques by Professor Weston Bate at 3pm Thursday 15th November 2007 at Stanley Road, Beechworth. The Rutherglen Brass Band will play “St Patrick’s Day in the Morning” as did Mashford’s Band from Madman’s Gully in 1853. There will be many who will be hoping that it will once again pour with rain as we commemorate that original meeting.

Media contacts: Professor Weston Bate (03) 9592 0657
Tony Moran (03) 5341 2369
John Semmens 0408 318 325

Friends Of The Beechworth Golden Horseshoes Festival

Friends Of The Beechworth Golden Horseshoes Festival

6:00pm Wednesday 5th December 2007 – Rotary Park

BYO BBQ - Information night and get together.

Some of the duties that we could ask your help with:

· Casual Volunteering from now and at the festival

· Raise Funds - Raffle

· Help on food stall

· Deliver Brochures

· Supply billets for entertainers.

· Donate goods for food stall

· Take photos during the festival

· Supply advice when needed

· Sponsor an activity

· $5.00 membership

Volunteers will be given a badge to wear when volunteering to show their help and support for this great historic event. The Golden Horseshoes Festival has been a part of Beechworth’s history initially since Daniel Cameron rode the horse with the golden horseshoes down Ford Street in 1855 and then from the 1960’s.


For more information ring Leo on 5728 1873

Burke Museum on the hunt for hidden collections as Cabinet of Curiosities comes to town

14 November 2007

Beechworth’s Burke Museum is on a treasure hunt for weird and wonderful local collections to showcase in the Cabinet of Curiosities, on loan from the National Museum of Australia from January to June next year as part of a national tour.

The museum is keen to hear from any individuals or local organisations with a distinctive, bizarre, ornamental, sentimental or just plain ordinary collection of objects small enough to fit into one of the 35 drawers of the Cabinet.

Burke Museum Collections Officer, Linda Peacock, said the exhibition would provide a fascinating insight into the nature of collecting as well as the community from which the collections will be drawn.

“The items maybe as everyday as a collection of ballet shoes from a local dance company or decks of cards from a local Euchre club. The Cabinet of Curiosities is very much about reflecting the interests and concerns of the community and offering local people the chance to involve themselves directly in the process of curating their own exhibition.”

She said that one of the more unsettling inclusions would be a collection of contraband seized from former inmates of the historic Beechworth Prison. Mostly homemade weapons, these sinister objects are remarkable for their simplicity and sheer ingenuity.

The Cabinet of Curiosities was originally developed for a major exhibition at the National Museum in Canberra. An eccentric pyramid of 35 drawers jutting out at odd angles, it was inspired by the original Wunderkammers - Cabinets of Wonder or wonder-rooms, whose intriguing collections belonged to those aristocrats, monarchs or merchants who could afford to create and maintain them. They were usually made from exotic and expensive materials and often filled with contents and ornamental details intended to reflect the entire cosmos on a miniature scale.

In the 17th Century a Cabinet of Curiosities could contain specimens collected during exploration and trading voyages such as preserved animals, tusks, skeletons, botanical and cultural artefacts.

The Cabinet of Curiosities arrives in Beechworth in January after a successful season at the Albury Library Museum, and ahead of a tour to the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery in Hobart (July – December 2008) and the Pioneer Museum in Zeehan, Tasmania (January – July 2009).

For more information about including a collection in the

Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition in Beechworth, contact

Linda Peacock, Burke Museum, phone (03) 5728 8067



Cabinet of Curiosities

Where: Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum

Address: Loch St, Beechworth
Dates: January – June 2008

Congratulations to Iris Mannik

Congratulations to Iris Mannik - Winner of the Dame Phyllis Frost Award

Iris is a very keen supporter of the Sustainable Communities - Tidy Towns awards and views it as a testament to all of the work conducted by volunteers in support of their communities. Iris is able to talk to primary school children about their interests in the environment as easily as she is helping elders work through plans for a heritage project to celebrate the influence of Aboriginal people of the area. Most country towns can boast at least one person like Iris, who can draw together people with diverse interests and help turn individual crusades into community projects. Her enthusiasm, expertise and willingness to give up her time have been instrumental in many of the exciting and innovative projects getting off the ground. Iris' pride in Beechworth and the community shines through at all times; she is a wonderful ambassador for her region and worthy winner of this award,

The winner of the Dame Phyllis Frost Award is chosen by Keep Australia Beautiful Council and the Tidy Town Judges.

Iris now goes on to Swansea in Tasmania for the National Awards in March 2008.
Congratulations Iris from all the team at the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre!