Beechworth, Victoria

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Beechworth (36°21′S 146°41′E, altitude 550 m, population 4000) is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. Beechworth is part of the broader region known as the Ovens.

Beechworth's many historical buildings are well preserved and the town is now a popular tourist destination and growing wine-producing centre.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Gold 1.2 Colourful characters 1.2.1 Robert O'Hara Burke 1.2.2 Ned Kelly 1.2.3 George B. Kerferd 2 Newspapers 3 Tourism 4 Books on Beechworth 4.1 Histories 4.2 Local Histories 4.2.1 Unpublished thesis 4.3 Biography 4.4 Fictional novel set in part around Beechworth 4.5 Food 4.6 Rail 4.7 Chinese goldminers in the region 5 External links

[edit] History

Originally used for grazing by the settler David Reid, the area was known as Mayday Hills until 1853, when it was renamed Beechworth.

[edit] Gold

In its golden heyday from 1852-1857, this was a fabulous gold region and centre of government; but its power, wealth and influence were short lived. At its wildest moments of gold discoveries, Woods related how an early party of prospectors retrieved a pan of gold weighing 14 lb (about 7kg).(p. 10.) Another lucky party, said Woods, cleared some 50lb (approx. 25 kg) of gold in a week.(p. 16.) And so began a rush into this remote region.

At the time, Beechworth was far removed from the centre of colonial administration in Melbourne both in distance and time taken to travel. The railway arrived in September 1876, but by that stage the town and its gold production was waning.

Nevertheless, Beechworth town boasted a range of industries including, a tannery, jewellers, boot makers, a brewery, blacksmiths, livestock sale yards. It had schools, a convent, hotels, a prison with imposing stone walls, a hospital, a mental hospital, court house, police barracks, stage coach companies and a powder magazine.

In its golden days, men and women arrived from, the USA, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and China. At its peak, Beechworth town had some 3,100 residents. The Chinese were not allowed live in Beechworth town and resided on the outskirts. Numerous controls and enforced regulations and licence checks existed against these miners.(see: Woods; also McWaters; also O'Brien; and Cronin). Beechworth Cemetery has a large preserved section of early Chinese miners/pioneers. The presence of the Chinese goldminers around Beechworth and throughout northeastern region created social unrest and these are recorded in a variety of the book references below.

[edit] Colourful characters

Like many Australian country towns associated with the early goldfields, Beechworth had its share of colourful characters and villains. Among the infamous during the 1870s was, the one time, Livery Stable owner, later the 'Dog Officer', at some other time the 'Pound Officer' and another time shire revenue officer; John Phelan. (O'Brien, 'Awaiting Ned Kelly' & Jones, The Friendship, p. 29.) Phelan was a continual litigant, correspondent to the newspapers and advertiser. His official and officious escapades were mockingly reported in the local paper.(O'Brien)

[edit] Robert O'Hara Burke

Robert O'Hara Burke, leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition was stationed in Beechworth as Senior Inspector of Police from 1854 to 1857.([1]. Policeman John Sadlier one of the of the Kelly Gang pursuers was also stationed in Beechworth during its early days.(Harvey)

The Burke Museum is located in Loch Street and holds a rich source of primary materials on Beechworth and the surrounding districts golden past. Source materials include newspapers, photos, artefacts, clothings, paintings, exhibitions, published local histories and unpublished theses on the district and displays dating back to the gold discoveries, early Chinese miners and workings of the 1850s. For family and academic researchers this museum is a gold mine.

[edit] Ned Kelly

The outlaw Ned Kelly had many links to Beechworth - he spent time in HM Prison Beechworth and fought a famous boxing bout with Isaiah 'Wild" Wright in the back of a local hotel [2]. Aaron Sherritt and Joe Byrne of the Kelly Gang came from the Woolshed goldmining camp, outside of Beechworth town.

[edit] George B. Kerferd

George B. Kerferd (1836-1889) a long time resident of Beechworth became a Premier of Victoria and was a major participant in ensuring Beechworth had a railway connection to Melbourne.

[edit] Newspapers

In its golden heydays Beechworth boasted two influential newspapers: The Ovens and Murray Advertiser and The Constitution and Mining Intelligencer. These papers engaged in fierce competition and for a while were daily issues. The papers circulated far and wide throughout the district and the colony of Victoria.(O'Brien) Both papers represented the views of their respective readerships sometimes to the exclusion of all others.(O'Brien) Even today, these old papers are an important historical research tool, as most editions from the early 1850 survive and are micro-filmed. These two local papers provided rich primary sources for many historians of Beechworth and its surrounds, plus the Kelly Gang historians.(See: Woods (1985); McMahon (2000); Lane (1978); McQuilton (1979); Jones (1995); McWaters (2002); O'Brien (2005); and Wild & McMahon (2006))

The Ovens and Murray Advertiser still survives as a local paper.

[edit] Tourism

Bechworth is a popular tourist destination. Attractions include Ned Kelly themed displays at the old court house and the Beechworth Bakery.

[edit] Books on Beechworth

Considering the present nature of the town, a surprising range and variety of books exist on Beechworth town and its adjoining goldfield camps, its surrounds and its heady goldfield days. These include numerous histories, a treasure of local histories, theses, material on bushrangers, police, Chinese, riots, the coming and going of the railway and; fictional novels set in the district.

[edit] Histories

• Griffiths, Tom. Beechworth: An Australian Country Town and its Past, Greenhouse, North Melbourne, 1987. (solid research piece on a post-gold boom town and its re-invention)
• McQuilton, John. The Kelly Outbreak 1878-1880, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1979. (wonderful insight into the Kelly Outbreak in NE Victoria and its geographical causes)
• O'Brien, Antony. Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: The 1859 Election, Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005. (a solid, somewhat controversial piece with good insights into the social conflicts which emerged on the Ovens goldfield during an election year)
• Woods, Carole. Beechworth: A Titan's Field, Hargreen, North Melbourne, 1985. (a wide ranging solid research piece on Beechworth from its earliest days 1830s to the late 1800s)
• Williams, Jennifer. Listen to what they say, 2005. (a sound oral history of the town from the early 1900s to the modern era)
• Cronin, Kathryn. Colonial Casualties: Chinese in Early Victoria, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1997, (encompasses the Chinese miners of Northeastern Victoria)

[edit] Local Histories

• Clarke, Stan. How Old is Your Grandma, Beechworth, 1987. (on the district's freemasons)
• Harvey, R. C. Background to Beechworth: From 1852, Albury, 1952 (plus subsequent editions)
• Lane, Leo. History of the Parish of Beechworth 184-1978, Parish of Beechworth, 1978. (on the Catholics of the district)
• McMahon, D. M. The Golden Gum Tree: Hiram Allen Crawford, 1832-1916, Brisbane, 2000. (on an American pioneer in the district)
• McWaters, Vivine. Beechworth's Little Canton, Albury, 2002 (on the Chinese goldminers at Spring Creek)
• Shennan, M. Rosalyn. The 1855 Ovens Election and the Gold horseshoes, Noble Park, 1990. (on an election event in 1855)
• Shennan, M. Rosalyn. A Biographical Dictionary of the Pioneers of the Ovens and Townsmen of Beechworth, Noble Park, 1990. (a valuable resource tool for goldfields family researchers)
• Wild, Christine, G. & McMahon, Denise, H. Old News Today: Tales of the Upper Murray: newspaper snippets from 1876-1900, McClure, Wodonga, 2006 (local newspaper cuttings 1876-1900 with hundreds of family names and events)

[edit] Unpublished thesis

• O'Brien, Antony. "Awaiting Ned Kelly: Rural Malise in Notheastern Victoria 1872-73", B.A. (Hons), 1999. (sighted in Burke Museum.)(a prelude to the Kelly outbreak)

[edit] Biography

• Sadlier, J. Recollections of a Victoria Police Officer, 1913. (includes an insight into the land turmoils surrounding the Kelly Gang)
• Gee, Margaret. A Long Way from Silver Creek, 2000. (a moving account of growing up in post-war Beechworth)
• Jones, Ian. Ned Kelly a Short Life, Lothian, Port Melbourne, 1995.
• Jones, Ian. The Friendship that destroyed Ned Kelly: Joe Byrne and Aaron Sherritt, Lothian, Port Melbourne, 1992

[edit] Fictional novel set in part around Beechworth

• "O'Brien, Antony. Bye-Bye Dolly Gray, Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2006." (local lads go to the Boer War and get into more strife than Ned Kelly)

[edit] Food

• O'Toole, Tom. Secrets of the Beechworth Bakery, Bas, Melbourne, 2001. (a must indulge famous local icon)

[edit] Rail

• Larsen, Wal. The MayDay Hills Railway, Wal Larsen, Bright, 1976.

[edit] Chinese goldminers in the region

• Kaufman, R. J. The Chinese on the Upper Ovens Goldfields: 1855-1920, LRGM, Bright, 1997. ISBN 0 646 34017 4
• Groom, Jocelyn. Chinese Pioneers of the King Vally, Centre for Continuing Education, Wangaratta, 2001. ISBN 0 909760 23 3
• Talbot, Diann. The Buckland Valley Goldfield, Specialty Press, Albury, 2004 ISBN 0 9757170 0 6

[edit] External links

• http://www.beechworth.com.au
• http://www.beechworth.name
• http://www.beechworthonline.com.au
• Australian Places - Beechworth