Beechworth – an historical town

Jun 05, 2017

This is part of a series of articles by Gillian Johnston as she travels with AAT Kings.The first article was ‘The Puffing Billy Train‘ and the second article was ‘A farm of a different kind at Kangaroo Island pairs nicely with the local wine‘, the third article was ‘The Australian War Memorial Tour‘ and the fourth was ‘A unique Tower Hill experience‘.

I am absolutely amazed at the amount of history that can be found in one town in Victoria. Some of the treasures of Beechworth are the now famous large bunya and redwood trees, the courthouse and cells below, the old telegraph house and post office with its railway and telephone displays, and of course the very famous Beechworth Honey.

One of the first things to be noticed in Beechworth was the extremely large bunya pine trees and redwood trees in the local park. When the bunya pines grow to such an age, although they may only fruit every few years, they become a liability as they can do a lot of damage from the huge football size nuts falling on people’s heads. The nuts can grow to over a foot (30.5cm) in length and weigh 5kg to 10kg. Not only have they had trouble with the nuts, one of the large bunya trees had fallen over recently and needed to be removed.

One of the first things you will notice about Beechworth are the large bunya pines and redwood trees in the park. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
One of the first things you will notice about Beechworth are the large bunya pines and redwood trees in the park. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
The nuts from the large bunya pines can be quite a hazard. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
The nuts from the large bunya pines can be quite a hazard. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.

At the top of the park were number of arched doors, one of which led to the Holding cells for the Courthouse.

There were three cells with dirt floor and one was approximately 4m x 3m. The second cell was only 2m x 4 m. An iron grid had been built into the prison door so the prisoner could see out. Actually one of the cells became known as the Harry Power Cell. Power was a ‘gentleman bushranger’ in the late 1800s and made seven appearances at Beechworth Court House, spending considerable time in the holding cells.

Apparently there was also storage vaults and a fire engine house on this level. A steep spiral wooden staircase led up to the Town Hall from here. The Town Hall entrance was on the main street opposite a number of very old stone buildings including the post office, the Ned Kelly vault, and the Telegraph House.

This section of the main street where the houses are built with large sandstone bricks stood out as a different era from the main town. If you look a little closer there are some exceptional historical displays inside. For example, inside the Ned Kelly vault was the largest collection of Kelly Gang articles and associated memorabilia in the world, preserving the history of Ned’s reign in the region. This memorabilia included a lot of Ned Kelly outfits and his gun and the history of the bushranger.

In Australia, the history of the great bushranger Ned Kelly is generally taught to in school, so coming across Beechworth with a lot of Ned Kelly and gold rush history, was not a surprise to all. Also not surprising were the numbers of school children, going from building to building with their teachers.

Inside the post office next door was a full display of telephones from different eras, and another display in the back room was about the history of the trains in that town. A perfect opportunity for the local children to come and learn some history. As we went into each building we were soon followed by class-loads of children.

There was even an old telephone box from the ’50s that had to be wound on the side to get the operator and the speaking would be done directly into the microphone on the front of the box.

One of the greatest attractions that was offered in the post office was the sending of a telegram by morse code. The postmaster was an expert on morse code and could very quickly send the message to anywhere in Australia. For the simple price of $2 we could send a telegram by morse code and it would be delivered a few days later.

Send your name in morse code. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
Send your name in morse code. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
For the simple price of $2 you can send a telegram by morse code and it would be delivered a few days later. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.
For the simple price of $2 you can send a telegram by morse code and it would be delivered a few days later. Photo courtesy Gillian Johnston.

Venturing up the street into the main section of the town was Beechworth Honey, which is now very famous across Australia. Beekeeping is a very hard business to undertake and can take a lot of travel to be able to find the right fragrance for the honey.

The family as it grew, found it was traveling up to 600km a week to find the right honey.

Everything in the production factory was done by hand until 1998, when it was slowly automated.

They have built an international brand with very little money for marketing, consultants, advertising and all the normal business needs.

The honey, and its quality has certainly gained a name for itself with the very Australian Outback honey and Bushfood Honey only a couple of products they offer.

Our tour to Beechworth with AAT Kings, was and a very interesting place to visit, packed full of local history.

Have you been to Beechworth, Victoria? What are your experiences? Is a trip around Victoria in Australia on your bucket list?

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