Many excellent buildings were built in Beechworth using the profits from the gold and, unusually and fortunately for us, many of those buildings still exist. The town has 32 buildings classified by the National Trust.
These buildings include:
-- H M (Her Majesty's) Training Prison, where the outlaw Ned Kelly and his mother were imprisoned before Ned's trial
-- the Courthouse, where Ned Kelly was put on trial
-- Tanswell's Hotel
-- the Post Office
-- the Horseshoe Monument.
When you visit Beechworth, you should some of the town's fascinating museums, including:
-- the Burke Museum, which displays relics of the gold rush, a replica of the main street as it was over 100 years ago (the Burke Museum is dedicated to Robert Burke O'Hara, who was the Beechworth's Superintendant of Police in the 1850s before he achieved fame but lost his life in the expedition, led by him and fellow explorer, William John Wills, which set off from Melbourne in 1860 in an ill-fated attempt to cross the Australian continent and reach the Gulf of Carpentaria and the northern coast)
-- the Carriage Museum, which houses many old carriages, including a genuine Cobb and Co. coach.
While in Beechworth, you should not forget to see:
-- the Chinese burning towers
-- the Beechworth cemetery.
If you drive 5 km (3 miles) out along the Gorge Scenic Drive, you will see:
-- the Spring and Reid Creeks (where many gold miners lived and worked back in 1852);
-- the Powder Magazine (1875); and
-- natural features, including Flat Rock, Telegraph Rock, and Woolshed Falls.
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Author: David Paul Wagner
(David Paul Wagner on Google+)
