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xenith
On the eighth day of August, in the year 69
On a lovely spring morning, the weather being fine
A bolter from Pentridge, Jack Power by name
An aspirant for the gallows, to Beechworth he came
Well armed, well mounted, the troops for his foes
To a scrub for concealment the highway man goes
From Beechworth to the Buckland and on the highway
Run Cobb & Co's coaches by night and by day
From Bushranger Jack Power
Why go to Beechworth?
Because it's there.
Seriously :) When I was planning my Melbourne trip, I had a vague idea for an overnight side trip. While I was looking into buses and accommodation this website for old gold town came up. It looked like an interesting place, if I ever got up that way with a car. My plans weren't working out, but then it occurred to me I could make it longer and add on a trip to somewhere else. So I pulled out a map, but Beechworth is off the highway a way so it was probably hard to get to. I checked timetables and, no, there were regular services and the times looked good, so I pulled out Excel and started working out an itinerary that seemed like it might actually work. It did mean my two days in Melbourne would be on the weekend though. Of course, if I'd realised the amount of ringing up I'd have to do to arrange all this, I wouldn't have got started. Fortunately, I didn't.
That morning I managed to sleep-in until 6.30. There didn't appear to be any hot water available, either in the bathroom or the basin in my room. Given that the heater in the room barely heated it (I took to sitting on the floor with my back against the side of the heater) and the shaking-cold hallway, I wasn't really surprised. I had planned to get up early, to get some photos before the traffic appeared, but 7 am was a touch earlier than I wanted.
It was cold out, but by the time I put on two tops, a jumper, coat and scarf, it wasn't unpleasant.
I walked down to what is called the Historic Precinct, the focus of which is five stone buildings (from left to right, from memory) Warder's Office, Chinese Protector's Office & Sub-Treasury.
Courthouse & Telegraph Station. Other than the Sub-Treasury, each building is open for some period between 9 am and 4 pm. While I am waiting for the first to open, I go for a walk around the rest of the town.
Tanswell's Commercial Hotel
The Hospital Facade is marked on my map, so I thought I'd walk past to see what was there.
"The Ovens Goldfield Hospital. Open 1857. Completed 1864. Closed and Dismantled 1940.
"The hospital served the whole of N.E. Victoria & was the first & for a time, the only hospital between Melbourne & Goulburn N.S.W. It was one of the finest hospitals in the colony. In its first five years it admitted and treated 3600 hospitals. It had 100 beds & an isolation ward."
I intended to just take a photo and walk on
but an "empty" building and low morning sun was too tempting.
The next thing on the map was the Powder Magazine. This is open on weekends and school holidays, but not Thursdays, I thought I might as well walk down there now.
Down it was too, at the bottom of a steep hill, and rather cold. Cold on fingers and toes and nose :(
A dubious name for a street, I think.
From website"
"Restored by the National Trust in 1966, this building is a unique addition to the precinct. With its thick, granite walls it once was a storage room for gunpowder. Miners by law were required to leave bulk gunpowder in this building overnight."
Still, by the time I got back to the hotel, I certainly wasn't cold! Hotel provided a free breakfast. Just cereal, toast and a drink, but it was free and worth wandering back between 8 and 9 to take advantage off. And change socks which kept getting wet when I was wondering around in cold grass. Still couldn't find any hot water though :(
Finally, at 9 am, I headed down to the Information Centre in the Town Hall. Here I bought a ticket to get into the precinct buildings. They all offered two walking tours, each covering a different aspect of the town's history, so in the spirit of getting through as much as possible, I signed up for both. The first was at 10.30 am, so I had an hour and half free. I looked at the places that opened at 9 am and decided which take the longest to look through, and headed for the courthouse.
From the information leaflet provided:
Built in 1858 of local honey coloured granite at a cost of £3730. It was the central Court of the "Northern Bailiwick" during the gold rush era and closed as a Court House in 1989 after 131 years of continual service. The Court had many roles. It served as a Magistrates Court, Court of Petty Sessions, County Court, Court of Assize (Supreme Court), Insolvency Court, Mining Wardens Court and Court of General Sessions. The Court sat every 12 weeks when the appointed Judge would arrive from Melbourne in his horse drawn vehicle. The lesser Courts were held at more regular intervals.
The benches form the Public Gallery (men only), the table and chairs are for the bar lawyers and prosecutors. On the right is the Jury Box. On the other wall, beside the fireplace, is the Dock (which figures in this image, which is reproduced on the wall there) and beside that the Reporters Bench. At the front of the room, are two Witnesses Boxes (only one visible here), the Clerk of Courts (table?) and the Judges Bench.
Looking at it from the other end, the Ladies Galley above can be seen. The door underneath that leads to a porch and the one on the right to the Barristers Room, which was either locked or had nothing of interest in it because I have no photos.
The door between the Dock and the Reporters Bench leads to a short corridor with holding cells on either side.
From the men's holding cell, which was probably used at some point by almost everyone who will get mentioned during the rest of the day, through to the women's holding cell, which has an information panel on two women who spent time there. The first is Elizabeth Scott, a young women who was tried in 1863 for the murder of her husband, twenty one years her senior. Along with Julian Cross and David Gedge, who were accused of actually doing the killing at Elizabeth's request, she was sentenced to be hanged and sent to Melbourne Gaol where she became the first woman hanged in Victoria. Evidence from the trial suggested that Elizabeth and David were lovers. Standing on the gallows, she turned to the man beside her and said "Will you not clear me, Davey?", but he either didn't hear her or ignored her.
Beside the printed board describing how Elizabeth waited in this room for her trial, is a correction pointing out this room was created as part of alterations to the courthouse in 1864 and therefore didn't exist in 1863, and the supposed picture of her is just a generic image.
The other women mentioned is Ellen Kelly, who in 1878 was tried for the attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick with a shovel. She got 3 years, most of which would be served in Melbourne Gaol, which pissed off her sons somewhat. They retreated into the bush, to scrape up some gold to finance an appeal and probably plot evil schemes against police. When a police party went in to try and bring them in, they shot and killed three of them.
Library
Judges Chambers. I notice my tolerance for timers and slow shutter speeds has dropped off now. It's going to be a long day.
One name associated with Beechworth who didn't spend time in the holding cells is Isaac Isaacs who apparently started his law career here. I think by that, he developed an interest in law, rather than working in it. He went on to be a high court judge, politician and attorney-general, but he's best known as the first Australian-born Governor-General, to the king's displeasure. Of the early GG's, he is the one whose name seems to come up the most, in all sort of places. (Actually, delete that 'early') When I went to Home Hill last year, as an example, the tour guide points out the bible that was used was Joseph Lyons was sworn in as Prime Minister. Apparently it was significanct to Joe that he, being Catholic, swore on a Protestant bible in front of Jewish Governor-General, because weren't many places in the world where that could happen.
"Clerk of the Peace' it says on the door, 'Administration' on my information leaflet. From a map on the wall of the 1864 additions, this room was divided in the Clerk's Office and Judge's Bedroom.
There is a display in there of police uniforms and equipment.
Back in the courtroom, in the dock oh no!, you can see both witness boxes, one for sworn evidence (for Christian witnesses who would swear on the Bible) and one for unsworn evidence. You might get an idea from this photo, how crowded the room is. There is not enough space there to actually walk between the dock and the witness box, it's more a sort of squeeze. When I left, I commented on this lack of space to the guy on the desk and he said the room used to be smaller.
The door in the back corner goes into the Judges Chamber. The door on the right to a short corridor between the Clerk's room and the Jury Room.
Jury Room. Common Jurors and Special Jurors each had their own ballot boxes from which their names would be selected.
That's the Special Jurors ballot box. I forget the reason for the distinction and the extra qualification needed to be eligible to be a Special Juror, but there were less of them.
Town Hall, from the Courthouse.
On leaving the Courthouse, I still had a bit of time until the start of the walking tour, so I went up to the Forestry Heritage Museum in what used to be the Gold Warden's. Office (leftmost building) I think my brain was full up by then. Certainly, I wasn't engaging with what I was looking at. Definitely was going to be a long day.
I had still had time left, so I walked up past the gaol to the back of the block
where there is an open area that used to be the Police Reserve. On the side of the road is a photo of the area from 1858 when there were "several buildings on the land including the police barracks, officers and superintendents quarters, stables and police kitchen. Only the lock-up and police stables remain, most other buildings were removed after 1958." From website
The police superintendent from 1854 to 1858 was Robert O'Hara Burke. When he was transferred away in 1858, the people of Beechworth presented him with a pair of pistols, one of which he was carrying when he died. (The ADB entry linked to there is not as dry as biography articles are usually expected to be. "The Burke and Wills expedition, as it has since been called, is a puzzling affair because there seems to have been no sufficient reason for it beyond the desire of the colonists of Victoria, which gold had made mighty, to make it mightier yet by 'taking the lead' in exploration, in which it had not even taken the first step.")
Little stone lock-up, which doesn't look anything like a toilet block. Nope. Quite obvious in the photo, part of it has been removed but I don't know what was there originally. As it is, it's said to be men on the left and women on the right.
Mrs Kelly was apparently held in one of these for 3 months prior to her trial, with her infant daughter, while friends were trying to arrange bail. So that would be from April to July. Cold! No doubt her son spent time in the other, and I do recall being told a story involving Wild Wright but I can't remember enough to make a stab at retelling it.
Former police stables. Beyond them, you can see the gaol. Behind me is the current police station (the modern design of which is the source of some grumbling within the town) so the area has retained a link with its earlier purpose.
Now it is almost 10.30 so I shall go over to the much warmer Information Centre to wait for the start of the first walking tour, and I guess that is a good place to stop for today.
Part II
