The originalsuits of armour worn by all four members of the Kelly Gang at the siege of Glenrowan will feature as a major highlight of the 2010 BeechworthNed Kelly Weekend from 6 – 8 August, the BeechworthHistorical Re-enactment Group(BHRG)announced today.
The exhibition is a coup for Beechworth and marks only the fourth time since 1880 that the complete set of Kelly Gang armour has been shown, and the first time outside a capital city.
Now in its eighth year and widely regarded as this country’s most important annual celebration of the Kelly legend, the 2010 Ned Kelly Weekend will commemorate the 130th anniversary of the outlaw’scommittal hearing held in the historic Beechworth Courthouse from 6 to 11 August 1880, and his execution on 11 November 1880.
Event organizers, the Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group, will unveilthe full 2010 program at an official launch early next year.
BHRG President, Adam Wynne-Jenkins, expects the exhibition will be one of regional Victoria’s key tourism drawcards in 2010.
“Visitors to Beechworth next August will be amazed at the quality and workmanship of the armour of Australia’s most recognised artifacts,” he said.
All schools in the Indigo Shire will be invited to a free preview of the armour on Friday 6 August.
Established 2008 the BHRG is a committed living history group which recreates the Beechworth of the period 1852 to 1885. The BHRG is often seen on the streets of Beechworth and other regional centres taking part in street parades, displays and other commemorative activities including the re-enactment of the Kelly Gang robbery of the bank in Euroa in December 1878, and the Siege of Glenrowan in July 1880.
This exhibition would not have been possible without the support of the State Library of Victoria, Victoria Police Museum, Museum Victoria and Rupert Hammond in conjunction with the Indigo Shire Council for Insurance coverage and the Beechworth Bakery (The Home of Ned Kelly Pies) as the major sponsor of the event.
Crack horseman to lead 2010
Golden Horseshoes Parade
Horse breaker, whisperer, trainer, accomplished show jumper and blacksmith, Mike Orton (pictured above), will recreate Daniel Cameron’s famous 1855 ride through the streets of Beechworth when he leads the spectacular Golden Horseshoes Grand Parade on a horse shod with shoes made of real gold.
His ride down Ford Street will signal the start of the Grand Parade at 1pm. Earlier - at 10:30am in the area next to the Historic Courthouse in Ford Street - visitors will have the chance to see him fit the golden shoes to his magnificent four year old Palomino colt, McLeod, one of the few “Cinderella’ horses available with the right sized hooves to fit the famed golden shoes.
The Grand Parade, which will see dozens of weird and wonderful floats compete for the annual Beechworth Bakery Perpetual Parade Trophy is a highlight of the 2010 festival, the biggest on Beechworth’s busy annual calendar which annually draws huge numbers to the town.
A new addition to this year’s event will be the world’s biggest performance of the favourite Aussie tune, Home Among the Gum Trees led by local legend, Lazy Harry. Together with local school children, he will lead an all-in performance of the song, complete with actions, by the thousands of visitors lining the streets to watch the Grand Parade.
This year also sees the return of the music stage to the Camp Street Food Court with a fabulous line-up including Lee Rosser and Nick Barker (formerly of Nick Barker and the Reptiles). Other highlights include a Monster Raffle offering prizes worth thousands of dollars, including the $2000 golden egg from Beechworth Gold, live roaming entertainment from sensational comic marching band, The Itchy Feet Pep Band, a huge Easter Egg hunt with the Easter Bunny, a Good Friday fun run and much more.
Mike Orton is available for interview. Please contact Sue Couttie, 03 5728 8061.
Full festival program details available at www.beechworthonline.com.au
Beechworth historian and author, Ian Hyndman, this week celebrates the third reprint of his popular History of Beechworth.
Fifteen years since its first publication and thousands of copies later, the booklet remains one of the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre’s most popular souvenirs.
The History of Beechworth offers a concise and very readable account of the founding and early development of one of Australia’s best-preserved Gold Era towns.
This informative little book has been presented and arranged into a fascinating trail visitors can follow around the beautiful streetscapes and key historic sites of Beechworth.
The History of Beechworth is Mr Hyndman’s sixth book on various aspects of the town’s history including three volumes devoted to his own local pioneering family, the Ladsons. Others include Out of the Goldfields – A history of Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged and Beechworth Cemetery – A stroll through history.
A hospital administrator for more than 50 years, Mr Hyndman was CEO in several Victorian hospitals including Latrobe Regional Hospital in Gippsland. He was also the Regional Director of Health in the Goulburn/North Eastern and the Gippsland regions.
With just weeks to go, preparations are in full swing for Beechworth’s biggest annual event, the Golden Horseshoes Festival, taking place across the Easter long weekend from Good Friday 2 to Easter Sunday 4 April.
This year’s major festival fundraiser is a Monster Raffle, offering more than $7000 in prizes donated by local businesses including, again this year, a fabulous $2000 golden egg from Beechworth Gold.
Golden Horseshoes Festival committee members are currently out in force armed with raffle tickets for sale at the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre and a variety of local businesses including the newsagency and hardware store as well as at Centro Albury on Tuesday 23 February and Friday and Saturday, 19 & 20 March and at Centro Lavington on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 March.
The raffle will be drawn at 2pm on Sunday 4 April in the Chinese Gardens at Lake Sambell. Proceeds will go towards this year’s Festival program, which returns, bigger and better than ever with traditional favourites including the spectacular Grand Parade which annually commemorates and re-enacts the historic ride through the streets of Beechworth in November 1855 by newly elected Victorian MP, Daniel Cameron on a horse shod with real gold shoes.
Returning this year are Rotary’s huge Easter Craft Market in the Queen Victoria Gardens and the Beechworth Neighborhood Centre’s Paddy’s Market crammed with dozens of stalls of second-hand furniture, collectables and bric-a-brac.
Other program highlights include spectacular roving entertainment from the Festive Factory, buskers, a huge Easter Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny, live music from acclaimed artists, Nick Barker and Lee Rosser on the Camp St stage, a food court and the sensational Itchy Feet Pep Band from Melbourne.
Family fun also includes the Museum of Victoria’s Discovery Program with its fascinating display of artifacts from the Museum’s collection, as well as a special Kites for Kids event on Easter Sunday.
Run for the third consecutive year by a local community committee, the Golden Horseshoes Festival annually attracts thousands of visitors to the town. Committee President Kathryn Osmond urged local groups and individuals to get into the spirit of the festival and dress up, enter a float, buy a raffle ticket or just pull up a chair in the food court and soak up the unique ambience of Easter in Beechworth.
Distinguished Australian author, chef and restaurateur, Stephanie Alexander OAM, (pictured) will
make a special guest appearance at the opening event of Beechworth’s famous Harvest Celebration in
May.
The founder of the nationally expanding Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation will be guest
speaker at the Harvest Celebration Gala Dinner at Beechworth’s Memorial Hall on Friday 14 May.
The dinner will be hosted by Barb Lowery, noted ABC food broadcaster and writer.
Guest chef, Michel Renoux, well known for dishing up superb fare at Stanley’s Galloping Goat, the Milawa
Cheese Factory restaurant, and more recently, the Ageing Frog gourmet Fish & Chip shop in Beechworth,
will prepare a fabulous feast highlighting the superb food, wine and beer of the North East Victorian
Region.
The event promises to kick off the seventeenth annual Beechworth Harvest Celebration in fine style.
With a packed program across the weekend of 14, 15 & 16 May, this years event will be bigger than ever.
Visitors to Beechworth will have the chance to meet more than 70 local growers and sample their wares
under the big marquee in Ford Street outside the famous Historic & Cultural Precinct.
This year will also see the return of Harvest Celebration favourite, the Demonstration Stage, where a host
of talented local chefs, growers, foodies, brewers and winemakers will share their secrets.
Beechworth Harvest Celebration Gala Dinner
Friday 14 May, 7pm
Memorial Hall, Ford St Beechworth
Tickets on sale from 1 March from Beechworth Visitor Information Centre,
phone 1300 366 321 or www.beechworthonline.com.au
Endymion (Australia) Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that the Press Launch of
Richard Patterson’s book, Nobblers and Lushingtons - A History of the Hotels of Beechworth and the Ovens District, will Friday, 4 December 2009.
Nobblers and Lushingtons contains 400 pages, 35 contemporary photographs and information on over 230 hotels in Beechworth and the neighbouring district, as well as the names of over 800 licensees.
Among the many issues it explores are:
- The murder of Robert Murdock, manager of a Beechworth hotel, and the possibility that he was the victim of a serial killer.
- The death of James Coyne Riley, following his accidental stabbing during the performance of a play at the Star Hotel, Beechworth.
- The dark secrets about their pasts that many of Beechworth’s earliest hotel-keepers tried to keep hidden.
- The role of women on the goldfields and the extent of prostitution in Beechworth.
- How the first man to be hanged at Beechworth Gaol had murdered a local hotelkeeper
and the links between this killing and two other appalling murders.
Richard Patterson has lived in Beechworth for 3 years and previously worked in human resource management for 35 years. Nobblers and Lushingtons is his first book.
Note: A nobbler was nineteenth century slang for a shot of spirits, while a lushington
was someone who habitually imbibed too many of them.
Beechworth has been named Victoria’s Overall Sustainable Communities - Tidy Towns winner for 2009 in a gala awards ceremony in Horsham at the weekend.
The town was recognised for its work to preserve its rich historic heritage and its environment. Judges commented on a ‘spirit of working together’ and the diversity of the projects undertaken in the town aimed to protect, enhance and promote the town’s history while moving towards sustainability.
Rutherglen was awarded the Small town Achiever Award for its commitment to make the town more sustainable through capitalising on its rich wine growing industry and associated businesses implementing a range of sustainability practices. The judges gave a special commendation in the Proud Schools section to Rutherglen Primary School for the efforts of the students to reduce their water and energy use, capturing rainwater from the roof, and reduce the amount of waste they produce. The school students also propagate and grow their own veggies and prepare meals using their own produce.
Also in the winners’ line-up was Yackandandah, which was awarded the Heritage and Culture Award for rebuilding the town’s museum after it was destroyed by fire. Judges praised the work of the Historical Society in fundraising and in rebuilding the collection.
Indigo Councillor Barb Murdoch was present at the ceremony and was full of praise for all Indigo participants.
“This is a huge tribute to Beechworth in particular, but also Rutherglen and Yackandandah,” she said. “Beechworth now goes to the national finals in Canberra in April next year.”
Cr Murdoch paid tribute to Beechworth resident Iris Mannik, who has been organising Beechworth’s participation in the awards for 14 years.
“This is a feather in her cap for Iris and all the hard work she has done over many years,” Cr Murdoch said.
Indigo Mayor Cr Peter Graham was ecstatic with the shire’s success. He paid tribute to the businesses, community groups and volunteers throughout the shire for their dedication and community spirit.
“This huge success is due to many people, but I particularly applaud the many volunteers and community groups who participate in this event,” Cr Graham said.
As Beechworth is the Victorian winner for 2009, the town will host next year’s state awards ceremony.
We are happy to say that yes the items are finally being shipped out this month
Two Bridges for the Garden
It's not a Chinese Garden without Buddah
5 Lanterns set to go in Bamboo walk in ChineseGardens Beechworth by the Pavilion
This month the Museum has been opened for 5 yrs (and boy what a road)
With having put on six festivals with the first only one week after the 2003 bush fires with the help of the Lake Sambell Committee.
Awards that we have received awards for:
Tidy Town 2001 .2002 .2003
Sustainability award sub surface irrigation system
Victorian awards for excellence in Multicultural affairs
Victorian History award Commendation BCCC&G
Personal award for 10 years service for volunteering in Multi Cultural affairs
The Gardens has seen many Chinese visitors to Beechworth we have also
sponsored the Chinese Lion team to come to Beechworth for Easter for the past three years
Sponsored the Beechworth Chinese cemetery book written and translated by Dr Kok
The BCCC has seen many school groups over the past 5 years who have all enjoy the different aspect of Beechworth and enjoy finding out what animal sign they are.
Beechworth’s Chinese Museum is dedicated to the preservation & display of Chinese History in the Ovens and District Goldfields
The Centre also has items for sale that are that little bit different to help support both the Gardens and the Museum
For those who like a dash of history mixed with their horticulture a new tour launching this weekend will offer a perfect introduction to the botanical treasures of one of Australia’s best preserved heritage towns.
The new Beechworth Town and Country Walks and Tours will take in some of Beechworth’s most significant public and private gardens and reserves, offering visitors fascinating insights into the people who created them, original designs and plantings – including some 14 trees of significance listed on the National Tree Register - and the gardens’ continuing evolution to the present day.
The new tours will complement the Historic & Cultural Precinct’s Ned Kelly and Gold walking tours led by expert guides which have become a must for tourists to the area. Visitors can also take part in Historic Courthouse tours and talks, the wildly popular Ghost Tours of historic Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum and Historic Beechworth mini-bus tours led by historian, Pat Doyle.
Chris Dormer, a passionate gardener, artist and former BeechworthBurkeMuseum programs officer is the brains behind the new Town & Country Walks and Tours. Her own piece of paradise, in the hilltop village of Stanley a few kilometres from Beechworth, has featured in the Victorian Open Garden Scheme.
Each Saturday at 2pm, departing from the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre, she will take visitors on an hour-long Public Gardens Walk, including the formal ‘pleasure gardens’ of the Town Hall, part of the Historic & Cultural Precinct, planned and planted in 1874 by Richard Hurlock Jenkyns.
Developed in the Gardenesque style, the gardens quickly became a fashionable place for locals and visitors to use the wide paths for promenading, a band rotunda for concerts, and the fountain to enjoy the sounds of the cool cascading water on hot summer nights. The gardens were planted with trees including the towering Sierra Redwoods (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) seen today which were grown by Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller, Director of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.
The tour also takes in the cultivated wilderness of the Botanical Reserve, now Victoria Park, gazetted in 1856. A competition to design the park was won by a Hungarian Count, J A Rochlitz, whose romantic vision of groves of acacia, almond and walnut trees, an open belvedere, an archery ground, cricket and boxing grounds, a children’s playground and an ‘Invalid’s’ Corner’ was never implemented. The design does live on, however, in a beautiful watercolour painted by C. Martin, part of the permanent collection of the BurkeMuseum.
Lake Sambell Reserve, created as a result of Beechworth’s success in the IdealTown competition in 1928, and now home to the new ChineseGardens, is also on the itinerary. This exciting new garden remembers the thousands of Chinese people who flocked to the rich goldfields of early Beechworth.
A variety of tours will also be offered by Chris Dormer by arrangement including visits to a selection of magnificent privately owned gardens as well as a ‘Backyard to Farm Gate’ tour of Beechworth and district’s great productive gardens.
FULL DETAILS AND BOOKINGS FOR THIS AND OTHER GREAT
BEECHWORTH TOURS AT:WWW.BEECHWORTHONLINE.COM.AU
PHONE 1300 366 321
Little-known original documents including telegraphs, letters and reports from police involved in the hunt for the Kelly Gang and the recovery of the bodies of their three murdered colleagues have been found at the VictoriaPoliceMuseum.
Collections Manager, Liz Marsden, said a box containing the documents had been discovered during the course of an exhaustive registration project of every object, book and piece of paper in the collection as part of a Museums Australia museum accreditation program.
She said the Museum was excited to find the box of ‘extremely fragile documents’ relating directly to events surrounding Australia’s most notorious bushranger. At present this collection is not available for research as it is being painstakingly digitalised with the aim of making it available to the public sometime in the future via the museum’s website.
Meanwhile, they will form the basis of a fascinating talk – The Kelly Hunters: a Police Perspective - by the respected author, historian and retired Superintendent of the Victoria Police, Dr Robert Haldane, at the Historic Courthouse, as part of the2009 Beechworth Ned Kelly Weekend on Saturday 8 August at 10am. Dr Haldane was granted access to the documents as part of his research for the Ned Kelly Weekend.
“These PoliceMuseum documents are actual primary sources from the police and volunteers on the ground at the time,” Dr Haldane said. “They offer a real insight into the thinking and behavior of the police working on the Kelly case. These are ‘bottom up’ working documents from police and civilians in the field and they give a very different perspective to the police side of the story which has largely been overshadowed by the mythology surrounding the Kelly saga.”
One of the documents, a report from a policeman sent to recover the body of Sgt Kennedy, shot dead by the Kelly Gang, gives a graphic description of the sergeant’s face as so badly mutilated the body should not be viewed by the widow. Dr Haldane said this ran “counter to the dominant view of the Kellys behaving humanely toward their victims. The truth is they brutally murdered three policemen – an unprecedented act then and now in Australia - and then robbed their corpses.”
Another of the letters, written in the aftermath of the Stringybark Creek killings, is from a policeman to a superior begging permission to join the hunt for the Gang and pledging he would ask nothing from the State in the way of support for his family in the event of his untimely death.
Dr Haldane said other archival material also revealed some surprising facts about the make-up of the police force at the time. Contrary to popular belief, more than 80 percent of the force was Irish, as was the Chief Commissioner and the Chief Justice. This challenged the widely-held notion that the bushranger (Australian-born) was a victim of English establishment racism toward the Irish. “Ned Kelly committed crimes against Irishmen, was hunted by Irishmen and ultimately, convicted by an Irishman,” Dr Haldane has concluded.
His talkis one of a number of events in the packed Ned Kelly Weekend program, being directed for the first time by the Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group and with a special focus on the police role in the Kelly saga.
The program will also include a Victoria Police Museum exhibition, The Police View of the Kelly Gang and Policing the North East at the Sub Treasury Building of the Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct, a former gold office and for many years the Beechworth police station.
In addition, authentically re-created events featuring precisely detailed police uniforms of the day from Ned Kelly Weekend organisers, the Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group (BHRG), will give new prominence to the ‘men in blue’ of the Kelly era.
Dr Haldane will also appear at a Saturday evening Q & A at Beechworth’s Old Priory, Behind the Armour, which will see a panel debate both sides of the argument. Moderated by ABC Radio’s Gaye Pattison, the panel lineup will include Dr Haldane, the noted Kelly historian, Alex McDermott and author, Kelvyn Gill, whose biography Edward Kelly: The Times of his Life, 1820 – 1893 is currently due for release.
Passionate debates aside, the Ned Kelly Weekend program also offers some rollicking good music and fun including the sensational opening night event at the Nicholas Hotel, Food, Featre, Fashion & Fiddle-de-dee, featuring one of Australia’s best Celtic bands, Braemar.
"Beechworth is by far the best-preserved 19th Century gold mining town in Australia." Australian Traveller magazine, April/May 2009.
Seven minutes of black and white film shot in 1907 and donated this week to the Burke Museum confirms Australian Traveller’s assessment that Beechworth is ‘by far’ Australia’s best preserved 19th Century gold mining town.
In its April/May issue, the magazine ranked Beechworth at Number Six in its list of 100 Best Towns in Australia.
“Not a single building in the town’s centre feels 20th, let alone 21st, Century”, the magazine said. “The Beechworth streetscape is so instantly charming because the buildings were largely constructed in the same style, at roughly the same time, and with the same material – the local honey-coloured granite. Ned Kelly, the town’s most notorious loiterer, could ride into Beechworth today and, ignoring the cars and oddly dressed people, it would look much the same as when he left in late 1880. In fact, he’d probably be arrested and charged at the local courthouse for stealing the horse he rode in on.”
Officially unveiled this week, the seven minute reel-to-reel film, ‘A day at the School Teachers’ Conference held at beautiful Beechworth’ was donated to the Burke Museum by local resident, Doug Craig who had the footage converted to DVD with the assistance of the Lions Club of Beechworth.
It shows the classic gold era streetscapes of the town in Victoria’s north east to be completely unchanged in more than a century.
Only the horse-drawn vehicles, period clothing and absence of roundabout at the town’s main intersection are different in 2009.
Says Australian Traveller: “A town brimming with secrets of bygone eras, it’s not hard to see why people flock to Beechworth to walk the very same streets down which the Kelly Gang sauntered.”
16 VIC Towns On The 100 Best Towns in Australia
Marysville Honoured on the List
Victoria blitzes the top end of the prestigious list of the 100 Best Towns in
Australia, published by Australian Traveller magazine today.
Three of the Top 10 Best Towns in Australia are in Victoria. Great Ocean Road historical fishing village Port Fairy is the top-placed Victorian town at No.5.
Northeast Victorian heritage town Beechworth and Great Ocean Road community Apollo Bay are the other Victorian towns in the Top 10 Best Towns In Australia.
Marysville is also included in the list at No. 56, with the magazine’s editor referring to the devastated township as “Gods own garden.” and “Beloved for its tree shrouded streetscapes and beautiful gardens.”
The magazine’s Sydney-based editor, Greg Barton, says Black Friday’s shocking destruction was made very real by the number of “Best Towns” threatened by the fires.
“The 100 Best Towns list was in fact finalised on BlackFriday. The number of towns on the list that were threatened was heart wrenching and brought home just how devastating this day was in our history. Marysville remains rightfully on our list. It’s a tribute to the place it was and will be again,” says Barton.
Methodology
The 100 best towns were decided by a panel of tourism experts. The panellists were asked to rate towns according to their answer to one question: “Regardless of where this town is located, would you recommend to a friend to add one hour to their trip to visit this town?” The answers were tabulated and the 100 towns were ranked from 1 to 100.
Victoria’s Best Towns
5. Port Fairy
6. Beechworth
8. Apollo Bay
12. Bright
14. Lorne
15. Mallacoota
19. Daylesford
21. Portsea
29. Queenscliff
35. Echuca
56. Marysville
68. Rutherglen
76. Walhalla
77. Mildura
81. Dunkeld
90. Halls Gap
Australia’s Top 10 Towns
1. Yamba NSW
2. Esperance, WA
3. Port Douglas, QLD
4. Broome, WA
5. Port Fairy, VIC
6. Beechworth, VIC
7. Byron Bay, NSW
8. Apollo Bay, VIC
9. Strahan, TAS
10. Margaret River, WA
Bridge Road Brewers, have once again backed up their claim as having “some of the best ales in country”, in fact they could well claim some of the best in the world, with big success at this years Melbourne International Beer Awards.
The small Beechworth based brewery picked up 10 medals this year with awards spread throughout their broad range of beers. This small regional on operation has had strong and consistent success over their short brewing history. Established in 2005, Bridge road Brewers have expanded considerably with national distribution and a big range of more than 10 beers. The tally includes 3 silver medals and 7 bronze.
Brewer and owner Ben Kraus is happy with the beers recognition at this years competition. “Our consistent success at the Beer Awards across such a broad range of our beers shows us that we are doing our job well”. “This event is becoming more and more competitive with both domestic and international brewers upping their quality every year”. “The USA, considered the world leader of craft brewing, was well represented at this years competition, but the Aussie contingent managed to standup and keep a lot of the awards at home”,
The highly recognized competition is the second largest in the world and attracts a huge of array of local and international breweries.
Bridge Roads latest brew, the Chestnut Lager, entered for the first time at the awards also received a medal.
Bridge Road is already working on a beer which is sure to do well in next years competition. Their unique fresh hop harvest beer is currently brewing and will be released in the coming months.
Victoria s High Country is set to host an epic battle on two wheels. From Sunday 29th March through to Saturday April 4th, the inaugural Terra Australis Great Southern Land Mountain Bike Epic will roll through North East Victoria.
A high class field will tackle the 550 km’s over the seven stages. Heading the field are three very well credentialed teams. Dan McConnell who represented Australia at the Beijing Olympics in Cross Country Mountain Biking has teamed up with elite cyclists Luke Fetch as part of the Torq Performance Nutrition Team.
Hot their heels will be the BMC Racing team of Troy Bailey and Joel Donney. Troy Bailey has been a fixture on the Australian mountain bike scene for over a decade and recently became the world solo 24 hour champion at the world championships in Canada in the 35-39 male category. His race partner for the Terra Australis, Joel Donney finished second in the under 25 male category after riding the race of his life at the same event.
Troy’s commitment to his training has seen him gain the reputation as one of the hardest trainers in the sport. Terra Australis Event Director, Iain Moore explains. “We were trying to get in contact with Troy just after Christmas. We eventually tracked him down and while I was finishing off what was left of the Christmas turkey, Troy was making his way home from Sydney to Melbourne on his bike. This preparation for the Terra Australis should see this BMC sponsored team challenge for the overall race win”.
The Pink jerseys of the Total Rush team will also be vying for overall honours with Mark Fenner and Sam Bach confident of a good showing. Both are extremely competent mountain bike riders with Mark collecting a bronze medal at the recent World Championships.
Iain Moore said “It is great that we have been able to attract such a high quality field for the inaugural event. The seven stages will see a combination of elite riders and average weekend warriors travel through the pristine wilderness of Victoria’s High Country. Falls Creek, Dinner Plain, Bright, Beechworth and Wangaratta will all host stage finishes where the riders, their families and support crew will be able to relax and enjoy the hospitality of these wonderful North East Victorian towns”.
Not only has the event attracted the best mountain bike riders from Australia, it has also attracted some ambitious recreational rider. “One of the unique features of the Terra Australis is that guys who normally battle through their weekend rides will get to spend 7 days with the elite of the sport. It is something truly unique to mountain biking” Iain said.
The inaugural Terra Australis Great Southern Land Mountain Bike Epic starts in Falls Creek on Saturday 29th March and concludes seven days later in Wangaratta on Saturday 4th April. Anyone wishing to know more about the event can go to www.terraaustralismtbepic.com.
Beechworth’s reputation as a gourmet travel destination has been further enhanced with the recent arrival of Michael Ryan’s restaurant and luxury suites, Provenance as well as Natasha Davis’ fromagerie, Larder.
The new businesses join some impressive local company including the renowned Warden’s of Beechworth, Gigi’s, The Ox & Hound, Bouchonat Botanicals, The Green Shed and The Stanley in the picturesque hilltop village of Stanley a few kilometres out of town.
Add to that list the award-winning boutique brewery, Bridge Road Brewers whose owner Ben Kraus has announced several new on-tap venues for a number of his delicious beers in Melbourne - at Bar Etiquette in Brunswick, Mrs Parmas in Little Bourke St, the Cherry Tree in Richmond and the Local Taphouse in St Kilda. In Beechworth, visitors to Bridge Road can sample Ben’s excellent range of ales and tuck into the Brewers’ home-made pretzels and sensational gourmet pizzas.
A lifelong passion for great food has led newcomer Natasha Davis to Beechworth where she opened Larder late last year. Her mission is to offer the best international and regional speciality cheeses in impeccable condition and reflecting seasonal influences. Visitors can taste the cheese spectrum at Larder, from French Roquefort, Rouzaire Brie aux truffles, La Mancha Manchego, Piano Hill Ironstone and sweet hand stretched, buffalo Mozzarella from Shaw River. Natasha also offers provisioning for impromptu picnics or special occasions, offering complimentary hire of lovely wicker baskets packed with mouth-watering terrines, pates, locally smoked trout and small goods as well as Lescure French butter to slather on yummy Laurent Bakery baguettes..
Michael Ryan,the mastermind behind The Age 2008 Country Restaurant of the Year, the two chef hat Range restaurant in Myrtleford, has opened Provenance in the 1856 Bank of Australasia, one of Beechworth’s finest historic gold era buildings adjacent to the Historic and Cultural Precinct in Ford Street. With six metre ceilings and towering arched windows, the bank’s original granite vault now houses the wine cellar. Accommodation at Provenance comprises four newly refurbished luxury suites in what was once the old stables and carriage house.
Now in its sixth year and widely regarded as this country’s most important annual celebration of the Kelly legend, the weekend event commemorates the anniversary of the outlaw’scommittal hearing held in the historic Beechworth Courthouse from 6 to 11 August 1880.
The Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group is an enthusiastic troupe which already has this year’s Ned Kelly Weekend program well in hand. It will unveilthe full 2009 program at an official launch in Beechworth on Thursday 7 May.
BHRG founding president, Adam Wynne-Jenkins, says visitors to Beechworth can once again expect a lively program of re-enactments, art, music, displays, market stalls, competitions and talks by leading authorities on the subject of the life and times of Australia’s most notorious bushranger.
Established last year and with a membership of 30 and growing fast, the BRG is a committed living history group which recreates the Beechworth of the period 1852 to 1885, with a special focus on the events surrounding Ned Kelly’s links to the town.
Wearing the authentic dress of the day, the BHRG is often seen on the streets of Beechworth and other regional centres taking part in street parades, displays and other commemorative activities including the recent re-enactment of the Kelly Gang robbery of the bank in Euroa in December 1878.
Media enquiries:
Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group President, Adam Wynne-Jenkins and Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct co-coordinator, Noelene Allen are available for interview.
Please contact Indigo Shire Tourism Officer, Sue Couttie, to arrange.
The community of Beechworth wishes to gratefully acknowledge the many messages of concern and support received from people around Australia and overseas and to reassure everyone that thanks to the wonderful efforts of the volunteer firefighters, SES and other emergency services the impact on the town and our Shire has been minimal. We also wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to those individuals and communities elsewhere in Victoria who have suffered such tragic loss.
National stamp of approval for Beechworth’s Burke Museum
Beechworth’s Burke Museum, one of Australia’s oldest and best-regarded regional museums has won a national stamp of approval.
The Burke was recently reaccredited under the Museums Australia Museum Accreditation Program (MAP) by an independent panel which conducts rigorous assessments every four years to ensure national standards are met across a range of criteria including collections management, conservation and exhibitions planning and development.
Burke Museum Collections Officer, Linda Peacock, said the reaccreditation was “important because we are meeting high industry standards for the collection and reaching the local community and visitors to the town.
“It’s quite an achievement,” she said.
The MAP panel described the Burke as “an important regional museum with a fine collection” including some “stunning exhibits” such as the 19th Century bird display and rare thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger – pictured above).
“The Burke Museum is also custodian of a significant collection of Fijian artefacts; there are some items in this collection that the national museum of Fiji does not have examples of,” the panel noted.
The report went on to highlight the significance of the R.E.Johns collection of 19th Century aboriginal artefacts, describing it as “one of the best collections of Victorian Aboriginal material in the country.”
The panel gave special mention to the excellent presentation of displays as well as ‘striking’ improvements in preventive conservation since the last assessment in 2004.
The Robert O’Hara Burke Museum, named in honour of the former Beechworth Police Superintendent and later ill-fated explorer, is a highlight of the Beechworth Historic and Cultural Precinct. It boasts a fascinating and historically significant collection of more than 30,000 individual items, many dating back to its establishment more than 150 years ago and some linked to famous and infamous figures of history such as Ned Kelly, Dame Nellie Melba and of course, the museum’s namesake, Robert O’Hara Burke.
For media enquiries, image requests or more information, contact
Sue Couttie, Tourism Officer Indigo Shire Council
Phone (03) 5728 8061 or scouttie@indigoshire.vic.gov.au
Find out more about the Burke’s amazing collections and current exhibition at www.beechworth.com/burkemus
Open daily 10am to 5pm (closed Christmas Day)
Burke Museum Collections Officer, Linda Peacock, said the reaccreditation was “important because we are meeting high industry standards for the collection and reaching the local community and visitors to the town.
“It’s quite an achievement,” she said.
The MAP panel described the Burke as “an important regional museum with a fine collection” including some “stunning exhibits” such as the 19th Century bird display and rare thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger – pictured above).
“The Burke Museum is also custodian of a significant collection of Fijian artefacts; there are some items in this collection that the national museum of Fiji does not have examples of,” the panel noted.
The report went on to highlight the significance of the R.E.Johns collection of 19th Century aboriginal artefacts, describing it as “one of the best collections of Victorian Aboriginal material in the country.”
The panel gave special mention to the excellent presentation of displays as well as ‘striking’ improvements in preventive conservation since the last assessment in 2004.
The Robert O’Hara Burke Museum, named in honour of the former Beechworth Police Superintendent and later ill-fated explorer, is a highlight of the Beechworth Historic and Cultural Precinct. It boasts a fascinating and historically significant collection of more than 30,000 individual items, many dating back to its establishment more than 150 years ago and some linked to famous and infamous figures of history such as Ned Kelly, Dame Nellie Melba and of course, the museum’s namesake, Robert O’Hara Burke.
For media enquiries, image requests or more information, contact
Sue Couttie, Tourism Officer Indigo Shire Council
Phone (03) 5728 8061 or scouttie@indigoshire.vic.gov.au
Find out more about the Burke’s amazing collections and current exhibition at www.beechworth.com/burkemus
Visitors to Beechworth this January have the chance to discover a new side of the historic town with the launch of the Town Walking Tour.
The tour will complement the hugely popular Ned Kelly and Gold walking tours which have become a must for tourists to the area since their launch three years ago.
The new tour will explore the town’s rich Gold Era history, uncovering fascinating and often little-known stories about the characters and events that shaped Beechworth’s early development.
Expert guides from the Visitor Information Centre will lead the tour on a leisurely hour-long stroll through the wide, tree-lined avenues and beautifully preserved streetscapes of Beechworth.
Along the way, visitors will stop at more than two dozen sites, including the Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum, one of Australia’s best regional museums named after the ill-fated explorer and one-time Police Superintendent of Beechworth.
Other notable sites include:
·The old Temple Bar Hotel in Ford Street, one of more than 60 licensed premises operating in the area in the 1870s. They will learn about the publican who advertised in the Constitution & Ovens Mining Intelligencer for a “kangaroo and an emu for this hotel – wanted dead or alive.”
·The Old Anglican Schoolhouse whose alumni include noted geologist Edward John Dunn and the first Australian-born Governor General Sir Isaac Isaacs
·St. Joseph’s Presbytery in Church Street where Kelly Gang associate turned police informer, Aaron Sherritt married Ellen Barry in 1879.
The new Town Walking Tour will leave from the Beechworth VIC every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 1pm from 5 January until 1 February.
Bookings and enquiries at Beechworth Visitor Information Centre,
phone 1300 366 321 or visit www.beechworthonline.com.au
Gates and food/wine stalls open at 5:30pm
The concert will commence at 8pm and conclude at 10:30pm with
one 40 minute interval
Roxane Hislop Mezzo-Soprano James Egglestone Tenor Slava Grigoryan Guitarist Benjamin Northey Conductor
Opera in the Alps Choir and Orchestra
Australian Music Events is proud to present ROXANE HISLOP, JAMES EGGLESTONE, and SLAVA GRIGORYAN. They will be joined by 100-voices and 50-piece orchestra led by one of Australia's most exciting conductors, BENJAMIN NORTHEY.
Enjoy a relaxing evening of fine food, wine and classical favourites under the stars, in the picturesque grounds of LaTrobe at Beechworth.
Premium Packages are also available, comprising a three-course dinner accompanied by fine wines from Brown Brothers. The pre-concert dinner and dessert at interval are held on the lawns of the Pines Convention Centre, which commands a breathtaking veiw of the concert setting and is, surely, the ultimate way to experience Opera in the Alps
General ticket sales from Monday 15 September 2008
Far from the madding crowds, shopping in Beechworth is a pleasurable and leisurely experience at any time of the year.
Now traders have banded together to offer local residents the chance to view the range of quality products available in their own town at an evening showcase on Friday 12 December when businesses will stay open until 8pm.
Beechworth Chamber of Commerce President, Catherine Smith, called on the community to get behind their local businesses and enjoy the ambience of evening shopping in the town centre.
She said that Beechworth these days was renowned as much for its fantastic shopping opportunities as it was for its famous historical attractions.
“We are absolutely spoiled for choice locally”, she said. “We can take a short stroll down Camp or Ford Street and sample so many different products, from antiques and collectibles, to an amazing range of gifts, fine art, pottery, books, sophisticated fashion, shoes and accessories, beautiful jewellery and quality homewares.
“Beechworth really does offer a perfect alternative for Christmas shopping when you think of the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the City and even the smaller regional centres at this time of the year. And the best thing is, you can always find a park!”
This year, a Giving Tree will be installed at the Post Office with gifts and donations going to the Salvation Army and Beechworth Hospital.
For more information about Beechworth or to book accommodation, go to:www.beechworthonline.com.au or call the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre, 1300 366 321
The many delights of Indigo Shire were promoted across the weekend at the 2AY RACV House & Garden Show at the Albury Wodonga Gateway.
The event, which saw big crowds turn out for a program of events which included TV star, Don Burke, offered a sensational promotional opportunity for towns across the Shire.
The Indigo Tourism Advisory Committee Chairman, Damian Adams, said he was delighted to see representatives from each town combine to present an excellent showcase of the area's attractions. The displays included visitor guides, maps, photos, displays of historical artefacts, fine wines and a special cycle tourism promotion.
Hundreds of people lodged entries in the raffle of a host of prizes generously donated by operators from across the region including accommodation, adventure activities, wines and a range of guided tours.
A treasure of Beechworth’s Burke Museum collection, an original woodblock, Ashton’s Circus circa 1857, is featuring in a new touring exhibition - Step Right Up - celebrating the circus in Australian art.
The object, by an unknown artist, is the oldest work on display as part of the exhibition at the Albury Art Gallery until 23 November ahead of a national tour including The Arts Centre in Melbourne, Museum of Brisbane and Art Gallery of Northern Territory.
A print taken from the historic woodblock by artist Vincent Drane will also feature in Step Right Up. The print, made at the National Trust-owned Federal Standard Printing Works in Chiltern, was commissioned by the Burke Museum in 2000 to promote a touring exhibition of its own amazing visual art collection, Following the Fortune Hunters: The Art and Culture of the Ovens Goldfield.
A joint project of the Albury Art Gallery and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Step Right Up - the Circus in Australian Art also features pieces from the Albury City collection, works commissioned by artists specifically for this event and historical and contemporary artworks drawn from State, Regional, commercial and private collections. Works from major artists such as John Brack, Fred Williams, Ken Whisson, Jeffrey Smart and John Olsen are included in the exhibition.
The historic woodblock is one of thousands of objects, artworks and curiosities held in the treasure trove that is Beechworth’s Burke Museum. A nationally significant collection of Aboriginal artefacts from the early to mid-19th century, an amazing natural history collection, one of the four original Ned Kelly death masks and thousands of documents, journals and photographs from Beechworth’s heady gold rush days to the present are among the permanent collections on display at this fine regional museum, a jewel of Beechworth’s Historic and Cultural Precinct.
As part of its own exhibitions program, the Burke Museum is currently featuring Women Vote: They Picked up the Patter with Amazing Fluency commemorating the contribution of Beechworth women to the Monster Petition presented to the Victorian Parliament in 1891 calling for the right to vote. See full details at: www.beechworth.com/burkemus/exhibits
Bridge Road Brewer's is proud to announce the release of its latest brew, the Chestnut Lager. Brewed with local chestnuts and hops and aged for over 4 months this Beechworth lager is unique in Australia.
The brewery had been approached by local chestnut growers looking to value add to their produce. Beechworth and its close neighbor Stanley are Australia’s chestnut growing capital. The region is also home to some of Victoria’s last remaining hop gardens, with the Rostrevor Hop Garden in the Ovens Valley near Myrtleford growing the Galaxy hops that have been used in the Lager.
Brewer Ben Kraus said the lager was challenging to brew, however the initial test batch has proved a huge success. Demand for the beer has been strong and the brewery is currently brewing two more batches for release prior to Christmas.
The current release is available to take away directly from the brewery, and from a limited number of city stockists. The beer will also feature as part of the Beechworth Oktoberfest on the 11th and 12th of October. But be warned it wont last long.
Spring is here and Tinkers Hill Cellar Door will be open for wine tastings and light lunches as from this weekend (Saturday 6th September 2008). Our opening hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 11.00am to 5.00pm. After a short winter break we are feeling refreshed. We have sold out the Tinkers Hill shiraz and the new 2006 shiraz will now be available, as will the Cirko V 2005 shiraz Viognier.
The Best Western Beechworth Motor Inn (Beechworth, Victoria) has been announced as the winner of the Best Western Award for Excellence in the category of Most Improvements and Upgrades within a Best Western Property.
The award, announced at the Best Western Annual Convention in Auckland, New Zealand, recognises the Best Western property that has made the most improvements throughout the year.
The BestWestern Beechworth Motor Inn spent $140,000 on renovating all 10 suites. Bathrooms were replaced, wall lighting was removed and replaced with elegant lamps and indirect lighting, and all soft furnishings and carpets were replaced with new items in muted autumnal colours. On the strength of these, the Best Western Beechworth Motor Inn was judged to have made the most outstanding improvements.
“This award justifies the time and effort that has been put into this project,” says Robert Ransom of the Best Western Beechworth Motor Inn. “The result has been overwhelming. Using local tradesmen to contribute to the refurbishment has injected more confidence in us to expand the motel to the next level.”
The BestWestern Beechworth Motor Inn is a three-and-a-half star property featuring single, queen and large family rooms on one-and-a-half acres of leafy landscaped gardens.
Located only one kilometre from the centre of Beechworth, the property is an ideal base for corporate guests. All suites feature undercover parking and easy access to a large swimming pool, sun deck and private BBQ area.
‘Women Vote: They Picked Up the Patter with Amazing Fluency’ Exhibition
[Australasian 31 October 1903]
Burke Memorial Museum Beechworth
15 August - 16 November 2008
Opening – Saturday 23 August – 3 pm
The ‘Women Vote: They Picked Up the Patter with Amazing Fluency’ exhibition tells the stories of the women of Beechworth and district especially the 160 women who signed the Monster Petition in 1891 that was presented to the Victorian Parliament to demonstrate women wanted the vote. It explores the considerable achievements of women and their community involvement in organisations such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Australian League of Women and their work in for the institutions and community of Beechworth.
‘In an extraordinary effort to gain the right to vote for all Victorian women, a handful of dedicated women took to the streets in 1891 to collect signatures for a petition to present to the Parliament of Victoria. The result was an impressive collection of close to 30,000 signatures from women from all walks of life.
Tabled in Parliament in September 1891, with the support of then Premier James Munro, the petition sought that ‘Women should Vote on Equal terms with Men'.
The women who signed the Monster Petition in 1891 have been researched for Beechworth Arts Council by Cath O’Connor who has had considerable assistance from local researchers and family historians who have generously share information from family records that have been received from all over Australia and from New Zealand. The stories if over 140 women are illustrated with photographs and objects from the Burke Museum’s collection encouraging exploration of these women their aspirations, families, houses, work and living conditions.
See the women’s signatures, learn more about how women won the vote from the delivery of the Monster Petition to the Victorian Parliament in 1891, it was a further eight parliamentary bills and seventeen years later that the Franchise Bill 1908 legislated for women to have the vote on equal terms with men in Victoria.
Contemporary works by six women artists have been commissioned by the Beechworth Arts Council t for this exhibition to encourage artists to comment on women and their concerns in 2008, this layers the exhibition with contemporary perspectives on women’s issues and their place in the world.
The ‘They Picked Up the Patter with Amazing Fluency: Women Vote’ Exhibition honours the stories of the Beechworth and district and one of the State's archival treasures, the Women's Suffrage Petition (1891) that reflects the dedicated work of the women, who went from door to door across Victoria to collect the 30,000 signatures. Its tremendous length earned it the name of the ‘Monster Petition'.
More information is available at; http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/womenspetition/background.htm
Cody, the body in whom the play is set, is frustrated with herself for being so indecisive and she feel she is perceived as a bit dawky. We step inside her body to find out why this is so. Her two main departments, the Intelligence Department, based in the Brain, and her Emotion department, based in the heart, don’t get on. They continually argue over every decision that has to be made.
Presently, Cody is in training so her Intelligence is guiding all her decisions to maintain a healthy and fit outlook. This does not excite the emotion department as there is very little fun, or risk taking in Cody’s life. Her Emotion Department keep on losing any argument. Cody has to toss a coin to stop the battle but intelligence always wins the toss. This also makes the Liver and Kidney department very bored as there is little work to do…cleaning up! Worst of all, the germs cannot achieve their aim of infecting the body and spreading, because the White blood cell army are too strong and everything is too healthy to make the body sick.
Uncle Fector, the head germ tries a couple of plans to break the Intelligence department’s hold over Cody. Firstly, he and his thugs send in the Free Radical to swap the coin for a double header. This allows The Emotion Department to win the debate over what to eat. They send the message for Cody to pig out on Junk food. She naturally overeats and makes herself sick. Uncle fector also bribes the Endorphins, (the Brain Department’s weakness) to distract their thinking by indulging them in massage, music and merriment. This leaves the emotion dept in charge and some different decisions are made. These include going to a party, smoking, drinking alchohol and using dope and finally heroin. Poor Cody becomes seriously ill.
Now the body is working overtime just to survive. The liver and Kidney are exhausted, the red blood cells are jammed and coagulated.
The brain is not functioning properly and the germs are ready to start an all out infection with this special potion that controls all cells.
Scab, the new recruit to the germ gang, and Red blood Cell 99, meet in a blood canal and fall head over heels in love. They realise that this all out infection could kill Cody and that something must happen to save the day. They set a plan to get the three Pennys to come and help save the day, Penny Dol, Penny Deinefort, and Penny Cillin. These characters are immune to the potion and they set a plot to deceive Uncle Fector’s bad Germs. They convince the Intellligence and Emotion Department to work together and they inspire all parts of the body, Cody included, to work together on operation CHOOC - Co-Operation Health, Order and Optimism Campaign. Cody takes charge gets a new burst of strength and self esteem. All the good buys over power the Bad germs and it turns out that Scab is really a ‘good’ Bacteria and he never really fitted in with bad bacteria gang.
Cody survives and the body makes the realisation that finding a middle path and a balance is the way to go.
Ned Kelly enthusiasts from around the country are set to flock to Beechworth in the North East of Victoria for the historic gold-era town’s celebration of its links with Australia’s most notorious bushranger fromFriday 1 to Sunday 3 August.
This year’s packed program, taking place in the 150 year-old Historic & Cultural Precinct, has attracted bookings from as far afield as Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
Many Ned Kelly Weekend visitors are regulars at the annual event, and include direct descendents of some of the principal players in the Kelly story. This year they include Nola Love, the great granddaughter of Constable McIntyre who was the sole survivor of the police shooting by the Kelly Gang at Stringybark Creek and Leigh Olver, a direct descendent of Ned’s mother, Ellen Kelly.
Now in its fifth year and regarded as Australia’s most significant annual celebration of the Ned Kelly story, the Ned Kelly Weekend commemorates the anniversary of the outlaw’scommittal hearing held in the historic Courthouse from 6 to 11 August 1880. Sentenced to death and hanged later that year, the bushranger’s celebrity shows no sign of fading nearly 130 years on.
This year’s Ned Kelly Weekend offers a lively and entertaining program to suit all tastes and pockets and includes new events as well as old favourites.
New this year is the Ned Kelly Weekend Heritage Market on Saturday 2 August. From 10am until 2pm, the Historic Precinct area of Ford Street will be closed to traffic and transformed into a colourful market square featuring delicious, good old-fashioned food such as soup and damper and tea and scones, as well as traditional crafts including spinning and weaving, knitting, demonstrations of wood crafts, blacksmithing, coopering and whip making, along with live music and buskers.
And back by popular demand is the Ned Kelly Weekend opening event Ned at the Nic – a traditional Music Hall ‘knees up’ at the Nicholas Hotel, featuring a sit-down three course dinner, entertainment from another local legend, Lazy Harry and his sensational band, dancing until late and the hugely popular Ned Kelly trivia quiz.
Also featuring across the weekend are theatre productions, a fabulous Kelly-themed art show, the unveiling of a new display of one of the four original Ned Kelly death masks at the Burke Museum, talks in the Historic Courthouse by Ned Kelly experts, the re-enactment of the Committal Hearing on Saturday and Sunday, the new Best Beard competition, The Great Fight commemoration and Ned On the Big Screen in the historic Town Hall.
Full weekend passes or tickets to individual events are available at www.beechworthonline.com.au
or phone the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre on 1300 366 321
The response to this years Kerferd Oration in Beechworth by Professor Tim Flannery has been so strong that organisers have enlarged the seating capacity from 300 to 450 seats.
The oration is being held at the Kerferd Conference Centre at the Beechworth campus of La Trobe University on Sunday, July 27, at 11am.
Kerferd Oration committee member Joan Simms said the response this year had been “quite overwhelming”
“So many people want to hear from someone like Professor Flannery.His oration on The Climate Change Challenge is more topical than ever.There’s been the recent draft Garnaut report, various local moves towards forming sustainability groups and a growing awareness of the need for all of us to do our bit for the environment,” Ms Simms said.
“We’ve had to increase the seating in the Kerferd Conference Centre to 450 seats and we have provision to stretch that a bit more to the deck outside,” Ms Simms said.
“We have advertised that doors open at 10.15am and the feedback we are getting is that some people are coming quite early to queue up before that.One group has told me they are bringing their breakfast to have in the grounds while they keep an eye on the length of the queue.
“And I know of another group from Melbourne who are extending their holiday at the snow, and staying in Beechworth overnight to attend the Oration.”
Ms Simms stressed that no booking was required for this free community event, however only the first 450 people at the door would be certain of getting a seat inside the conference room.
Students from Year 7 at the Beechworth Secondary College will have artworks and installations on the theme of sustainability on display inside the conference centre.
Parking is limited close to the conference centre and Ms Simms advised people to park in nearby streets and walk in to the venue.
Beechworth businesses have offered their shop windows for the month of July to display the work of dozens of regional artists taking part in tread softly, an exhibition focusing on environmental issues relating to climate change, global warming and loss of habitat and biodiversity.
The exhibition is being presented in the lead-up to the 2008 Kerford Oration which will be delivered by Professor Tim Flannery on ‘The Climate Change Challenge’ at LaTrobe University’s Beechworth campus on Sunday 27 July at 11am.
tread softly, which includes works on paper, photography, paintings, objects, jewellery and sculpture, celebrates the environment and draws attention to environmental issues as well as provides a showcase for the ideas and work of regional artists.
A diverse range of subjects tackled by artists featuring in the exhibition include a commentary on the impact of domestic pets on native wildlife, declining river systems, salinity, drought, the massive and mounting global problem of waste disposal and the warming of the planet as a result of human impact.
But while many of the themes are both confronting and alarming, the work Milagros for Beechworth by gold & silversmith, Rose Wedler, on display in the Pots of Thyme window, tells a good news story. The work celebrates the small miracle of the rediscovery near Beechworth a few years ago of a plant previously thought extinct – the Swainsona recta or Purple Pea.
Catalogues for this intriguing and innovative exhibition are available from the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre at 101 Ford Street. In keeping with the theme of tread softly, collection points for recycling the catalogues are available around the shopping precinct.
Beechworth’s annual salute to its Celtic heritage, now in its 14th year, is set to be the best yet.
This three day event set in Historic Beechworth celebrates all things Celtic, with a full program of live music, theatre, dancing, comedy, pipe bands and a street parade. The Celtic Festival is a diverse event with something to offer every age group.
Highlights of the 2008 program include a Gala Celtic Dinner to open the weekend on Friday evening and the Official Celtic concert to be held on Saturday evening. The concert evening will feature a night not to be missed, with live music, dance, comedy and a theatrical performance from the renowned Celtic group Braemar. The theatrical production, Lochaber No More, outlines the history of the Jacobite Rebellion in narrative and song.
Ticketed live music venues will be located throughout beautiful Beechworth, in its historic hotels and halls, with a free chalkboard stage to be located in the heart of town. The street parade, a great event for families, will feature a number of pipe bands, dancers and other performances.
The Celtic Festival is truly a festival of fun, entertainment and celebration in the celtic spirit. So put on your favourite kilt and get yourself up the hill to Beechworth this November to celebrate all things Celtic.
For further information or ticket enquiries visit http://beechworthcelticfestival.com.au or phone the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre 1300 366 321 for accommodation and other enquiries.
Renowned scientist and climate change expert Professor Tim Flannery will deliver the annual Kerferd Oration in Beechworth, in North East Victoria, next month.
Professor Flannery, Australian of the Year in 2007, is well known around the world for his position on global warming and environmental issues. An internationally acclaimed scientist and conservationist, Professor Flannery has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers, but it is his landmark book The Weather Makers that sets him apart. This bookhas received widespread praise for its informed and balanced approach to climate change and has been translated into more than 20 languages. In 2006 it won the NSW Premier’s Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
In 2007 Professor Flannery co-founded and was appointed Chair of The Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business and political leaders who have come together to confront climate change.
Professor Flannery will deliver the George Briscoe Kerferd Oration at 11am on Sunday July 27, at the Beechworth campus of LaTrobe University.
Past orators at this free community event were the then Deputy Premier of Victoria the Hon John Thwaites (2007); Cathy McGowan AO (2006); Professor Henry Brodaty AO (2005); Barbara Holborow OAM (2004) and the then Chief Justice of Victoria the Hon John Phillips AC (2003).
This annual oration, now in its sixth year and jointly sponsored by Indigo Shire Council, Latrobe University and corporate sponsor WAW Credit Union, is named after one of the founding fathers of Beechworth. George Kerferd was a very public minded man. In 1857, just five years after gold was discovered at Beechworth, he was a member of the Beechworth Municipal Council and later its president for some years. He helped establish the Ovens District Hospital and was involved with the establishment of the Ovens Benevolent Asylum. In 1864 he entered Victorian Parliament as the Ovens District representative, holding portfolios in six ministries before becoming Premier in 1874.
re-enactments, theatre, art, music, displays, market stalls, competitions and talks by leading authorities on the subject of the life and times of Australia’s most notorious bushranger.
Now in its fifth year and widely regarded as this country’s most important annual celebration of the Kelly legend, the weekend event commemorates the anniversary of the outlaw’scommittal hearing held in the historic Beechworth Courthouse from 6 to 11 August 1880.
This year’s Ned Kelly Weekend has the added significance of the 150th anniversary of the Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct, being commemorated throughout 2008. This year for the first time, tours of the Courthouse will be available across the weekend in recognition of the sesquicentenary.
Among the many highlights of the 2008 program are:
·Introduced by Australia’s foremost Kelly biographer, Ian Jones, a critically acclaimed theatrical staging of The Jerilderie Letter in the historic Courthouse. Devised and performed by Peter Finlay and with music and vocals by Malcolm Hill, this fine production has received rave reviews since its debut performance at the 2007 Melbourne Fringe Festival
·From Sidney Nolan to Norman Lindsay, Ned Kelly has long provided inspiration for artists. One of the most popular events of the 2007 Ned Kelly Weekend, Framed, returns to Beechworth’s Historic Precinct in 2008. This sensational art exhibition is again expected to attract entries from regional, metropolitan and interstate artists. This year the general public will have the chance to vote for their favourite work with the new FramedPeople’s Choice Award.
·The Ned Kelly Weekend Heritage Market in Ford Street, outside the Historic Precinct, featuring a host of good old-fashioned food stalls, buskers, games for children and demonstrations of traditional crafts such as shingle and whip making, wood working, blacksmithing, spinning, coopering, quilting and weaving
·The Ned Kelly Trial Re-enactment, including Ned’s arrival at the Beechworth Historic Courthouse and his subsequent committal hearing based on actual court transcripts.
·A crowd favourite in 2006, The Great Fight returns in 2008, commemorating Ned Kelly’s marathon bare-knuckled 20-Round stoush with Wild Wright. The warm-up bout for this rollicking event will see the Judging of the Great Ned Kelly Weekend Beard Competition which will see a gathering of the finest beards in the north east vying for the inaugural Best Beard Trophy.
MEDIA INQUIRIES
Ned Kelly Weekend and Beechworth Cultural precinct co-ordinator, Noelene Allen is available for interview. Contact Indigo Shire Tourism Officer, Sue Couttie, to arrange. Phone (03) 5728 8061 or email scouttie@indigoshire.vic.gov.au
Kelly Country Pick is a Bluegrass and Old time Country Music Convention based in the Old Priory for the weekend of 15-17 August 2008.
The event incorporates, concerts, workshops, jam sessions, instrument displays, a Sunday morning gospel singalong and an open stage. The festival is growing each year and we are aiming to attract more people from the local region and visitors.
The event features established bands from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and regional Victoria. It is open to all public and is not just for musicians. It is based at the Old Priory with a Saturday, evening concert at the Hibernian Hotel.
Two out of every three mouthfuls of food you eat is pollinated by bees and we need to protect and promote the value of Australian agriculture.
An exciting new direction at Beechworth Honey
Beechworth Honey Pty Ltd, Australia’s largest independently owned specialist honey packaging company, will open the “The Beechworth Honey Experience”. The Experience will comprise of an interactive, state of the art virtual tour, live bee display and concept store. It will showcase how honey is produced, the story of Beechworth Honey past and present, and educate people on the diversity of uses for honey. It has been developed inhistoric Beechworth, in North East Victoria where the family have produced honey for four generations. Live bees can be viewed and visitors can watch bees at work producing honey and tending to their everyday hive activities.
A broadened selection of “Beechworth Honey” branded products and goods related to bees, honey and the unique Australian environments that produce these wonderful natural products will be available. After two years in the planning there is much excitement within this busy company as we now open the Beechworth Honey experience to the public and share the passion for the amazing insects that bring us natures perfect food.
Grand opening Wednesday 12th March, 2008 at 11.30am.To be opened by Ed Halmagyi (Fast Ed) from Better Homes and Gardens.
From strength to strength…
Beechworth Honey began as a small primary production partnership producing bulk honey. In 1993 Steven and Jodie Goldsworthy undertook the packaging and marketing of Beechworth Honey, including the development of the existing Beechworth Honey label. Beechworth Honey has been marketed through the Australia’s major retailers, food service and industrial markets since this time and has emerged as Australia’s largest independently owned specialist honey packing company.
Beechworth also has a growing export market with product going into the Middle East, China, Singapore, Indonesia and the US.It is a rare example of a small family company who has made a big name for itself in the tough Australian retail market, and yet still retains its producer roots and small company values.
To survive and grow Beechworth Honey has had to be innovative. Renowned for its quality, the operation is supported by a knowledge of Australian honey and the Australian apiculture industry only possible due to the family’s involvement in the industry for over one hundred and twenty years.
Cabinets of Wonder: Treasure from the Beechworth Community 21 February – 30 June
Thursday 7 February 2008
Oak souvenired from the hull of Nelson’s ship HMS Victory, a prison-made knuckle-duster, perfume bottles and a collection of beer coasters are among the dozens of weird and wonderful artefacts to be shown in the Cabinets of Wonder: Treasurefrom the Beechworth Community exhibition officially opening at the Burke Museum on Thursday 21 February.
Visitors will be able to peek into the drawers, cupboards, nooks and crannies to view the private collections – from the everyday to the bizarre – of individuals and local organisations who responded enthusiastically to the Burke’s invitation to offer their treasured possessions for public display.
“The exhibition offers fascinating insights into the nature of collecting as well as the community from which the collections have come to light,” says Burke Museum Collections Officer, Linda Peacock.“It’s very much about reflecting the interests and passions of local people and gives them the chance to involve themselves directly in the process of curating their own exhibition.”
Highlights of the Cabinets of Wonder: Treasure from the Beechworth Community exhibition include:
A collection of ingeniously crafted contraband made by inmates of the Beechworth Prison
From the eminent historian, Ian Jones, a Beechworth local, a collection of HMS Victory memorabilia from his great-grandfather, a naval man who trained on the ship in the 1840s
Historic trophies from the Beechworth Football Club
A collection of postmarked letters from Beechworth and Stanley dated between 1855 and 1875
A collection of porcelain containers and bottles unearthed from the Chinese camp area of Beechworth’s Spring Creek goldfields
Historic items from Beechworth’s Lodge of St. John
The idea of Cabinets of Wonder is centuries old. The original Wunderkammers – Cabinets of Wonder or wonder-rooms boasted intriguing collections belonging 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.
Beechworth’s historic Burke Museum could be described as a Wunderkammer in its own right, with its extraordinary collection of Aboriginal artefacts from the early to mid-19th century, an amazing natural history collection including an extremely rare stuffed Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) as well as thousands of artefacts, journals and photographs from Beechworth’s heady gold rush days to the present.
The Patron of the Indigo Tourism Board, Hon. Tim Fischer, will officially launch Beechworth’s own Wunderkammers at 6pm on Thursday 21 February. The Cabinets of Wonder exhibition runs until June.
For more information, please contact Indigo Shire Tourism Officer, Sue Couttie,
phone (03) 5728 8061 or scouttie@indigoshire.vic.gov.au
Cabinets of Wonder: Treasure from the Beechworth Community Where: Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Address: Loch St, Beechworth
Dates: 21 February – 30 June 2008
School’s in for a group of talented artists and artisans from the Beechworth area who have joined forces on an exciting new venture launched this month.
The Old Schoolhouse Gallery is a fascinating new showcase of jewellery, paintings, ceramics and textiles as well as second hand books and collectibles housed in the 1863 Common School in Loch Street, one of Beechworth’s many notable historic buildings.
The initiative is the brainchild of Sandra and Robert Godfrey who lovingly restored the building five years ago as an exhibition space for Sandra’s silk painting.
More recently, their idea of using the building to house a retail gallery for a variety of local artists from the Beechworth area was enthusiastically embraced and within a few short weeks The Old Schoolhouse Gallery was open for business.
“We wanted to have something for everyone to enjoy and at the same time provide encouragement for local artisans to keep creating,” Sandra Godfrey said.
Indigo Shire Mayor, Cr Vic Issell, will officially launch the co-operative venture on 25 January.
Joining forces with Sandra Godfrey are:
Jan Clements (felting, leather and metal)
North East Yarns (natural coloured wool and woollen garments)
Tania Magennis and Janine Delves (artists specialising in quirkiness and colour)
Wendy Stephens (visual artist)
Frances Macdonald (potter)
Ali Rowe (textile artist)
Robyn White (glass bead jewellery)
Claire Shearman and Ken Young (second hand books specialising in arts, crafts and local history)
Schoolhouse Collectables
Judy Hawking-Burnett (paintings, jewellery and cards)
Celebrating its 145th anniversary this year, the Common School No. 36, known as the BeechworthAcademy, was the town’s first school. The first Australian-born Governor General, Sir Isaac Isaacs, taught there from 1872 to 1874, and for 100 years of its history the building housed the office and press of the Ovens & Murray Advertiser.
The Old Schoolhouse Gallery, 17 Loch St, Beechworth.
Phone (03) 5725 1342. Email wandanagallery@bigpond.com
Open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm.
Anyone planning an unforgettable St. Valentines Day need look no further than the beautiful town of Beechworth in Victoria’s North East where a brand new Romance Festival will take place in 2009.
This unique day-long celebration of love and romance will takeplace on Saturday 14 February in and around the picturesque gardens and historic buildings of La Trobe at Beechworth.
Featuring a packed all-day program of fine local food and wine, music, film and a host of opportunities for lovers to enjoy and celebrate this special day, the Festival will offer a truly memorable experience for romantics of all ages.
A highlight of the Romance Festival will be a performance by the sensational singer, recording star and TV celebrity, Jade MacRae who will headline at the Romantic Zeale Concert from 3 to 9pm. One of the most popular and talented performers on the Australian stage, she has two fabulous ARIA-nominated albums to her credit along with hit singles including this year’s sizzling, In the Basement and I Wanna be in Love.
Also on the bill is singer and Australian Idol pin-up, Ricky Muscat, and a superb line-up of local talent. The concert emcee will be TV personality, John Walker.
The Beechworth Romance Festival will also include:
Romance Acting Workshops at the Beechworth Town Hall with actor and former Albury-boy, Malcolm Kennard, (Packed to the Rafters, The Matrix, E-Street)
·Renewal of Vows with local marriage celebrant, Simon Goss the La Trobe chapel
·An all-day Romance Expo for couples planning a special wedding day
·The Passion Lunch and Passion Dinner in the gorgeous La Trobe gardens with delicious three-coursemenus featuring superb local produce accompanied by fine wines of the area
·A screening of the blockbuster romance, Australia, on the big outdoor screen accompanied by picnic hampers packed with gourmet treats, local wine and beer
Accommodation Available at La Trobe. Phone 03 5720 8050
Beechworth quilter, Yelena Elliott, has become the first international designer to feature in You’re Invited, the prestigious American publication for the quilting sorority produced by Blackbird Design.
Blackbird chiefs, Barb Adams and Alma Allen, whose company also supplies designs for the US fabric giant, Moda, handpicked the exquisite work In Mollie’s Garden, on their visit to Australia last year.
The subject of a major feature in the latest edition of the quarterly journal, the work was also exhibited this year at the world’s biggest annual celebration of quilting, the Houston Quilt Fair.
Mrs Elliott took up quilting 13 years ago after completing a Fashion Technology course at Albury TAFE. She drew inspiration for In Mollie’s Garden from memories of her grandmother, Marie (Mollie) Bloxsom, whose beautiful garden in Albury featured the latticework, red roses, magnolia blooms and blue sage represented in the quilt. Serendipitously, she included an affectionate nod to Mollie’s daily battle with foraging blackbirds, making the work a natural choice for Blackbird Design.
In Mollie’s Garden is now on display alongside other original Mill Lane Designs by Yelena Elliott at the Beechworth Quilters Cottage, the business she co-owns and runs with her aunt, Leonie.
The Beechworth Quilters Cottage was recently relaunched and expanded, reflecting the steady growth in quilting as a leisure pursuit in Australia.
Busloads of enthusiasts from across Victoria and NSW are regular visitors to the Cottage and both Yelena and Leonie are in constant demand as tutors for quilters of all ages. They present regular workshops and quilting retreats, including a weekly group project, which is currently replicating a quilt from 1863.
The Blackbird Design publication featuring the story of and pattern for In Mollie’s Garden has just been released in Australia.
Yelena Elliott is available for interview. Contact (03) 5728 2399.
More information at www.beechworthquilterscottage.com.au
