Beechworth History

Tanswell's Commercial Hotel Beechworth

Tanswell's Commercial Hotel Beechworth Tanswell's Commercial Hotel 1873 replaced the 1853 wooden original. It is a two-storey stone and brick structure with a decorative iron lacework veranda. The facade, with its richly gilded crest on the front window and French doors, has been carefully restored. The lounge is furnished in mid-C19th style, as the Kelly gang knew it. To the rear of the building are the coach house and stables which were built in 1859 by the American Hiram Crawford who established his firm and a coach-building works, with Tanswell's acting as the booking office. Crawford's was the most successful coaching service between Melbourne and Beechworth in the 1850s.

Beechworth Wheelbarrow Race

Beechworth Wheelbarrow Race The trial of strength and endurance resulted from a bet made on Anzac Day 1935, between Beechworth's local garage proprietor Tom Parkinson and the licensee of the Post Office Hotel, Tony Evans. The bet, for twenty pounds, was that Parkinson would not be able to push Evans from the Beechworth Post Office to the Chalet at Mt. Buffalo in a wheelbarrow, given the time-limit of eight days. Although by all accounts the wager had originated in the local pub over a couple of beers, Tom Parkinson and Tony Evans took their bet very seriously.

George Mott

The district’s first newspaper was the Ovens and Murray Advertiser. It was co-run by George Mott who arrived at Beechworth in 1855 to take up partnership in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser Newspaper which had been started earlier in the year by Francis Nixon at Beechworth on January 6, 1855. Nixon also started another Beechworth paper, The Constitution and Ovens Mining Intelligence, in 1855.

Rocky Mountain Tunnel

The Rocky Mountain tunnel had its origins in a 400ft-long tailrace blasted through rock by the Rocky Mountain Co. (a party of twelve men) in 1859. In 1867, the Rocky Mountain Gold Sluicing Co. was formed and the tailrace deepened and extended, to enable the working of deep ground higher up the valley. When the tailrace was completed in 1871, it was an average 14 ft deep and 6 ft wide, cut through granite for almost half a mile. The mining surveyor at Beechworth called it “without doubt, the greatest undertaking of the kind in the colony”.

Newtown Bridge Beechworth

Newtown Bridge Beechworth The bridge across Spring Creek in Beechworth was first built of wood in the early 1850's. It was later decided to replace the wooden structure with a bridge the would 'be in service for the next two hundred years.' Quarry owners Donald Fiddes & Co. contracted Scottish stonemasons to commence work on the new bridge on 2nd April 1874. The bridge cost 2,450 pounds to construct and was built without mortar, using keystones to lock the granite blocks together. It was opened in 1875 and at the time was considered the best bridge in the colonies.

Mayday Hills Beechworth

Mayday Hills Beechworth Now known as La Trobe at Beechworth visitors are welcome to wander its magnificent heritage buildings and gardens noted by the National Trust as Victorian Gardens of Significance. A ‘historic self guided walking tour’ guides visitors around the historic precinct and surrounds of the old Mayday Hills hospital or Beechworth Lunatic Asylum as it was originally named.

Established in 1867 as one of three major asylums in the state of Victoria, the hospital operated for nearly 130 years until its closure in 1995. Along the way visitors will discover fascinating facts and information relating to the asylum, its buildings and operations.

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