Note: This page is a constant work-in-progress, with new information and corrections being made all the time. To search on the “1980-1999 Timeline” for any particular year, person, event, business, shop etc, simply press CTRL+F and type in the thing you are looking for in the small box that will appear on the screen.
1980 – Apr 25
The Beechworth Historic Park is declared a State Park, with the boundary redefined. This redefinition is part of the ‘National Parks (Amendment) Bill’ in Victoria. Covering much of the public land around the township, the 1,130 hecatre Beechworth Historic Park features interpretive walks, old mine sites and native flora and fauna including wombats and koalas. Featured walking tracks include the 5km Gorge Scenic Walk (or drive) which provides wonderful views of waterfalls and cascades through the rugged countryside west of the town. Other walking tracks within the park are tracks that connect Lake Sambell to Lake Kerferd (above), and a network of tracks link points of interest in the Gorge area including Ingram’s Rock, One Tree Hill, Fiddes Quarry (below), the Precipice and the Woolshed Falls.
1980
Although The Golden Pioneer Railway line around the Beechworth Caravan Park at Lake Sambell has been maintained for a number of years by Beechworth’s Apex Club, the railway’s little imitation steam locomotive – the WM Meldrum (built in the 1960s by Don Hayes and Rex Norman) – becomes less reliable and, as the railway’s mainstays – Don Hayes, Rex Norman, Ernie Hawking and Billy Rogers – become less available, the tourist attraction eventually runs out of steam and sadly closes.
| After the railway tracks are dismantled, they are stacked in a corner of the Beechworth Council Depot at the south end of town. The whereabouts the little engine ‘WM Meldrum’ and the trucks (open air carriages) are unknown. Holiday cabins now occupy the land at the ‘Beechworth Caravan Park’ where the little railway station once stood (see below). |
1980 – Oct
The Beechworth Arts Council is established by members of the local community (including Christine Dormer and Heather Sparks) as a not-for-profit arts group to offer support, and create opportunities, across all creative art genres – arts, crafts, music and theatre – for local artists, and foster creative activities across the Indigo hills. The following year the BAC will begin running a ‘Beechworth Country Craft Market’ in the historic Town Hall Gardens with an emphasis on homemade, homegrown and local produce. The market quickly becomes a popular monthly event and a regular meeting place for artists, craftspeople, gardeners, cooks, and musicians. Held seasonally, in 2001 the Country Craft Market will move from the Town Hall Gardens to the Beechworth Police Paddocks by which time it supports 170 stalls. The last BAC-run market will be held in 2004.
| Since 1994 the ‘Beechworth Arts Council’ has sponsored Beechworth Secondary College’s visual and performing arts excellence annual awards. The ‘BAC’ will also support Beechworth Secondary College students’ attendance at the ‘Melbourne Writers’ Festival’, ‘New England Summer Camp’, and the ‘Melbourne Theatre Company’. It has also helped students to attend ‘Melbourne’s Big Day Out’. |
1980 – Oct
33km from Beechworth, the Orana Cinema in Wangaratta closes after 31 year of screening films. Opened at 21 Reid Street in September 1949, the movie house featured 1,308 seats. (The word ‘Orana’ means ‘Welcome’ in a number of Aboriginal languages). After closing, the cinema interior is gutted and converted into the Skatescene skating rink, followed by an indoor cricket pavilion from 1984. In 2010, the interior of the art-deco cinema is converted into an arcade with shops and offices and renamed Strand Arcade (below).
1980 – Dec
15km from Beechworth, Tina Fraser and Gavin Doherty purchase 22 acres of land at 980 Beechworth-Chiltern Road on which stands a simple relocated army hut, with no plumbing or electricity. The property looks out to a wooded escarpment of rock formations and rock shelters and is within walking distance of the famous ‘Yeddonba Rock Paintings’. Over the next 10 years Tina and Gavin renovate, add and extend the old army building, turning it into a lovely home. Surrounded by the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park (between Beechworth and Chiltern), they begin to plant and develop 5-acres of land around the house into a beautiful and lush garden, which quickly attracts lots of birdlife. In 1990 Tina and Gavin will open their property to the public as the Out of Town Nursery and Humming Garden.
| The location of the garden is at Gidley’s Gap, where ‘The Gap Inn’ once stood. Run by Thomas and Winifred Gidley, ‘The Gap Inn’ (which was burnt down three times with some loss of life) had a rather shady past (and was often referred to by locals as ‘Inn of the Forty Thieves’!) as Gidley was an infamous cattle rustler and was well known to the Ned Kelly gang. Both Thomas Gidley and Ned Kelly spent time in Beechworth Gaol and in 1873 Gidley was sentenced to two years hard labour for perjury. |
1981
The population of Beechworth is recorded as 3,154. Over 900 are employed in Beechworth as follows – the Beechworth Gaol (H.M. Prison Beechworth) employs 30 full-time staff to supervise over 100 prisoners; the Forests Commission and the local forestry industry employs 39 workers; The Ovens District Hospital employs 18 full-time and 12 part-time staff to care for (an average of) 17 patients at a time; the Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged has 183 full-time and 124 part-time staff for (a daily average of) 134 patients; and the Mayday Hills Mental Hospital has just over 500 patients cared for for by 525 employees of whom 284 are nursing staff.
1981
Paul McLaurin purchases 53 acres of the Golden Ball property – established by Isaac Phillips in 1857 – at 1175 Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, Everton Upper. Located beside Hodgson’s Creek, it was the home of Isaac’s famous Golden Ball Hotel. A few metres away stands the Golden Ball Bridge, named in honour of the property and the hotel.
1981 – Mar
After being established at the end of 1979, the Beechworth Senior Citizen’s Croquet Club on Harper Avenue now acquires a large lawn mower (with a generous donation from the Lions Club of Beechworth) and electric lights are installed on pylons that have been made and donated by inmates from the Beechworth Reformatory Prison. Two new sets of balls are donated by the recently closed Echuca Croquet Club.
| In 1982 a second plot of former railway land will be leased to the croquet club allowing them to establish a second green. The two greens become casually known as the ‘Top’ (on Railway Avenue) and the ‘Bottom’ (on Harper Avenue). In 1986 the second croquet green – on Railway Avenue – will be be officially named for, and opened by, Marjorie Fagan, the club’s 1979 founder and first president. Marjorie will pass away at the age of 91 on January 28th 1996. |
1982
The former Brigidine Convent & Boarding School at 8 Priory Lane – which had been converted into The Old Priory Guest House in 1979 – is sold to Terry and Wendy Barnett who convert it into an environmental, educational and conference centre, specialising in school camps.
1982
After purchasing land in 1980 on McClay Road at Everton Upper – 13 km from Beechworth between Everton Hills and Beechworth – Rick Kinzbrunner begins planting Cabernet and Chardonnay vines and creates the Giaconda Vineyard and Winery. By 1985 he has produced his first vintage. Rick had previously spent four years under Warren Winiarski at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in California’s Napa Valley and had also made wine in Sonoma, Bordeaux and New Zealand before returning to Australia in 1980 to take up a position as assistant winemaker at Brown Brothers in Milawa.
1982
Beechworth Gaol is registered as a ‘heritage place’.
1982
Elizabeth and Stephen Newton Morris establish the Pennyweight Winery just south of Beechworth at 13 Pennyweight Lane. They will produce a range of solely estate grown table and fortified wines including apera (sherry). Pennyweight is named after the rich Pennyweight Flat gold field discovered in 1852, which the winery overlooks.
| Stephen’s great-grandfather George Francis Morris is a successful baker and general merchant in Camp Street, Beechworth (as well as Woolshed and Sebastopol Flat). By the age of 25, having made his fortune, George purchases property at Brown’s Plains just east of Rutherglen in 1859 and builds a beautiful home named ‘Fairfield House’ after the suburb in Liverpool, England where he had studied. By 1860 he has established the Morris name in the wine industry. His son Charles Hughes Morris establishes ‘Morris Wines’ at ‘Mia Mia’ vineyard in Rutherglen at the turn of the century and his son Frederick Hughes Morris is a partner in ‘Morris Wines’ at ‘Mia Mia’ until the winery is sold in 1969. |
1982 – Oct
The End of an Era – Five of the remaining members of the Beechworth Town Band hand over a cheque to the Beechworth Music Group’s Concert Band, marking the official end of the Beechworth Town Band after over 100 years. The $2,000 payment is made up of the remaining funds in the old band’s account and they are entertained during the ceremony by the new Concert Band in fine style. Held in the Bandroom upstairs at Herb and Joan Crossman’s Rock Cavern, the new band plays a wide variety of music, including one of the Beechworth Town Band’s old favourites, the ‘Colonel Bogey March’.
1982
Beechworth’s Police Station is still housed in the 1858-built former ‘Gold Office and Sub-Treasury’ building on Ford Street, where it has been the centre of the town’s police force for almost 100 years. A new and modern Beechworth Police Station will not be constructed and opened until 1997.
1983 – Feb 16
‘Ash Wednesday’. High temperatures, intense winds, and low summer rainfall result in over 100 fires sweeping across Victoria and South Australia. In Victoria, 47 people lose their lives. 2,080 homes are destroyed, along with businesses, stores, equipment, machinery, stock, and other private assets. The total cost of property-related damage in Victoria is estimated to be over $200 million while the fires also damage or destroy valuable timber in State forests, as well as public and private plantations, with losses of around $50 million.
| In the lead-up to the summer of 1982-1983, most of Victoria experiences a severe drought, which begins as early as 1979. Rainfall during the winter and spring of 1982 is low, while summer rainfall for Victoria is down 75% on previous years. The persistent low rainfall means less moisture in the soil, while dams and creeks in many places are almost dry. Melbourne and most regional towns are on severe water restrictions with many farmers required to cart water. |
1983
The Beechworth Concert Band, under the direction of conductor John Green (who has taken over from Bob Charlton), continues to perform in Beechworth and beyond, participating in the innovative ‘Band Spectacular’ at the Wangaratta Town Hall on the last day of July.
| The ‘Concert Band’ is part of the ‘Beechworth Music Group’ founded by Herb and Joan Crossman in 1963. From the early 1970s until the mid 1990s band members practice every Monday evening in an upstairs ‘music room’ at the Crossman’s ‘Rock Cavern’ building on the corner of Ford and Camp Street. |
1983
Razor wire is added all around the outer walls of Beechworth Gaol to discourage and minimise escape.
1983
Following the devastating ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires of February 1983, ‘Forests Commission – Victoria’ – which has been in existence since 1918 – is no more, when the ‘Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands’ (CFL) is established. This new department will also replace the ‘Department of State Forests’, the ‘Department of Crown Lands and Survey’ and the ‘Ministry for Conservation’. The new department reflects the Government’s intention to consolidate all public land management in one Department in order to better co-ordinate the use of all resources; to rationalise the many different authorities and land management systems; and to properly integrate public land use and management with conservation requirements ensuring the protection of native flora and fauna and their environments.
| By April 1990 the ‘Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands’ will be replaced by the newly created ‘Department of Conservation and Environment’. |
1983
Leo Nette – who has recently retired as postmaster at Malvern Post Office in Melbourne – moves to Beechworth with his wife Marie Nette to take over the management of Silver Creek Caravan Park from the Prentiss family. Located at 151 Stanley Road – 1.5 km from the centre of Beechworth – the park backs onto Silver Creek and features powered and unpowered camping sites along with cottages and cabins. It will later be renamed the Beechworth Holiday Park and now also features villas and ‘glamping pods’ (below) along with a solar powered swimming pool.
| Leo Nette will go on to serve as a Beechworth Councillor from 1987 to 1991, serve as Shire President from 1988 to 1989 and be named Beechworth’s ‘Citizen of the Year’ in 1995. In April 2002 Leo will be instrumental in launching the 1858-built ‘Beechworth Electric Telegraph Station’ as a tourist attraction. |
1983
Despite the emergence of home video (Video Hire Shops will eventually be opened on Camp Street and Ford Street), the popular Civic Theatre (at the Beechworth Servicemen’s Memorial Hall at 101 Ford Street – above) continues to screen movies on the big screen, with many of Beechworth’s youngsters enjoying films like “BMX Bandits” (below) and “The Boy Who Could Fly”.
1983
Graeme Smart establishes Beechworth Security Express to meet the daily flights at Wangaratta Airport and collect overnight bank data and posts. Sub-contracted to Mayne Nickless, Graeme will transport the information from the head offices of the various banks in Melbourne, every day, to Beechworth, Chiltern and Yackandandah. He will eventually sell the business to Neil Breen (above) and the company – which grows and expands – still operates today, as Breen’s Courier Service, now managed by Trevor Dighton.
1983 – Aug 14
Respected filmmaker Alexander Roy ‘Dick’ Harwood dies in Beechworth at the age of 85. One of Australia’s pioneer film exhibitors, producers and directors (as A.R. Harwood), he introduced “talkies” to the nation, including “The Man Who Forgot” (1927), “Isle of Intrigue” and “Spur of the Moment” (both released in 1931) filmed in and around Melbourne. He is buried in the Beechworth Cemetery (below).
1983
The National Trust declares the entire Beechworth township an ‘Urban Conservation Area’.
1983
The Beechworth Arts Council commissions a large pictorial tapestry of ‘early scenes and buildings of Beechworth’ with funds raised by the community and from state and federal government grants and private donors. Designed by Leonie Bessant from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop, it is woven in wool and produced sideways on a loom.
| Completed for Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations of European settlement, the tapestry is officially unveiled on December 2, 1988, by the project’s patron, ABC-TV presenter Bill Peach and now hangs as a feature in the Beechworth Town Hall. |
1983
Following a request from local parish priest Father John Peregrine Stockdale, four new Brigidine nuns arrive in Beechworth and re-establish a convent and ‘House of Prayer’ in Ford Street.
1984
After being closed for 8 years, the Beechworth Railway Station and its assorted buildings are falling into disrepair. There is lots of talk about what should be done with the once popular and bustling site, but nothing eventuates. Eventually, the large Engine Shed, the turntable and the top part of the heavy steel crane will be removed.
1984
Author M. Rosalyn Shennan releases her book “Silver Threads and Golden Needles: The Early History of Silver Creek, Beechworth”. Published by The Cleveland Printing Group, in 1990 Shennan will follow it with another publication – “A Biographical Dictionary of the Pioneers of Ovens and Townsmen of Beechworth” (see further entry in 1990).
| M. Rosalyn Shennan will also write books including ‘Personal Information from the Victorian Government Gazette 1851-1855′ in 1987 and ‘The 1855 Ovens Election and the Golden Horseshoes’ in 1995. |
1984 – Apr
The Beechworth Concert Band have a busy program over Easter, playing as they march in the Saturday parade (above), as well a giving seperate concerts and performances, including one in the middle of Beechworth (below).
1984
The National Trust classifies thirty-four buildings in the Beechworth Shire.
| ‘The National Trust’ is established in 1956 and is quickly invited to identify and help preserve many of Beechworth’s important historic buildings, with many of them eventually given ‘National Trust Classifications’. In 1966 the ‘Beechworth Powder Magazine’ is the first ‘National Trust’ property to be opened to the public outside the Melbourne metropolitan area. |
1984
The beautiful Victorian-style 1867-built Rose Cottage at 42 Camp Street is sold for $95,000. Standing next door to Beechworth’s 1869-built Congregational Church, the home and gardens will be restored, renovated and improved by new owners Tony and Lyn who will soon open the property to the public as The Rose Cottage, Beechworth’s “premiere 4-bedroom Bed & Breakfast”.
1984
Tom O’Toole – who had purchased the Ideal Café & Milk Bar on Camp Street with his sister and brother-in-law Betty and Allan Friar in 1974 and successfully run it for three years before selling up and moving to Western Australia – returns to Beechworth and purchases business back from John Gorkham. He then buys the drapery store next door, knocks down the wall between them, renovates, and opens the combined buildings as the ‘Beechworth Bakery’. In 1987 O’Toole will purchase the former ‘Manchester House’ building next door (below) and the bakery extends even further.
| O’Toole’s immensely popular ‘Beechworth Bakery’ eventually expands to outlets in eight other regional towns – Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca, Healesville, Albury, Yackandandah and Bright, serving over one million customers each year, with an annual net intake of more than $12 million. The Beechworth Bakery business is awarded “The Most Significant Regional Attraction” in the ‘Victorian Tourism Awards’ in 1994, 1995 and 1998, and in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2018, Tom O’Toole is awarded a “Medal of the Order of Australia” (OAM) for his services to the baking industry and the Beechworth community. |
1984
Former Australian Army mechanic Mal Davidson and his wife Beth purchase the Golden Hill Trout Farm on Stanley Road from Reg and Margaret Brine, who had established the popular business in 1969. The Davidsons continue the business of egg collecting, fry starting, growing and harvesting and so on, until a local aquarium owner contacts him in 1986 asking to purchase some of the small black worms which colonise the edge of the trout farm’s ponds. After he receives more requests, Mal does some research and realises the worms are in big demand as live food for ornamental fish at aquariums, commanding prices up to $20 per kilo. Realising that carefully raised trout from the farm sell for just $5 to $7 a kilo, by 1988 he begins to start harvesting worms on a commercial scale. In 1991 The Australian Blackworm Co. is officially established, soon selling an average of 170kg of live worms each week, and by 1999 the new business completely replaces the Golden Hill Trout Farm.
1984
Ian and Joan Downs continue to run their Golden Era BP Service Station they they had established at 34 Ford Street in 1972.
1984
Barry and Jan Morey plant the Sorrenberg Vineyard at 49 Alma Road, Beechworth. The site has 3 hectares of vines – made up of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, semillon, gamay, cabernet sauvignon, and small amounts of cabernet franc, pinot noir and merlot, with three rows of sauvignon gris planted in 2015 as a trial. Sorrenberg also produce their own fuel, with 35,000 litres made from “locally sourced fish and chip oil” since 2007. The biofuel is used on all tractors and utes on the property.
| Beechworth now has about the same area under vine as the Rhȏne Valley’s famed ‘Hermitage’. |
1984
John and Helen Kraus build and open the Newtown Park Motel at 38 Bridge Road. Well located on the approach to the Newtown Bridge into Beechworth, and opposite Newtown Park, it offers 14 motel units as well as a ‘Grand Suite’. The Newtown Park Motel will be renamed the Beechworth on Bridge Motel in 2012 and is now run by Steph and Dan Mannix.
1984 – Dec 1-9
As part of Victoria’s 150th Birthday Celebrations the ‘Great Victorian Bike Ride’ is organised as a one-off event, the first ever event organised by the Bicycle Institute of Victoria. Described as “the biggest mass migration across Victoria since the Gold Rush”, the ride’s nine-day route runs from Wodonga to Melbourne (without a rest day) with a first night stopover in Beechworth on Friday evening at the Beechworth Caravan Park. Sponsored by Caltex and Melbourne’s Sun News-Pictorial newspaper, it runs for 850 km and initially attracts over 3,100 cyclists, including 700 children from 70 Victorian schools. From Beechworth the ride travels to Benalla, Rushworth, Bendigo, Maryborough, Ballarat, Sunbury – covering an average of 80 each day – before reaching the outskirts of Melbourne on Sunday December 9th, by which time the number of cycling participants has grown to more than 5,000! At noon, police close off the Tullamarine Freeway to cars so that the cyclists can make their make their final push into the city … and when the cavalcade pours into the centre of Melbourne they are greeted by John Cain, the Premier of Victoria, also on a bicycle! The Great Victorian Bike Ride is such a success that it becomes an annual event.
| Before the ride, five special trains depart Melbourne’s Spencer Street Station to carry 2,000 cyclists, of all ages, to Wodonga to join the start of the ‘Great Victorian Bike Ride’. |
1984 – Dec 5
After repairs and renovations (costing $124,000) are completed, the 1858-built Beechworth Courthouse is officially reopened by Victoria’s Attorney General, 38-year-old Jim Kennan (below) and will continue to hear cases until the end of the decade. Although the usage of the Courthouse in Beechworth is considered low (just 32 hours of sitting time is recorded in the whole of 1981), and most of the cases heard are traffic offences, the decision to retain the Beechworth Courthouse (and to renovate and upgrade it) is influenced by its historical relevance and importance.
| Although some Victorian country courthouses had been decommissioned in the 1960s and 70s (including nearby Chiltern), a number of courts within a 50km radius of Beechworth continue to operate in the mid-1980s, including Wangaratta, Rutherglen, Wodonga, Tallangatta, Myrtleford and Bright. |
1985
Joe and Patricia Woo purchase the Edelweiss Inn restaurant – spread over the three Clements Buildings – at 11-15 Camp Street and establish the Chinese Village restaurant.
| The popular Chinese restaurant will serve Beechworth at this location for 38 years until it moves to new premises at 77 Ford Street in November 2023. |
1985
Following ‘Forests Commission, Victoria’ (FCV) being incorporated into the newly formed ‘Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands’ (CFL) in 1983 , Beechworth’s Forests Office now moves from the old Gold Wardens Office (above) into the former 1858-built Beechworth Telegraph Station (below). Beechworth’s Forestry staff consists of 3 x Foresters (Tony Willett as Acting DFO, Greg Esnouf and Dave Gallax); 3 x Overseers (Wes Lappin, Wally Cowell and Mick Balmforth); and 2 x Administration Staff (District Clerk, Brian Pritchard and Typist/Receptionist, Bernadette Devery). As the CFL begins to restructure, the Beechworth Forest District ceases to exist and becomes part of Ovens/Myrtleford District.
1985
Creswell Nominees Pty Ltd begin construction on Beechworth’s 5th motel. Registered as the Armour Motor Inn, it will open on May 21st 1986. Leased to the Saunders family in March 1988, the freehold will be sold the Patane and Pistone families in December 1989 before the lease is transferred to Russell and Merrill Gronow in March 1994. The two-storey building features 20 motel rooms – six of which are ‘family units’ – and features an outdoor swimming pool and an indoor spa and sauna. Located at 1 Camp Street (next to the Hotel Nicholas), it is the closest motel to the centre of town.
| The ‘Armour Motor Inn’ gets its name from the fact that it is (supposedly) built on the site of the blacksmith’s shop where part of Joe Byrne’s armour was made in the lead up to the Kelly Gang’s siege at Glenrowan. |
1985
David and Lana Chitty continue running their popular Chitty’s Beechworth Bazaar at 58-60 Ford Street. Selling a range of antiques, gifts and souvenirs, David Chitty specialises in gold prospecting equipment and offers historic mine tours. Over the years, the large Ford Street building has been the home of the W. Andrews & Son store, Clement’s Store, Arthur A. Niemann‘s Store, Foy & Gibson and, from 1952, Freeman’s Store.
1985
The 224-page book “Beechworth: A Titan’s Field” – researched and written by Carole Woods – is released by the Hargreen Publishing Company. A librarian at the State Library of Victoria and later the Borchardt Library at La Trobe Univiersity, Woods will complete a Master of Arts (MA) in History at Monash University. She is the author of six books and fifteen biographical entries in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. From 2000 she will be a judge and panel chair of the Victorian Community History Awards for seven years, and from 2008 the Honorary Secretary of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. In 2020 Woods will be awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for ‘service to community history’ and the same year she will publish the book ‘Vera Deakin and the Red Cross’, about the daughter of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin.
| Before his death in 1971, Roy Collington Harvey – curator of the Burke Museum and author of the popular 1952 book “Background to Beechworth” – had been Carole’s research companion and guide in the township and its history |
1985
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the white settlement of Melbourne in 1835, the Beechworth Lions Club install new picnic facilities and benches at the Lake Sambell Reserve.
1985
Jim and Patricia McCormack purchase the Beechworth Newsagency, one of the longest continuously running Beechworth businesses that is still in its original location – established on Camp Street by James Ingram in 1855. They will run the newsagency for the next 10 years but will still own the building until selling it in July 2021 to the McVea family who now fully own the important Beechworth business.
1985 – Dec
A group of interested citizens hold a meeting to discuss the concept of a Neighbourhood Centre for Beechworth, as they feel the town needs a facility that provides a venue/meeting place/hub for individuals and community to gather, learn and support each other in times of both celebration and need. It results in the formation of the Community Services Beechworth Group. In February 1986 the Community Services Beechworth Group is successful in receiving funding from the State Government’s Neighbourhood House program to establish the Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre. With the support of the Beechworth Rotary Club, the Beechworth Shire Council agrees to renovate the former Beechworth Railway Station, with the doors to open in April 1986 with Shirley Bartsh as the first coordinator.
1986
Beechworth High School is officially renamed Beechworth Secondary College. The school had opened (with 248 students) at its new purpose-built classrooms in March 1962 on Sydney Road (near the Ovens District Hospital) with its main entrance at 85 Balaclava Road.
| The school had previously been based at the ‘Beechworth Primary School’ which had become a ‘Higher Elementary School’ in 1912, before being raised to ‘Beechworth High School’ in 1959. Due to increasing secondary school student numbers and lack of space, the new location on Sydney Road is selected for the construction of a separate ‘Beechworth High School’ for the town’s secondary students. |
1986 – Jul 4
On the Centennial of the Brigidine Sisters’ arrival in Beechworth in 1886, Graeme and Pam Bell (below) purchase the former Brigidine Convent & Boarding School property at 8 Priory Lane– renamed The Old Priory in 1979 – and make the grand 1904 three-storey building their home. They slowly begin renovating the buildings and will eventually reopen The Old Priory offering self-contained heritage accommodation for up to 200 guests. It will become a popular Beechworth venue for wedding receptions and functions, concerts and events, as well as continuing its popular accommodation for school groups and ‘school camps’.
1986
Beechworth Engineering is established by Brian Smith in a large shed on his property, repairing farm and industrial equipment as well as making replacement components for farm equipment. Smith also manufactures small components for a company in Dandenong.
1986
A group of locals are successful in their lobbying for funding for a Community Childcare Centre. However, it is conditional on running the centre from the former Beechworth Railway Station, which the Community Services Beechworth Group has just called home. Eventually, an agreement is reached for the Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre to relocate to the Methodist Sunday School Hall building on the corner of Ford & Church Streets and it opens in 1987 with Joy Mason the new coordinator.
1986
A fire breaks out at Cameron McBean’s Reliance Garage and Service Station at 38 Ford Street following an explosion caused by leaking fuel from a refuelling Mobil petrol tanker. The building and the business are destroyed. It will be replaced by a building set back from the street that will later house ‘Bouchon at Botanicals’ a French-style cafe set among a collection of rare maple trees, and, from 2023, ‘Walter Beechworth Hair Salon‘.
1986
Restoration work starts on the 89-year-old iconic Baarmutha Park Grandstand which is suffering from lack of maintenance since its construction in 1897.
1987
Kelvin Clark – having grown up next door to the elderly Mary Fredericia ‘Freda’ Barnes in the house her father Robert Barnes built in 1859 – purchases the old Barnes home at 5 John Street. Fortuitously, Kel (a landscape gardener) meets Terese Adams (skilled in interior design) and together they resolve to renovate and restore the historic old building, which has fallen into disrepair. They transform the house and gardens into the beautiful Barnsley House which they open to paying guests and it quickly becomes a popular Beechworth Bed and Breakfast destination.
1987 – Mar
On the Hume Highway, the ‘Benalla Bypass’ is officially opened. At a cost of $70 million, the 36.5km new section of the Hume Highway – which bypasses the town of Benalla – is the longest stretch of highway duplication opened in Victoria and extends from south of Baddaginnie to Chivers Road south of Glenrowan.
| Bypasses on the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney will begin construction in 1962, with Chiltern becoming the first Victorian town to be bypassed. The Hume Highway no longer passes through ANY Victorian towns, the last town – Wodonga – will be bypassed in 2007. |
1987
After detailed research, 30-year-old Tom Griffiths – an historian at the State Library of Victoria – releases his 128-page book ‘Beechworth: An Australian Country Town and Its Past’ through Greenhouse Publications. Griffiths will go on to research and write a number of other books, including a history of Antarctica. He will eventually become Professor of History in the Research School of Social Sciences at The Australian National University in Canberra and Director of the ‘Centre for Environmental History‘ at ANU.
| Tom Griffith’s books and essays will win prizes in history, science, literature, politics and journalism including the ‘Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction’, the ‘Ernest Scott Prize for History’, the ‘Eureka Science Book Prize’, the ‘Alfred Deakin Prize’ for an essay advancing Public Debate, and the ‘Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History’. In 2014 Griffiths is appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly social, cultural and environmental history, and through popular and academic contributions to Australian literature’. |
1987
Ted and Helen McIntosh (above) open the Beechworth Video Library at 44 Ford Street.
| In the 2022 ‘Australia Day Honours’, Helen McIntosh will be awarded a ‘Medal of the Order of Australia’ (OAM) for her service to Beechworth. Mrs McIntosh is a founding leader of Beechworth Cub Scouts and serves on the Beechworth Secondary College recreation centre board of management for 24 years and contributes to numerous Beechworth groups including Neighbourhood Watch, Meals on Wheels, the swimming group, Probus, the Op Shop, church and school councils. She also has executive roles with the ‘Beechworth Red Cross’ branch, including serving as secretary between 1989 and 2004. |
1988
Connecting covered walkways are constructed at Beechworth Primary School to link the main building with the toilet block, and a new portable classroom is added. A Rotunda is built near the school’s front gate (below), with a tiled brick floor featuring designs in the bricks made by the schoolchildren (below). And works begins on an upgrade of the staff and administration area, with several classrooms in the main building being refitted to become a new staff room, an interview room, general office, a sick bay and the Principal’s Office. Work will be completed, and officially opened, at the start of October.
1988
Bob and Dianne Galbraith are running Ennals Goodfellows Store at 30 High Street in Beechworth (above). Selling everything from groceries to seedlings & shrubs to stock feed, they have just installed a new dairy case and frozen foods section (below).
| One of Beechworth’s longest continuously running businesses, the store at 30 High Street had been established in 1882 by Alfred William Ladson as ‘Ladson’s Cash Grocery Store’. It is eventually taken over by Alfred’s son Arthur Ladson who employs Beatrice Ennals, and he eventually sells the entire business to her. Beatrice will run the popular grocery store until her retirement at the age of 80 in 1961, handing the business over to her daughter Margaret and her husband Dick Galbraith. After Dick passes away, it is taken over by Dick and Margaret’s son Bob Galbraith and his wife Dianne. |
1988
After being on show at the National Trust Carriage and Harness Museum – in the former ‘Crawford and Connolly’ buildings at the rear of Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel on Ford Street – since November 1969, the disused Beechworth Railway Goods Shed becomes the new home of the historic carriage collection after the National Trust has to vacate the former ‘Crawford and Connolly‘ buildings.
1988
Dennis Raos opens the Beechworth Pizza and Take Away at 57 Ford Street. The business will be taken over by Graham Fisher in May 1990.
1988
Alison J. Williams and her husband Hilton Newitt establish Beechworth Glass & Leadlight at 91 Ford Street (originally built as the booking office of the old Parkinson’s Garage next door). Beechworth Glass & Leadlight will later move to the shop at 12 Camp Street.
1988
After 82 years of serving local customers, the State Savings Bank of Victoria closes its Beechworth branch at 97 Ford Street (above). It had taken over the former Oriental Bank building in 1906. (In 1980 the State Savings Bank of Victoria became known as the State Bank of Victoria before collapsing due to the weight of its massive and irresponsible lending in the mid-to-late 1980s. In 1990 it is sold and becomes part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.)
| A private home from 1991 to 2002, the solid two-storey building on Ford Street is purchased from the private owners in February 2002 by Heidi Freeman of the famous Beechworth Freeman family and lovingly restored, opening 2003 as ‘Freeman on Ford’, luxury accommodation. |
1988 – Oct 8
Work is completed on the upgrade of the Administration and Staff area of the 1875-built Beechworth Primary School. Several classrooms in the main building have been refitted to become a new staff room, an interview room, general office, a sick bay and the Principal’s Office.
1988
29km from Beechworth, David and Annie Brown (below) take over the former Milawa Butter Factory and establish the Milawa Cheese Company. Motivated by the lack of being able to find a good Australian-made creamy soft blue cheese, they decide to start the company and learn how to make it themselves! With a desire to create Australian ‘farmhouse cheeses’ inspired by European methods, they will soon develop an amazing array of cheeses, from creamy bries to stinky washed rinds to the freshest chèvre.
| At the start of the 1880s there are nearly 500,000 dairy cows in Victoria and the butter making industry prospers. By the end of 1890 there are 70 butter factories throughout the state, the same year that the ‘Milawa Co-operative Dairy’ is established, and by 1896 it is one of the biggest dairy companies in Australia. It will later become the ‘Milawa Butter Factory’ and operate until 1962 when it becomes the ‘Milford Dairy Company’. |
1989
After 14 years at the helm, Ron and Barbara Potter – who had purchased Beechworth’s Murray Breweries on Last Street in 1975 – now sell the historic 1865 brewery to businessmen Alan Storer and John Ryan who will run the business for the next seven years.
1989
Brian Smith moves his Beechworth Engineering to new larger premises on an industrial block at 23 Crawford Street, which is the nominated ‘Industrial Area’ of Beechworth. The successful business is renamed Pennyweight Engineering. In 1998 Smith adds a large factory at the rear of the property and starts a second business – Turn Over Plastics, manufacturing rotational moulds for plastic products. As business grows, in 2005 he purchases a block of land directly across the road and builds a third workshop space.
1989
Bob and Rosemary Simpson move to Beechworth. Bob (above) will go on to become a highly respected contributor to Beechworth’s heritage and a driving force behind the preservation and reopening of the Beechworth Courthouse in June 1991. Bob will codify all the old Court House records, index them, maintain them and even track down Court ledgers that had found their way into private homes. After serving Beechworth for 36 years, Bob will pass away on December 12th 2025.
1989
Beechworth author Ian Hyndman – who wrote ‘Beechworth Cemetery: A Stroll Through History’ in 1988 – releases his second book ‘Thomas Ladson of Ladson’s Store, Tarrawingee’. Published by Bethel Publications, the detailed and well researched book looks at the fascinating life of the Ladson family in Beechworth and Tarrawingee. Hyndman will go on to publish a number of other books about Beechworth including ‘Out of the Goldfields: A History of Ovens and Murray Hospital For The Aged’ in 1993 and ‘History of Beechworth’ in 1995.
| 21-year-old Thomas Taylor Ladson, a jeweller like his father, arrives from England in Beechworth in 1855 with his 15-year old brother Alfred William Ladson. Thomas sets up a small jewellery business on Ford Street before moving to the small township of nearby Tarrawingee 3 years later, opening Tarrawingee’s first Post Office in October 1858 and then establishes ‘Ladson’s Store’. Thomas and his wife Mary Ann Crawford will have 13 children but, tragically, 12 of them will pass away – mostly from tuberculosis – between 1864 and 1913. Only a daughter, named Miniam, survives. |
1989
Beechworth Bus Lines is established, with school and route bus services being combined into one company that services the six local schools in the Beechworth area. In 2002 Beechworth Bus Lines is purchased by Graham and Gabrielle Lade and by 2003 they are running two 57-seat coaches, four large school buses and two mini buses. Peter ‘Cuppy’ Collie is the company’s main charter, tour and school bus driver, while Glenda Marshall and Ian Evans are kept busy as school bus drivers and local bus charter drivers. Operating from a depot in Beechworth, the company also employs a pool of casual drivers including David Collier, Peter Clark and Geoff Savy.
1989
Running out of room in their Ennals Goodfellows Store at 30 High Street, Bob and Dianne Galbraith move their grocery business to the Beechworth Supermarket at 73-77 Ford Street (below), established by Mervyn John Sinclair in 1961.
| Established in 1882, ‘Ladson’s Grocery Store’ at 30 High Street essentially remains in the Ladson family for over 100 years. Established by Arthur Ladson, Alfred’s son Arthur Ladson takes over, then Beatrice Ennals (mother-in-law of Dick Galbraith, Alfred’s grandson), then Dick Galbraith and his wife Margaret Ennals after Beatrice relinquishes the business at the age of 80. After Dick passes away, it is taken over by his son Bob Galbraith and his wife Dianne who will operate the shop as a ‘Goodfellows Local Food Store’ (above) before moving the entire business to larger premises in the centre of town on Ford Street. |
1989
After operating for a few years as the Australasian Tea-Rooms and Antiques Store, Wayne McLaughlin purchases the former 1856-built Bank of Australasia building at 86 Ford Street (above) for $347,050, completes a full renovation (repainting the front facade in pink!) and establishes The Bank Restaurant and Mews, a regional, fine dining farm-to-table licensed establishment. The former bank’s Carriage House and Stables are refurbished into four luxury suites around a leafy courtyard (below).
| In 2002 up-and-coming young chef Rhy Waddington joins ‘The Bank Restaurant’ where he meets his future wife Samantha Whitford and they will go on to open their own restaurant ‘Waddingons at Kergunyah’. Having reached success in Australia, Rhy travels to America where he becomes Head Chef at the critically acclaimed Australian venue “Bondi Bar & Kitchen” in San Diego’s famous Gaslamp Quarter and is soon voted one of the ‘Top Five Chefs in Southern California’. |
1989
Bowman’s Run Winery is established by Dick and Jill Whitford at 1305 Beechworth-Wodonga Road in Wooragee. The small vineyard is taken over by Struan and Fran Robertson in 1999. The winery produces a range of varieties including Cabernet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Shiraz and Rosé, producing around 200 cases a year.
| ‘Bowman’s Run Winery’ sits on a small section of the vast lands once owned and occupied Dr William Bowman, the first white settler (squatter) in the area back in the 1830s, long before the establishment of Beechworth. Bowman’s ‘Heifer Run’ spanned over 41,000 acres – running all the way from to Wodonga in the north to Bowmans Forest in the south. Dr Bowman builds a fine home called ‘The Grange’ at Everton near Tarrawingee. |
1989
Don Sullivan is running Kate’s Country Kitchen at 78 Ford Street. The café is named after Ned Kelly’s sister Kate. Since September 2011, 78 Ford Street has been home to the Beechworth branch of Bendigo Bank
1989 – Dec 31
Karen and Ken Dosser – who had been the proprietors of the Beechworth Squash Courts – open their new business on New Year’s Eve – The Parlour & Pantry at 69 Ford Street, serving some of the finest food in the district. Karen (below) studied commercial cooking at TAFE and has worked with many of the district’s finest chefs including those at the acclaimed Tuilleries Restaurant in Rutherglen. , She has developed a particular skill for baking a range of mouth-watering cakes, as well as a fascination with fino (dry) sherry, so the The Parlour & Pantry wine list features many of the local regions finest finos. The Dossers even stock the highly regarded ‘Lustau’ fino from Spain, a dry and pale sherry that is aged under a layer of flor (yeast) in oak barrels which gives ‘Lustau’ fino its characteristic yeasty, saline, and almond notes.
1990 – Jan 1
After hearing thousands of cases over 132 years, the Beechworth Courthouse – which opened in 1858 – finally closes and will no longer be used for legal proceedings, with all the Beechworth records directed to be moved to the Myrtleford Courts. The last case heard at the Beechworth Courthouse, in 1989, is a Children’s Court matter. However, after restoration work is completed, it will re-open as a museum in 1991. Built of granite by Scottish stonemasons in 1858, it features a central block with gabled ends containing the main courtroom, flanked by office wings, and surrounded by verandahs and a public vestibule. The original furniture and fittings remain.
| 13 people are sentenced to death from the dock of the Beechworth Courthouse, including Elizabeth Scott, the first woman executed in Victoria, who murdered her husband. Three executioners/public floggers (all prisoners seeking remissions of sentence through their service) are active at Beechworth, including Elijah Upjohn, the man who hanged Ned Kelly. |
1990 – Jan 21
After arriving in Beechworth on January 17th, Father Stephen Owens (above) is officially inducted as Beechworth’s new Anglican minister. Formerly the rector at Murrurundi in the diocese of Newcastle in NSW, with him in Beechworth are his wife Lorraine and their children Andrew, David and Jennifer. As well as serving Beechworth’s Christ Church congregation, Father Owens will also serve as the chaplain at Mayday Hills Asylum and at the Beechworth Integration Prison.
1990
Beechworth Gaol is reconfigured as an ‘integration prison’. This assists inmates to adjust to community-based orders to maintain community safety as well as pre-release activities for inmates to reintegrate to the community and desist from crime.
1990
After suffering a major financial collapse in 1988, the State Bank of Victoria is sold and merges to become part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia who now build and open a branch of the Commonwealth Bank in Beechworth, on land that had been vacant at 65 Ford Street. Beechworth’s Commonwealth Bank still operates on Ford Street today (below).
| The ‘State Savings Bank of Victoria’ had a branch in Beechworth for 82 years after taking over the former ‘Oriental Bank’ building at 97 Ford Street in 1906. In 1980 the ‘State Savings Bank of Victoria’ became known as the ‘State Bank of Victoria’ before collapsing due to the weight of its massive and irresponsible lending in the mid-to-late 1980s and the Beechworth branch closes in 1988. |
1990
After releasing her first book – ‘Silver Threads and Golden Needles: The Early History of Silver Creek, Beechworth’ in 1985 – author M. Rosalyn Shennan now releases her second book “A Biographical Dictionary of the Pioneers of Ovens and Townsmen of Beechworth”. The limited edition publication – just 500 copies – features alist of 495 notable residents of the Ovens and Beechworth district – including 495 photographic portraits compiled by Henry Hansen in 1899 (below) – with biographical details for each name, culled from the local press and informants.
1990 – Apr 14
Steven and Elizabeth Mason open ‘The Finer Things Of Life’, a shop with a ‘vintage Victorian’ theme, selling classic jewellery, homewares and antiques. It has become one of Beechworth’s “must see” destinations. The shop at 16 Camp Street had been the home of Bernard and Elly Valkenburg’s Milk Bar from 1972 to 1990 and, before that in the early 1900s, Alfred Ladson’s Furniture Store.
| Both Steven and Elizabeth have strong connections with Beechworth. Steven grew up on a property in nearby Everton and in 1979 his mother, Val Mason, became the first female President of the ‘United Shire of Beechworth’ and served two terms in the role. Elizabeth’s great-great-grandfather ran two seperate Beechworth produce stores on Ford Street in the 1870s. Elizabeth will become the president of the ‘Beechworth History and Heritage Society’ and a driving force in keeping the town’s fascinating past alive. She will also be named president of the ‘Beechworth Chamber of Commerce’. |
1990
Well known Beechworth butcher and businessman George Fendyk (below) takes over the 1882-built Ennal’s Store (formerly the Ladson’s Grocery Store) at 30 High Street (above) and will soon relaunch it as Beechworth Machinery which will sell and service a range of lawnmowers, gardening equipment and garden sheds, trailers, rotary hoes, pumps and generators, along with Suzuki and Honda motorcycles.
1990
Beechworth Bicycle Hire is operating from the shop at 49 Ford Street.
| In September 2024 Nigel Walker will move his Beechworth company ‘The Bike Hire Company‘ – established in December 2017 – into the same shop, centrally located in the middle of Beechworth. |
1990 – Jul
The recently formed Beechworth Promotion Council completes their ‘Tourism Development Strategy’ with the aim of making Beechworth a major destination for tourists. Working with ‘Advance Tourism Marketing’ and the Victorian Tourism Commission, a colourful ‘Destination Beechworth’ brochure is printed, along with a holiday accommodation package and special offers to all RACV members. Beechworth is the first town in the region to have a specific plan for tourist development.
1990
After 10 years of planting, building and landscaping, artists Tina Fraser and Gavin Doherty finally open their Out of Town Nursery and Humming Garden to the public. Located 15km from Beechworth at 980 Beechworth-Chiltern Road, the 5-acre garden features a Japanesque-style art gallery, an ornamental greenhouse, a succulent roofed shop and a propagating shed. Among the hundreds of plants are ornamental grasses, succulents, perennials, water features and plants, and stunning garden art. It also includes plants of Mexican and South African origin which provide the backbone of the garden and micro-climates for unusual plants from all around the globe. Humming with wildlife, many native birds find sanctuary in the leafy garden including Honeyeaters, King Parrots, Red-Browed Finches, White Winged Choughs and Satin Bowerbirds.
1990 – Dec
Stanley couple Alex and Bernita Grech (above) take over the Border Market fruit store at 24 Camp Street, renaming it the Gold Fields Greengrocer. The business will soon move from next door to the Beechworth Bakery on Camp Street to 59 Ford Street, on the ground floor of the old Star Hotel.
1991 – Jan
Ian and Joan Downs (below) continue to run their Golden Era Service Station. Established at 34 Ford Street in 1972 selling BP products, they now sell Caltex products. They work with their sons Mal, the family firm’s bookkeeper, and Glen, who has just completed his four-year motor mechanics course. Other members of staff include mechanic David Witherow, bowser attendant Nick Bennet and bus drivers Barry Mason and Glenda Marshall at their Golden Era Bus Lines.
1991 – Jan
David and Rhonda Edmonds are settling into their roles as Beechworth’s new Salvation Army officers. They replace previous Salvation Army Captains Alan and Rose Parish who have been allocated a new posting in South Australia. A former truck driver, Captain David Edmonds, has most recently been in charge of the Salvation Army in Broadford.
1991 – Feb
Part of Beechworth’s 450-year-old ‘But But Tree’ collapses, causing power blackouts to the surrounding area. It appears that some of the massive top branches have succumbed to old age and dry weather. Classified by the National Trust, the famous and much-loved ‘Eucylaptus Bridgesianna’ or ‘Apple Box Tree’ stands on the corner of Tanswell Street and Dowling Court. Originally the site of the first miners’ church services, the distinctive tree is also used by blacksmiths as a canopy to shield their forges from the sun.
1991
Greg and Jane White are running The Beechworth Garden Nursery in the centre of town at 43 Ford Street.
1991
Lucy Tozer opens Hair Construction at 6B Camp Street. She operates in Camp Street for many years before moving to 45 Ford Street, eventually relocating to where the Fairy Shop had been operating, at the rear of 71 Ford Street (the Ivy Phillips shop) in 2001 (below).
1991 – Apr 1
Don Alchin and David Box purchase Sinclair’s SSW Supermarket at 73-77 Ford Street from Mervyn John Sinclair who is retiring from the business in his late 70s. It will later be re-branded as Foodtown SSW, then just Foodtown and finally to IGA (Independent Grocers Alliance). Longer trading hours are introduced and, in 1994, a full scanning system is added throughout the supermarket.
1991 – Apr
After detailed restoration work, Jennifer Wilkinson opens the 1880-built house at 3 Finch Street as the gourmet retreat Finches of Beechworth Country Guesthouse. Over the years the beautiful and historic property has been home to many owners including the Zwar family, George Billson and renowned author, poet and playwright David Martin.
| After 12 rewarding years at ‘Finches of Beechworth’, Jennifer will sell the business and establish ‘EPIcURIOUS Travel’, which combines her love for active travel with her expertise in providing great food, wine and hospitality. |
1991
Ray Pond establishes the Beechworth Provender at 18 Camp Street, next door to Bridie Maree’s Shoe Shop. The café promotes itself as a ‘purveyor of fine foods’ including local wines, cheese, jams and chutneys.
1991 – Aug 30
Having moved to Beechworth from Wagga Wagga, John and Maria Harvey open their Brigadier Highland Supply shop at 14 Camp Street. Specialising in their ‘Brigadier’ brand of traditional toy soldiers (established by John Harvey in Wagga Wagga in 1979) it also sells a range of imported pipe band equipment, clan and and tartan products, made-to-measure kilts, Celtic jewellery and imported Scottish confectionery and biscuits. The name of the popular Beechworth business will soon become the Brigadier Scottish Shop. John Harvey will establish the popular Beechworth Celtic Festival in 1995. The Harvey’s will run their Brigadier Scottish Shop in Beechworth for the next 17 years before retiring in 2008. Since 2021, this building has been the home of Beechworth Dental.
| Born in Akron, Ohio in the USA, John Harvey emigrates to Australia in 1972, becoming an Australian citizen in 1976. He works as a high school teacher in Wagga Wagga and starts his ‘Brigadier’ toy soldier business, then moves to Beechworth with wife Maria to establish their ‘Brigadier’ shop. As well as co-founding and coordinating the ‘Beechworth Celtic Festival’ he also serves for many years on the ‘Beechworth Servicemen’s Hall’ committee, assisting in its refurbishment. Along with his passion for Scottish Pipes and Drums and Scottish culture, John is also interested in railways – particularly model railways – and will help establish the permanent Beechworth model railway display at the Telegraph Station in 2012. |
1991 – Sep
70-year-old Russell Graham Stevenson from Tumbarumba in NSW arrives in Beechworth and establishes Russell Stevenson’s Beechworth Emporium at 24 Camp Street in the recently vacated Ovens Hardware Store. 50-year-old Ian Geoffrey Newberry is appointed the new store’s manager and Newberry, along with Katrina Witherow, will eventually take over the clothing store when Stevenson retires, and the store is renamed simply The Beechworth Emporium (below). The large building had been built in 1870 as the single-storey Post Office Hotel (below) as a replacement for the two-storey Empire Hotel which had been destroyed in the ‘Great Beechworth Fire’ of 1867. The Beechworth Emporium, which sells men’s and women’s clothing, and accessories and footwear, will be run by Ian Newberry for the next 20 years before being taken over by Sue Ryan who still runs the Beechworth Emporium today.
| After its closure in 1941, the old ‘Post Office Hotel’ building becomes ‘Oven’s Hardware’ then later ‘Warner’s Hardware’. From 1979 it is known simply as ‘Beechworth Hardware’, reverting to ‘Ovens Hardware’ in 1983 before closing in 1991 when Jim McCormack begins constructing a larger purpose-built hardware store on land at 4-6 Camp Street. |
1991 – Sep
Darryl and Christine Parry take over Beechworth’s popular Golden Hills Takeaway (above) at 68 Ford Street from Adrian and Angie. The Parrys will rename the business Golden Hills Fine Food (below). Darryl, a former milkman, announces that although customers will notice a slight change to the expanded menu, the popular Golden Hills footpath tables will continue to be a feature of the business. In 2009 French chef Michel Renoux will take over the cafe and relaunch it as the Ageing Frog’s Fish Bar and Deli.
1991 – Oct
Brian and Frances Rudd (above) move to Beechworth from their home in Violet Town after purchasing Ian and Annette Soulsby’s Budget-Rite Self Service Supermarket at 22 Junction Road, opposite Beechworth Primary School.
1991 – Oct
53-year-old Beechworth real estate agent and developer Graeme Gallus and his wife Jill begin work on their ‘Warren Lane Project’ in the centre of town (above). Running from the Gallus Beechworth Real Estate office at 74 Ford Street (in the centre of town) back towards High Street, the old, dark Warren Lane will now feature three new shops with infloor heating and security lighting with the laneway in front of the shops covered with a new arched roof. The ‘Marion Arcade’ will be completed early in 1992 (below). Graeme and Jill Gallus had settled in Beechworth in 1981.
| Warren Lane runs between Ford Street and High Street. Originally named ‘Criterion Lane’ (after the ‘Criterion Hotel’ which stood at the other end of the lane on High Street), it will later be renamed ‘Warren Lane’ after Richard ‘Little Dick’ Warren, who had taken over Alf Foster’s tobacconist store at 74 Ford Street in 1871. Today the laneway is partly roofed and known as the ‘Marion Arcade’. |
1992
The historic 1865 Murray Breweries at 29 Last Street is now being run by businessmen Alan Storer and John Ryan. The oldest and longest running manufacturing business in Beechworth, Murray Breweries have recently been appointed as the north-east Victoria distributor of Pepsi Cola which adds to their own range of popular, locally made drinks.
1992
Josef (Joe) and Elizabeth Kraus take over the lease of the 1864-built Star Hotel on Ford Street and continue to run the former hotel as the Beechworth Youth Hostel which had been established in 1974.
| Joe and Elizabeth’s son Ben Kraus will go on to establish Beechworth’s famous ‘Bridge Road Brewers’ in 2005, opening his first microbrewery in Joe’s shed on Bridge Road in Beechworth. |
1992 – May 6
Michael ‘Mick’ Breen (below) and his wife Anne – who had established Beechworth Gas 10 years earlier – now introduce Kleenheat Gas to their thriving gas supply business in the ‘industrial estate’ at 11 Crawford Street. As well as being Beechworth’s main supplier of Propane and LPG, the Breens now offer a fully stocked showroom featuring gas stoves, cooktops, hot water units, home heaters and camping equipment, along with spare parts and accessories. The business is later taken over by Origin Energy (below).
1992
Tom O’Toole removes the old balcony from his historic Beechworth Bakery building on Camp Street and replaces it with a new, stronger balcony (above) to add more upstairs seating. (The original 1857 single storey building had added a second storey and balcony in 1900.) O’Toole also obtains a liquor licence meaning customers can enjoy wine with their bakery items after 12 noon.
1992
Two concrete ramps are added to each side of the large double doors at the entrance to the historic Beechworth Town Hall, making the entrance accessible to everyone (below).
1992
Following the closure of the long-running hardware store at 24 Camp Street, Jim McCormack – owner of the Beechworth Newsagency – engages renowned architect 65-year-old Wilford ‘Bill’ Wheatland (below) to design a new, modern hardware store on land at 4-6 Camp Street. Built by Josef ‘Joe’ Kraus, the completed True Value Hardware store will be operated by Simon Turnbull. It remains Beechworth’s central hardware, timber and garden centre today.
| Architect Wilford ‘Bill’ Wheatland (above) works as one of Danish architect Jorn Utzon’s close associates on the design of the Sydney Opera House between 1963 and 1966, when, under political and financial pressures, Utzon is forced to quit his task. In 1976, Wheatland is offered a job as architect for the ‘Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation’ and moves with his wife and their children to Yackandandah where he will live until his death in 2013. |
1992
After 16 years in Beechworth, Susan and Allan Fox sell their successful Buckland Gallery, on the corner of Ford and Church Streets, to Ian and Gwenyth Smith, who will grow the business into a popular outlet for fine art and craft. The majority of items on exhibition at the gallery are for sale and are created by local artists and crafts people including local seamstresses Cath McLeish, Kathy Templeton and Judy Shennan.
1992
Barrie John Hodges takes over Regency House (above) on Loch Street and renovates the 1871 building back to its 19th century glory and then establishes it as Beechworth Past and Present antiques (below). Also known as Loch Street Antiques, it will trade until 2017.
| Opened in 1871 as ‘Oddfellows Hall’ by ‘The Independent Order of Oddfellows‘, the building is originally used a meeting hall, live theatre and dance hall. After Australia becomes a Federation – the Commonwealth of Australia – on January 1st 1901, ‘Oddfellows Hall’ will be renamed ‘Federal Hall’ and soon begins screening silent movies. Later called the ‘Federal Theatre’ it will change its name again to the ‘Regent Theatre’ and then, in the late 1960s, it becomes ‘Regency House’, a reception centre and restaurant. |
1992 – Aug 17
The 1940-built Ovens District Hospital at 52 Sydney Road (above) is renamed the Beechworth Hospital as a result of the amalgamation of the Ovens District Hospital and The Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged on Warner Road. In 1995 the Beechworth Hospital will tender for, and win, two Psychiatric Programs from the soon-to-close Mayday Hills Hospital. In 2002 The Beechworth Hospital will change its name again, this time to Beechworth Health Service (below) with the amalgamated organisation operating on two sites: extended care at the former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged on the hill overlooking the township, and acute care services at its Sydney Road campus.
1992
Having lived on their 12 acre property near the Woolshed Falls since the 1970s, Barry and Lillian Ridgeway decide to build four cabins on the site. The Woolshed Cabins are a hit and are still popular with holiday renters. Just under 8km from Beechworth at the corner of Chiltern and McFeeter Roads, the 2-bedroom self-contained pet-friendly cabins are surrounded by secluded bushland and an easy 1km walk to the spectacular Woolshed Falls.
1992 – Sep
Judi Borschman establishes The Beechworth Sweet Company at 7 Camp Street. With the concept of an “olde world” sweet shop, she begins with just two staff, but the business thrives, and the following year Judi expands to the shop next door (calling it the Mr. Ted E. Bear shop) and in 2000, when Beechworth’s Fairy Store closes, Judi decides to combine sweets, fairies, teddy bears and golliwogs all in one large shop to deliver her vision for a fun store which revives childhood memories. With the expansion to three shops (above), the number of staff grows to 12. Today it employs over 20 staff and has become a ‘must visit’ tourist destination in Beechworth.
| For many years the building at 7 Camp Street had been home to an undertakers and the ‘Beechworth Morgue’! |
1992 – Nov 18
Mike and Joanne Molyneux take over the building at 58-60 Ford Street where David and Lana Chitty had run their popular Chitty’s Beechworth Bazaar for many years. They establish a similar business and – rather than coming up with a completely new name – simply replace the word “Chitty’s” with “Mike’s” in front of the large existing signs on the building, and Mike’s Beechworth Bazaar continues the tradition of selling a large selection of gifts, homeware, hardware, specialty items and convenience store products. The building had formerly been the home of Freeman’s Store / Clement’s Store. Mike’s Beechworth Bazaar still trades today and in 2006 Mike Molyneux will also establish the Myrtleford Star Bazaar.
1993
Stephen Tapsell, a sub-editor for the Border Mail newspaper, loves collecting books and decides to open his vast collection of books – stored in the rear shed of his Beechworth home at 17 Williams Street – to the public. Tapsell’s Book Shed continues to grow and in 1995 Stephen will leave his job at the newspaper and move all his books to Ford Street and open Tapsell’s Books.
1993
Ian Hyndman releases his latest book “Out of the Goldfields: A History of Ovens and Murray Hospital For The Aged”. The well researched 193-page hardback book is published by the Beechworth Hospital and features dozens of black and white photographs and detailed reproductions of documents and information.
| Well qualified to write this book, Ian Hyndman is the Administrator of Beechworth’s ‘Ovens and Murray District Hospital’ from 1970 to 1984 and helps steer its transformation from a ‘Benevolent Home’ to Beechworth’s modern aged care facility, where he will serve as a chief executive officer. |
1993
Major plumbing works take place at Beechworth Gaol with toilets and basins finally installed in all the gaol’s cells!
1993
The popular Dolphin Café continues to serve Beechworth on the corner of Ford and Camp Streets.
| This highly desirable location in the centre of Beechworth begins as a single-storey building, home of the ‘Argus’ newspaper branch office (as a base for reporters writing about the goldfields) before a second storey is added in the early 1860s and it becomes Henry Thomas Littlewood’s ‘Manchester House’ (below). In 1869 Frederick ‘Fritz’ Dreyer purchases the building and refurbishes it into ‘Dreyer’s Corner Hotel’. It will be renamed in 1892 as ‘The Central Hotel’. It ceases business as a hotel in 1912 and goes on to trade as a clothing store then a tobacconist. Between the 1940s and the 1960s the two-storey building is run as the popular ‘Astor Café’ (below), before becoming the ‘Dolphin Café’. |
1993 – May
Massage Therapist Alison J. Willams establishes her Beechworth Massage business. Working from her home on Old Chiltern Road, she offers a range of treatments, from Deep Tissue to Relaxation. Alison will continue to provide her popular services to the community for the next three decades (below).
1993 – Dec 31
After operating for 120 years, the Everton Upper Primary School No. 1198 closes and merges with Everton Primary School No. 2031. Located 10 miles (16 km) from Beechworth at 1639 Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, Everton Upper Primary School had opened on May 1st 1873. The former school buildings will eventually become the home of the Everton Upper Community Centre (below).
1994 – Feb 26-27
The first ‘Drive Back In Time’ event is held at Queen Victoria Park in Beechworth and will become an annual feature in town. The idea is launched by Beechworth dentist Dr Ewan Paterson and taken up by the Shire of Beechworth, the Beechworth & District Chamber of Commerce and local businessman Andrew Roseby. The big weekend attracts over 100 classic car owners to Beechworth, with their vehicles having to be at least more than 25 years old. Entertainment is held on Saturday night at the Beechworth Courthouse. Over the years the two-day weekend event will grow – being taken over by the Beechworth Old Cranks Motor Club – and will features a drive around the streets of Beechworth – ‘The Saturday Cruise’ – and a ‘Show & Shine’ on Sunday, when (since 2003) a section of Ford Street is closed to traffic and hundreds come to view all the cars gathered along the street and on the Police Paddocks (below) as well as enjoying street food stalls and other attractions including a display of vintage engines in the Town Hall Gardens adjacent to Ford Street display and a separate ‘tractor trek’.
| Although the annual ‘Drive Back in Time’ event is initially held in February at ‘Queen Victoria Park’, in 2003 it will be moved to the centre of Beechworth on the first weekend in May, as the weather in February proves to be too hot for some of the old cars travelling from Melbourne and other parts of Australia. |
1994
Professor Paul Conroy purchases Warden’s Hotel on Ford Street from his father, also called Paul, who had owned the hotel since the 1970s and had been running it as accommodation for school camps. Paul Jnr completes some restoration work on the building – built in 1869 as the Midland Counties Hotel – and it is later re-opened as Wardens Food and Wine.
1994
Twenty years after it was established by Jean and Gerry Horne in 1974, the Beechworth Gallery at 8 Albert Road is now being run by Andrew and Jan Roseby. Featuring a vast range of art, sculptures, ornaments and collectables spread over three levels (which includes a large cellar space), the historic 1857 building was constructed as a ‘wine and spirit merchant and general store’ by the Shaw brothers and has been home to several businesses over the years including Robinson’s Store (below).
1994 – Apr
On the Hume Highway, the ‘Wangaratta Bypass’ is completed. At a final cost of $80 million (eight months ahead of schedule and almost $30 million under budget!), this will be the final section of the Hume Highway within Victoria to be duplicated.
1994
Alan and Jan Robinson establish Jarobee Angus Stud on Robinson Road in Beechworth, initially sourcing female cattle from Willow Fields Stud at Rochester. The Robinson’s interest in genetics grows and eventually their use of embryo transfer and artificial insemination – coupled with sourcing semen – will lead to a highly valuable stud and respected farm business. With expertise in the field of genetics within the cattle industry, Greg White will join Jarobee Angus Stud (below) as farm manager in 2015.
1994 – May 8
The inaugural Beechworth Harvest Celebration festival is held on Mother’s Day. Celebrating food and wine producers of the North-East Victoria region who bring their range of products – from chestnuts to venison, boutique beers to wine – to Beechworth for people to sip, try and buy. Held in Beechworth’s Historic Precinct, the event also features live entertainment and kid’s games. Eventually expanding to a two-day weekend festival, it will be held in Beechworth in early May for the next 20 years and will eventually feature a Saturday night Harvest Celebration gala dinner in a massive marquee.
1994
Artist and author David Williams releases his book “Gold and Granite Grandeur”. Printed by Collett, Bain & Gaspars, the 80-page publication features a range of beautiful illustrations of Beechworth and the surrounding area. It is the seventh such book by Williams who has also published titles including “Ramblings in the Dandenongs” (1991), “Valleys of Gold: Mt Alexander Goldfields at Castlemaine” (1992) and “Mighty Mansfield Muster” (1992).
1994 – Jul
Dr Edmund Bryant (‘EB’) Collins retires and sells his historic 1892 doctor’s residence and former surgery at 41 Camp Street – on the corner of Camp and Loch Streets – to Roger and Sue Thomas, who turn Beechworth’s long-serving medical practice into a private home.
| Dr ‘EB’ Collins established the small ‘Beechworth Surgery’ at 39 Camp Street in 1975, directly across the road from the long-serving medical practice and it has since been expanded and grown substantially (above). |
1994
A new edition of the 68-page book ‘Background To Beechworth‘ is published by the Beechworth & District Progress Association printed by Wilkinson Printers of Albury. Compiled by Roy C. Harvey, it had originally been published as ‘Background to Beechworth 1852-1952’ in March 1952 as part of Beechworth’s centenary celebrations.
| This marks the seventh reprinting of the popular 1952 book, with previous editions being reprinted in 1964, 1970, 1978, 1981 and 1991. |
1994 – Nov 7
The Beechworth Servicemen’s Memorial Hall re-opens after extensive renovations. The work, carried out by Turner Ginnivan, a Melbourne-based architectural firm, includes the erection of a new wing to house the Shire Offices and the complete re-modelling of the Ford Street frontage (see image below).
1994 – Nov 18
Following the amalgamation of the Shire of Rutherglen, Shire of Chiltern, Shire of Yackandandah and the United Shire of Beechworth, the new Shire of Indigo is created as an official local government area. Covering an area of 2,040 square kilometres and taking in a population of around 17,000 people, it includes the towns of Beechworth, Chiltern, Rutherglen and Yackandandah. The first elected Mayor of the new Shire of Indigo is Yackandandah’s Janice ‘Jenny’ Marget Dale.
| Also referred to as ‘Municipalities’, there are now 79 Victorian ‘Local Government Areas’ – 34 classified as ‘Cities’, 38 as ‘Shires’, 6 as ‘Rural Cities’ and 1 as a ‘Borough’. |
1995 – Jan 1
After 145 continuous years, the Stanley New Year’s Day Sports holds its final event at the Stanley Recreation Reserve.
1995 – Jan 1
Author Ian Hyndman releases ‘History of Beechworth’. Published by Bethel Publications, the 20-page book is just one of a number of fascinating books about the Beechworth district researched and written by Hyndman. The others include ‘A Lightstand at Beechworth 1872-1972’ (1986), ‘Out of the Goldfields: A History Of Ovens and Murray Hospital For The Aged’ (1993), ‘Thomas Ladson of Ladson’s Store, Tarrawingee’ (1989), ‘Alfred and Jane Ladson and Family’ (2006), ‘Andrew and Sarah Galbraith and Family: Pioneers of Beechworth and Tyers’ (1997) and ‘Beechworth Cemetery: A Stroll Through History’ (1988), along with the brochure ‘A Tour of Historic Graves at Beechworth Cemetery’.
| Ian Hyndman is descended from one of Beechworth’s pioneering families – his great-grandfather arrived in 1855 – and is well known as a Beechworth historian. An experienced senior health service administrator, Hyndman will be the Administrator of Beechworth’s ‘Ovens and Murray District Hospital’ from 1970 to 1984 and will help steer its transformation from a ‘Benevolent Home’ to Beechworth’s modern aged care facility, where he will serve as a chief executive officer. |
1995 – Feb 15
Ronald ‘Ron’ Adolph Rosen, popular Beechworth barber and tobacconist, dies at the age of 75. For many years he ran his business on Ford Street, next door to the Star Hotel (above and below) and lived at 34 Finch Street.
1995
Stephen Tapsell moves his vast second-hand book collection from his Book Shed in Williams Street to his new store – Tapsell’s Books – at 91 Ford Street, originally built as the booking office of the old Parkinson’s Garage next door. Stephen’s book shop specialises in Australiana, including books on the local goldrush and bushrangers, particularly Ned Kelly.
1995
Dr. Andrew Colson purchases The Ovens and Kiewa Animal Health Centre at 6a Camp Street. The practice also has a veterinary clinic in Myrtleford. Dr. Colson – who graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1984 – will look after Beechworth’s pets and animals for many years before selling the Beechworth practice to Dr. Helen Robinson in 2011.
1995 – Jun 30
The vast Mayday Hills Psychiatric Hospital is finally decommissioned and closed after operating for 128 years and its psychiatric patient services moved to Beechworth Hospital. The large asylum is surrounded by almost 106 acres of farmland, making the hospital self-sufficient with its own piggery, orchards, kitchen gardens, fields, stables and barn. At the time of its closure the Asylum consists of two psycho-geriatric wards (‘Emerald’ and ‘Amethyst’), the Kerferd Acute Clinic, the property known as ‘Willow’, and external housing at Gilchrest Avenue and Mayday Court. The site is added to the Register of Historic Buildings.
| Since its establishment, the title of the institution at Beechworth has been altered several times to reflect both the community’s changing attitude towards mental illness and the Victorian Government’s approach to the treatment of mentally disturbed persons – Beechworth Asylum 1867-1905; Beechworth Hospital for the Insane 1905-1934; Beechworth Mental Hospital 1934-1967; Mayday Hills Mental Hospital 1967-1991; Mayday Hills Psychiatric Hospital 1978-1995. |
1995
The Beechworth Visitor Information Centre is established within the Shire Town Hall with Anne Wilson as one of the first volunteers to run the centre – booking accommodation, selling festival tickets, managing tourism information, sending out information packs, maintaining records and statistics, selling souvenirs, updating the newly established website, training new volunteers and dealing with telephone enquiries. Between 1995 and 2010 the number of visitors to the centre increases from about 15,000 to over 100,000!
1995 – Sep
After establishing The Finer Things of Life shop at 16 Camp Street in 1990, Steven and Elizabeth Mason now open a second store, House in the Country, at 12 Camp Street. The two shops trade in tandem, with The Finer Things of Life specialising in antique items with a ‘vintage Victorian’ theme, while House in the Country stocks more contemporary items for the home.
1995
Julie and Andrew Banks are running the Budget-Rite Foodmarket on Junction Road opposite Beechworth Primary School.
1995
Luigi ‘Gigi’ Cipolato establishes Gigi’s of Beechworth Bar and Bistro at 69 Ford Street and it quickly becomes one of the town’s busiest and best-loved eateries. Joined by chef Alan Robertson (below), Gigi’s of Beechworth are well known for their Italian regional dishes, beautiful home-made cakes & coffee, and their great range of north-east Victorian wines – including a comprehensive cellar of the local Giaconda label – as well as a good range of Italian wines. Gigi’s will trade in Beechworth for the next 20 years.
| Born in Venice, Italy in 1941, Luigi arrives in Australia in 1959 as an 18-year-old and eventually finds work at his uncle’s Melbourne restaurant ‘Marchetti’s’ on Lonsdale Street, before going to work at some of Melbourne’s most well-known restaurants like ‘Pellegrini’s’, ‘Florentino’s’ and ‘Brunetti’s’. After holidaying in Beechworth over many years, he decides to move to the town, purchasing Karen and Ken Dosser’s ‘The Parlour & Pantry’ business at 69 Ford Street and turning it into his own bistro and bar – ‘Gigi’s of Beechworth’. |
1995
Local Beechworth artist Joy Cresp is running her Dayspring Gallery at 12a Camp Street with her partner Steven Cresp (a chef at The Ovens and Murray Home for the Aged) and son Glen Johnson, who is also an accomplished artist. Born in 1956 in the Golden Ball area of Beechworth, Joy (below) grew up on the family farm ‘Pine Rock Goat Stud’ where she began producing quality oil paintings at the age of 16. She has gone on to hold exhibitions of her work throughout Australia.
1995 – Oct
Beginning life in 1981 as the Beechworth Co-Op – a showcase for the creative work of artists and potters including Ric and Judy Pierce of One Tree Hill Pottery – their shop Beechworth Designer Gifts is established at 56 Ford Street in the middle shop of the three shops that made up the former Freeman’s Store. The Pierce’s have been potters for over 30 years and have exhibited the work in countries including Australia, France, India and the USA.
1995 – Nov 17-19
The inaugural Beechworth and North East Celtic Festival is held. Conceived in the back of John Harvey’s Brigadier Scottish Shop at 14 Camp Street, it begins with a Friday night six-course ‘Celtic Banquet’ at the Chiltern Memorial Hall followed by a weekend of events in both Beechworth and Chiltern including Celtic music, pipe bands and Celtic dancing along with a food court and Celtic markets and displays & exhibitions, seminars, and historical re-enactments in the main streets of Beechworth, and a Saturday night screening of the film “Rob Roy” at the Star Theatre in Chiltern.
| Over the years, the annual festival will grow to include popular events like a Friday Night Celtic Concert, Celtic Themed Dinner (with an ‘Ode to the Haggis’) and, in November 2017, a Sunday Night Tattoo featuring massed pipes and Celtic dancing in the courtyard of the Old Beechworth Gaol. |
1996 – Jan 28
21-year-old Emma George from Beechworth breaks the world record for the women’s pole-vault by clearing 4.41 metres at Perth. Over her sporting career, George achieves a total of 17 world records, most famously setting a mark of 4.60 metres in Sydney in 1999, and a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. During the 1990s alone she set twelve records in a row. Her achievements increased the popularity of the sport of pole-vaulting. George suffers a fall while training for the 1999 Seville Championships and undergoes a number of operations on her back before finally announcing her retirement at the age of 29 in 2003.
| As a youngster, Emma George had been a trapeze artist with ‘The Flying Fruit Fly Circus’ (established by the ‘Murray River Performing Group’ in 1979) and competed in – and won – the 1996 season of the popular Australia television series ‘Gladiator’ in the ‘Individual Sports Athletes Challenge’ specials. |
| Emma George’s grandfather Ernie George is the head nurse at the Mayday Hills Asylum for many years, and her great uncle, Harold ‘Hop’ George, ran a popular Barber Shop on Camp Street. |
1996
Wendy and Mark ‘Lazy Harry’ Stephens design build the magnificent Beechworth House at 24 Dingle Road. Set on over 2 acres of gardens with a rotunda, a large pond and an extensive rose garden, it overlooks the historic grounds of Mayday Hills. It operates as premier guest accommodation and features four separate guest rooms, all with private entrances. A few years later it will be sold to chef and wine connoisseur Allan Parker who runs the popular Gigi’s of Beechworth Bar and Bistro at 69 Ford Street.
| Mark Stephens begins performing as popular singer and guitarist ‘Lazy Harry’ in 1981, launching his first album at Kate’s Cottage in Glenrowan and has since recorded over a dozen albums and toured all over the world. (The name comes from the traditional bush ballad “We Camped at Lazy Harry’s on the Road to Gundagai”). Wendy and Mark create the popular ‘Farmer’s Market’ – which becomes a Beechworth Saturday staple – in order to raise funds to restore the organ at Beechworth’s Christ Church. |
1996
La Trobe University purchases the Mayday Hills Hospital and Lunatic Asylum to use as its new Beechworth Campus. This includes over 100 hectares of land, heritage gardens and numerous buildings.
| The ‘La Trobe University Campus’ is closed in 2011 and sold. Now two hotels operate on the site – the ‘Grand Oaks Resort’ and the ‘Linaker Art Deco Hotel’ (formally the Mayday Hills Nurses Hostel). The ‘Mayday Hills Art Society’ and ‘Asylum Ghost Tours’ also operate on the site. |
1996
11km from Beechworth, additional Telecommunication Towers are added to the top of Mt. Stanley next to the original tower constructed in 1931 (below). On a clear day, the views from the Mt Stanley Tower can be spectacular, including Australia’s highest peak Mt. Kosciusko to the east, Mt. Macedon to the west, Mt. Buller and the Strathbogie Ranges to the south, and Victoria’s highest peak Mt. Bogong in the middle distance, flanked on the right by Mt. Buffalo with the picturesque Ovens Valley below.
1996 – Mar 1
After selling his Beechworth Newsagency business (which he had owned and run with his wife Patricia since 1985), Jim McCormack, his sister Margaret and her husband George Cousins (and their family company ‘Golden Vale Enterprises’), purchase the historic Murray Breweries (the former Billson’s Breweries) at 29 Last Street from Alan Storer and John Ryan. Jim McCormack and his family will run Murray Breweries for over a decade before selling it at the start of 2007 to brothers Aris and Valdis Berzins (and their company ‘Riga Properties‘).
| Under their ownership of ‘Murray Breweries’, Jim McCormack and his family will introduce a range of new cordial flavours including Spiced Apple, Mint Julep and Chilli Punch (above). |
1996 – Mar 12
Fire! After celebrating 10 years of service, the Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre at the former 1869-built Wesleyan Hall and Schoolroom is partially destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning. Following a strong commitment from the community and the Beechworth Shire Council it is agreed that the fire damaged building will be rebuilt, and the Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre moves back into the restored Wesleyan Hall and Schoolroom on August 30th 1997, officially opened by Janice ‘Jenny’ Dale, the Mayor of the newly created Shire of Indigo. As insurance money also allows for the renovation of the original 1867-built Wesleyan Church next door, the Historic Buildings Council agrees to renovate and restore the church – which will become known as the ‘Oregon Hall’ – thus providing both buildings for use by the community. Mother Goose Play Group initially use the renovated schoolroom until Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre manager Judy Lazarus applies for funding to develop a social enterprise that is to become the Quercus Community Bookstore in 2008.
1996
Keith and Dorothy Graham take over the lease of the former Star Hotel on Ford Street from Josef and Elizabth Kraus. The Grahams will continue to have two shops tenanted on the ground floor, while they convert the upstairs into a private residential rental area. They will own the building until 2002, when they sell it to Heidi Freeman.
1996
James McLaurin (above) purchases 53 acres of the Golden Ball property from his father Paul McLaurin who had bought the land in 1981. Originally established by Isaac Phillips in 1857, the historic property – which incorporates the original Golden Ball Hotel building – sits at 1175 Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, Everton Upper. James McLaurin soon has 2 hectares under vine and establishes his micro-boutique winery – Golden Ball Wines – which will produce ‘Golden Ball là-bas Chardonnay’, ‘Saxon Shiraz’, ‘Petit Verdot’, ‘Sagrantino’ and ‘Gallice’ (a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec). By 2005 the vines will cover 3.5 hectare (below) with all wines entirely grown, vinified and bottled on the property.
| Since 2010 ‘Golden Ball Wines’ have been producing their own electricity, through a five kW solar grid feed system. |
1996
The Victorian Alps Wine Company is established 22 km from Beechworth, on the Great Alpine Road towards Myrtleford. The winery is the outcome of six wine families seeing the potential of producing high quality cool climate wines from the Alpine and King Valleys. The families all have experience and influence in the region either as grape growers, winemakers or business owners and can see the benefits of overseeing the product quality from vine to bottle. Situated on 24 hectares of land – with eight hectares of vines – it will eventually be renamed Gapsted Estate Wines and feature a cellar door and restaurant. Beginning with a staff of five, it soon grows to 35 permanent staff members, rising to 55 during vintage. Its founding members include Shayne Cunningham, Pat Murtagh and John Cavedon.
1996 – Jul 1
Peter and Fay Mim take over the small fruit and vegetable grocery store run by Alex and Bernita Grech at 59 Ford Street on the ground floor of the old Star Hotel (above). After five years, when Brian Voight’s Butcher Shop next door to the Star Hotel becomes available, Peter and Fay will move their Goldfields Greengrocer into the larger premises at 61 Ford Street, where it remains to this day (below). Peter is known for his extensive vegetable garden which he uses to supply his loyal customers and also sells meat at the greengrocers on the weekends when the Arthur Stephenson’s Butcher Shop across the road is closed. The Goldfields Greengrocer is eventually taken over by Peter and Fay Mim’s daughter Kathleen Stackpole.
| Born in Yugoslavia (now Croatia) in 1942 (during the Second World War), 11-year-old Peter Mim and his family migrate to Australia in 1953 and spend three months at the ‘Bonegilla Migrant Camp’ before moving to Beechworth. The Mim family are one of many European migrants who are welcomed and assisted by Beechworth’s Michael Freeman. After leaving St. Joseph’s School at the age of 13, Peter works as a woodcutter at Stanley as a teenager, before finding work at the ‘Mayday Hills Mental Asylum’, working his way up from a kitchen hand to becoming the Asylum’s Catering Manager. He marries Fay Borschmann in 1965. After the closure of the ‘Mayday Hills Mental Asylum’ in 1994, Peter works at Rob Tully’s orchard before taking over the ‘Goldfields Greengrocer’ in mid-1996. He will pass away on May 6th 2016. |
1996 – Nov 29-Dec 1
After becoming an incorporated association in 1984, then ceasing operations in 1991 due to dwindling interest, the Beechworth Theatre Company is revived. BTC’s first new production is Shaun Sutton’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol”, performed to full houses at the Mayday Hills Bijou Theatre (above), directed by Amanda Darling.
1996
A ring of six bells is installed in the 17-metre granite tower of the Christ Church, and Beechworth becomes the first country town in Victoria – and only the third in Australia – to have a ring of six bells. A dedicated team of Beechworth Bellringers – including Graeme Heyes (below) – still gather for ‘change ringing practice’ sessions at the Christ Church Bell Tower every Monday evening (above and below). The bells ring every Sunday, and for weddings, funerals and significant events. The parish also has a set of handbells occasionally used in services and concerts.
| The six bells are – ‘St. Mary’ [Note B, treble] (cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry of London in 1993); ‘Henry’ [Note A] (Whitechapel Foundry 1994); ‘Little Ben’ [Note G] (cast at the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Leicestershire, England in 1958); ‘Nancy Collins’ [Note F#] (Whitechapel Foundry 1993); ‘Bobby’ [Note E] (Whitechapel Foundry 1993); and ‘St. Aiden’ [Note D, tenor] (made at the John Taylor Bell Foundry in 1958). |
1996 – Dec
After purchasing a Rolls Royce Silver Spur (above), Steven and Elizabeth Mason establish Elegant Expeditions and the Fine Style Motoring Company. Employing respected Beechworth photographer Gary Coombe as lead chauffeur, Elegant Expeditions offer personal tours around historic Beechworth along with ‘Gourmet Region Sampling’ and ‘Winery District and Tastings’ tours. Tours can be booked through the Mason’s The Finer Things of Life shop at 16 Camp Street.
| The ‘Rolls Royce Silver Spur’ is a long-wheelbase version of the ‘Rolls Royce Silver Spirit’, produced in England from 1980 to 2000. It is the first Rolls Royce to feature a retractable ‘Spirit of Ecstasy‘. The spring-loaded Rolls Royce mascot sinks into the radiator shell if dislodged from its position. |
1997 – Jan 26
On Australia Day, The New York Times publishes a 3-page story about Beechworth (below). Written by American journalist Debbie Seaman, the piece is headed “A Mother Lode Of Gold Rush Architecture”. It takes a deep dive into the fascinating history of Beechworth, starting with a carriage ride along the main streets (below) and notes the lack of neon signs and traffic lights as well as the well-maintained 19th century storefronts, awnings and signs with their tasteful colours of cream, mustard yellow, burgundy and green. Debbie raves about the 32 historic buildings classified by the National Trust and visits popular shops including ‘Twigs’, ‘Bush Yarns’, ‘The Buckland Gallery’, ‘The Beechworth Provender’, ‘The Beechworth Sweet Shop’, ‘The Bank Restaurant’ and the ‘Walkers of Beechworth’ antique store. Staying at ‘Finches of Beechworth’ on Finch Street, she also details the delightful trips she makes to the historic Powder Magazine, along the Gorge Road, Lake Sambell and Lake Kerferd, the Woolshed Falls, the Beechworth Cemetery and the ‘Burke Museum’. It suggests that Beechworth is a “must-see” destination when visiting Australia!
1997
The Beechworth Old Cranks Motor Club Inc is established by a group of local car and engine enthusiasts – including Bill Savage, Lindsay Rankin (below), Keith Harms, Rudy Kraus, Ron McAnanly and Ian Downes – who enjoy sharing their passions and interests. Over the following years, the club will grow and grow and hold regular events in Beechworth, eventually taking over the running of the popular annual ‘Drive Back in Time’ event which began in February 1994.
1997
A new beach area, christened ‘Sandy Beach’, along with barbecue facilities and a children’s playground is established at the Lake Sambell Reserve.
| The playground, under shade sails (pictured below), features a spiral slide, climbing wall, platform with binoculars and fireman’s pole, walkway, crazy angled climber, hanging disks, rope climbing frame, monkey bars, balance beam, little wave slide, steps, clock, panels and a row of little shop fronts including Blacksmith, Bank, Sweet Shop and Bakery. It also includes a springer, stand-on spinner, see-saw, flying fox and four swings including one with a harness. |
1997
Owen and Judy Richards purchase the defunct ‘Trim’s Bakery’ at 12 Albert Road and begin to renovate the historic building and eventually convert it into the Albertines boutique guesthouse with a nod to French Provincial. The original building, also known as the ‘Ovens Bakery’ and simply as ‘The Old Bakery’, operated at 12 Albert Road for over 50 years. Today the business operates as Twelve on Albert luxury accommodation, with four private guest suites with ensuites, separated from a common lounge and entrance area. It features delightful gardens behind the old bakery (below).
1997
Keen to to expand the tourism aspect of Murray Breweries (aka MB Cellars) on Last Street (above), new owners Jim McCormack, his sister Margaret and her husband George Cousins (and their family company ‘Golden Vale Enterprises’) negotiate with the National Trust to move Beechworth’s historic ‘Carriage Collection’ from the former Beechworth Railway Goods Shed to the large stables of the rear of the brewery (below). Once established in its new location, the display will also feature ‘The Australian Lighthorse Heritage Collection’ featuring rare uniforms, badges and saddlery, along with sentimental and personal memorabilia.
1997
Sue and Eric Thornton establish the Amulet Vineyard at 1,036 Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, Everton Upper. Later joined by their son Ben Clifton (who has been studying ‘Wine Science’ at Charles Sturt University), they plant around 6 hectares of vines and become a pioneer of Italian varieties in the region. These varieties, together with their French varieties, are planted on the Amulet Vineyard’s elevated, cool site. The Thorntons will go on to produce two popular labels – Scarecrow (representing value) and a premium range under the Wood Duck label (for reserve wines). In May 2006 Ben Clifton will organise a traditional ‘Highland Games’, hosted at the Amulet Vineyard. It will become a popular and regular event.
1997 – May 23-31
The Beechworth Theatre Company stages “The Four Faces Festival”. The production – directed by Amanda Darling – features the short plays “The Women of Troy”, “The Zero Sum Mind”, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” and Tom Stoppard’s “The Fifteen Minute Hamlet”. The Beechworth Theatre Company is an affiliate of the Beechworth Arts Council, founded in the 1970s by local members of the community as a forum of support across all creative art genres – arts, crafts, music and theatre.
1997
The Beechworth Montessori Children’s Group is established to provide a Montessori preschool program for three and four year old children.
| In 2007, the Montessori School opens a full a primary school for 6-12 year olds at 42 Gilchrist Avenue, enabling children to complete their early childhood and primary school learning within the Montessori educational philosophy. |
1997 – Jul 1
After living in Beechworth for 25 years, renowned author and poet David Martin passes away at the age of 81 and is buried in Beechworth Cemetery. Born Lajos ‘Ludwig’ Frigyes Detsinyi in Budapest in 1915, he publishes his first book of poems “Battlefields and Girls” in 1942 in Glasgow. Adopting the pen name ‘David Martin’, he later changes his name to David Martin by deed poll. In 1950 David and his wife Elizabeth Richenda Powell move to Australia where David works as a freelance journalist and editor of the Australian Jewish News and joins the Australian Communist Party. In 1972 the Martins move to 3 Finch Street in Beechworth, where David writes a series of 14 popular children’s novels. Over his lifetime he pens numerous novels, poetry collections and scripts for theatre productions and television drama series, as well as two autobiographies – “Fox On My Door” (1987) and “My Strange Friend: An Autobiography” (1991). In 1998 he is made a ‘Member of the Order of Australia’ for his services to Australian literature.
1997 – Oct 1
Pat and Graham Abbott take over the former Bank of Victoria building on the corner of Ford and Camp Streets – which has been operating as Herb and Joan Crossman’s Rock Cavern – and establish Beechworth Gold, a spectacular precious gems and jewellery store. Sitting right in the centre of town it has become one of Beechworth’s premier stores.
| Graham is a successful Perth property developer until he loses everything in the 1987 financial crisis. He gradually recovers, establishing a wholesale jewellery manufacturing business before buying a van and – calling himself ‘The Jewellery Man’ – travels across Australia selling gold and iron ore jewellery. When he arrives in Beechworth, he thinks it is one of the finest tourist towns in the country and decides it is the perfect place to set up a permanent headquarters for the family business. |
1997 – Oct 23
The new Beechworth Police Station, on the corner of High and Williams Streets, is officially opened by Bill McGrath, Minister for Police and Emergency Services.
1997 – Nov
After a number of years in business, Marilyn Williams closes her Twigs of Beechworth shop on Ford Street and all of Marilyn’s stock is taken over by Steven and Elizabeth Mason and moved to their House in the Country store at 12 Camp Street.
1998
To celebrate Beechworth’s Chinese Heritage, the North East Branch of the Australia-China Friendship Society initiates a project to be known as the Beechworth Chinese Gardens. To be built on the corner of Albert Road and McConville Avenue, it will be designed using the principle of Feng Shui – living in harmony with the surrounds – as a place for people to sit, read and enjoy the surrounds.
1998 – May 7
Jeff Kennett, the Premier of Victoria, officially opens the “Wallace Park-Spring Creek Walking Track”.
1998 – Jul 2-5
The Beechworth Theatre Company presents“Screwtape” a ‘devilish and diabolical comedy’ stage adaptation of the 1942 C.S. Lewis novel “The Screwtape Letters”. It is staged at the old Bijou Theatre, located within the former Mayday Hills Asylum, now the Beechworth campus of La Trobe University.
1998 – Oct
Dieter Bach establishes Gospel Antiques in the former Beechworth Congregational Church – erected in 1869 – at 40a Camp Street (on the north-western corner of Camp and Loch Streets). Dieter had previously established Drill Hall Antiques in Port Fairy in 1993 in a former military drill hall, built in 1858 for the protection of Port Fairy from any possible Russian invasion following the Crimean War (1853-1856).
| When the Congregational and Methodist Churches amalgamate in 1977 to form the ‘Uniting Church of Australia’, this church ceases being used for services. The now ‘united’ congregations of the Beechworth Congregational and Methodist churches agree to hold their services at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (now St. Andrews Uniting Church) at 115 Ford Street, on the corner of Ford and Williams Streets. In 1993 the Beechworth Shire Council purchases the two empty churches. |
1999 – Jan
Kathryn Hammerton opens her eponymous shop at 59 Ford Street selling ‘ladies exclusive labels’. The attractive store is located on the ground floor of the Star Hotel building.
1999
The Indigo Vineyard is established at 1221 Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, Everton Upper, 10 minutes from Beechworth.
1999
With a lifelong interest in collectables, Geoff ‘Crozzy’ Crossman opens the first of his Crozzys Collectables shops in Beechworth. The son of Herb and Joan Crossman – who established The Rock Cavern in the former Bank of Victoria building on the corner of Ford and Camp Streets in 1971 – Geoff specialises in coins, stamps and old glass bottles. His first shop is at the rear of Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, then at other locations including the former Regent Theatre at 15 Loch Street and the old McKenzie Family Store on Bridge Road. In 2010 he moves operations to his home at 4 Ford Street where he continues to operate, as well as travelling to regular markets and collectables gatherings.
1999
George Fendyk sells his Beechworth Machinery shop at 30 High Street to Mick and Sharon Stribley who, along with their son Luke, continue to run the popular business. The building had begun life as Ladson’s Cash Grocery Store in May 1882 (below).
1999 – Mar 8
Wayne and Kaye Richardson open their Beechworth Cycles and Saws business at 17 Camp Street where they become the local agent for Stihl Chainsaws. They continue the tradition of selling bicycles and bicycle parts at the shop, started by Leonard and Nancy Collier in 1973 with their Seagull Cycle Works. The Richardson’s will retire and close the shop in August 2020.
1999
Ray and Kaye Stanimirovitch – who have interests in opal mines in Lightning Ridge, Yowah and Longreach – arrive in Beechworth and open a small gem store on Camp Street. As interest and demand for Australian opals and gems increases, their Beechworth Opals and Gems business soon moves to larger premises at 54 Ford Street (above) where Ray cuts the opals from his mines at the popular Beechworth shop. Beechworth Opals and Gems will become a popular shop for tourists, with numerous school groups visiting as children sit and watch Ray transform rough opals into magnificent gems.
1999 – Apr 11
The Beechworth Public Cemetery adds a new ‘Lawn Section’ across the road from the historic main cemetery on Balaclava Road.
1999
Although a Beechworth Hockey Club had been established in 1970, it had stopped competing by 1975. Now a dedicated group of local hockey enthusiasts – led by John Jewell and Anne Jovaris – bring the sport back to the community and establish the Beechworth and District Hockey Club (incorporated in May 1999). Initially there are three teams – including an Under 12 Team (below) – that will compete in the ‘Hockey Albury Wodonga Competition’ but within a few years there will be an impressive 21 Beechworth teams – seniors and juniors, boys and girls – and the Beechworth and District Hockey Club will win two premierships and four association ‘Best and Fairest’ awards.
| After competing for almost a quarter of a century, club president Ian McVea announces that the Beechworth and District Hockey Club will be dissolved in 2023 following a gradual drop in the number of Beechworth players required to compete in the season. |
1999
The Burke Museum stages an exhibition titled ‘From the Liedertafel to the Skating Rink: Entertainment in Beechworth 1852 – early 1900s’ which celebrates the rich and diverse entertainments that were a part of Beechworth life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In conjunction with exhibition, the Beechworth Brass Band stage a ‘Liedertafel’ concert in the main hall at the museum.
| The exhibition highlights the various entertainments and attractions in Beechworth at the time, which included marching bands, choirs, circus acts, theatrical performances, races, and seasonal activities, including ‘Mr. Spiller’s Roller-Skating Rink’, established at St. George’s Hall in 1869 by 27-year-old champion roller-skater Adolphus Frederick Spiller. ‘Liedertafel’ is a tradition that accompanied German settlers to Australia. It refers to a friendly society of men united by an enthusiasm for singing. The ‘Beechworth Brass Band’ was formed by Henry Vandenberg in 1887 while the ‘Beechworth Liedertafel’ was established 14 March 1894 at the ‘London Tavern’ in Camp Street by Alfred Arthur Billson, and a visiting conductor, Mr. H. Fielder. |
1999
Peter Rue purchases the Beechworth Laundromatt at 55 Ford Street from Anthony McNeil. Rue will continue to run the popular and successful business for the next 25 years, finally selling the building and the business in February 2024.
1999 – May 17
A roundabout for Beechworth? The Beechworth Community Advisory Committee holds a special meeting at the Memorial Hall to discuss the matter of a roundabout in the centre of Beechworth. Elizabeth Mason presents a petition with 515 signatures in favour of the plan which would help resolve the growing traffic and safety concerns at the busy intersection of Ford and Camp Streets. As well as the construction of a roundabout, citizens are keen for the historic street lamp – currently standing in front of the Beechworth Courthouse – to be relocated to the centre of the roundabout. Within a few months, the roundabout is approved, along with the placement of the old street lamp in the centre of the roundabout, making it a real feature of the town (below).
1999
Seamus Foley sells his popular Beechworth Ice Creamery shop on the corner of Camp and High Streets to Torbin and Kamma (surname?) who continue to run, and grow, the business. As well as its home made gelato and ice-cream (including the famous ‘Magic Mallow’ topping), the shop is also known for its range of baked potatoes, hot dogs, jaffles, focaccias and sandwiches.
1999 – Oct 22
The new Beechworth Library is officially opened. Named in honour of Keith Henderson Zwar, it stands at 2 Albert Road, on the corner of Albert Road and Harper Avenue in a brick building originally constructed and operated as the Beechworth Kindgergarten from 1965.
| In 2015 the Beechworth Library will move into the former Council Offices at the rear of the Memorial Hall. In 2022 the building will become the new home of the Beechworth Veterinary Hospital, operated by ‘Indigo Veterinary Services’. |
THE STORY CONTINUES IN THE 2000-2019 TIMELINE