Ken and Doreen came to Beechworth on boxing day in 1959, when they were offered a business at a good price. This business was the Ovens and Murray advertiser, one of the oldest running newspapers in Australia. When they arrived Ken already had a background as a professional linotype operator, however both him and Doreen had no experience running a town newspaper. Ken and Doreen owned the paper till the 1980s, when they formed the Blake press. Throughout the years the Blakes kept up to date with Beechworth news, politics and events happening throughout the community, Ken was even permitted to sit in on the town committee meetings. They saw the town develop from a small mining town in rural Victoria, to a bustling, tourist hotspot.This oral history is significant because it shows how the town of Beechworth developed from a small outpost mining town to a popular tourist destination. It also showcases a different perspective of the towns development, that of the new owners (at the time) of the Ovens and Murrary Advertiser. The advertiser is an integral part of Beechworth's history and has been running since it was proclaimed a town (proclaimed a town in 1856, the advertiser first ran its paper in 1855). Without the advertiser the history of Beechworth would be buried, but with newspapers dating back all the way to 1855, Beechworth is provided with a rich and vibrant retelling of the history of their town and what life was like from 1855 to present day. Ken and Doreen's oral history provides an insight into what it was like revitalising a worn out part of history, of restoring it back to its former glory. They demonstrate the highs and lows of living and running a business in Beechworth through economic lows and the impact of both social and physical isolation.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.newspaper, blakes, ken and doreen, ovens and murray advertiser, beechworth, development, o&m, 1960s, 1980s, 1970s

Jack Scott was born in Beechworth on the 24th January 1919 into a third generation Beechworth family who had migrated from Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland during the 1860s. Also present during the oral history recording is Jack’s wife, Gwen Scott. In 1878 Jack’s grandfather established the carrier business - R. Scott Carriers. Jack’s grandfather secured a contract with the Zwar Brothers' Beechworth Tannery to transport all goods between the tannery and train station via horse and cart. Jack’s father and uncle carried on the family business, before Jack and his brother eventually joined after the Second World War. The company expanded from a single horse and cart short route to multiple trucks operating interstate routes. Prior to joining the family carrier business, Jack on leaving school started work at the tannery and served in the air force during the Second World War. When asked about the working conditions at the tannery, Jack recalls while they did have union representatives, it was not particularly effectual. The union representatives were often placated by sharing multiple whiskies with the Zwar brothers when in their offices to discuss workers’ issues. Gwen’s father also worked for the tannery for a period of time, and she enjoyed the annual picnics the tannery provided for employee families. Both Jack and Gwen’s connections to the tannery reinforces the tannery’s role as a major employer and presence in the Beechworth community. Prior to marrying Jack, Gwen worked in a range of roles including at the Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged, managing the family home when her parents both worked during the Second World War, and apprenticed with her sister as a hairdresser. Jack and Gwen provide some insight into maternal health issues in brief discussions of hospital birthing trends and awareness of contraception and family planning. Both Jack and Gwen recalled attending the open-air cinema at ‘The Rock’ in their childhoods. Gwen remembers that the ‘elites’ would sit on chairs at the front, and Gwen’s family sat on a rug at the back, while Jack would jump the fence and get in for nothing. Jack and Gwen discuss attitudes towards both Chinese Australians and Italian migrants in Beechworth. They did not notice any racism and from their perspective felt they were accepted in the town. Jack did note that Italian employees lost their jobs at the tannery during the Second World War, but believed they all stayed within the area and found stonemason and concrete work in the interim. Jack socialised with members of the Italian community and joyfully recalled attending their homes for music nights with lots of drinking and instruments being played. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke. Gwen and Jack Scott’s account of their lives in Beechworth is historically and socially significant to the cultural heritage of the region. Gwen and Jack in reflecting on their everyday experiences of operating a family business, availability of work, leisure opportunities, interaction with migrants, and access to maternal health care provide essential economic, social, and healthcare insights. Gwen and Jack Scott’s oral history recording is part of a larger collection of oral histories recorded by Jennifer Williams in 2000, collectively they provide invaluable insights into Beechworth during the 20th century, much of the information in these oral histories would be lost if not documented and missed in the interpretation of tangible objects. This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Gwen and Mr Jack Scott jack scott, gwen scott, r. scott carriers, scott brothers, zwar brother's beechworth tannery, zwar tannery, beechworth tannery, ovens and murray hospital for the aged, benevolent asylum, open-air cinema, the rock cinema, italians beechworth, hospital births 1920s, wang tech, wangaratta tech, nell scott, jennifer williams, oral history, listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century beechworth, tannery union

This oral history interview was conducted with two sisters, Mrs Elva Hill and Mrs Mary Martina. They describe growing up in Beechworth, living a fairly well-off life compared to others around them. Mrs Martina in particular talks about going to school, becoming a teacher, and helping to set up Beechworth Secondary School. She talks briefly about gender roles for girls in the classroom and how teaching has changed over time. Mrs Hill and Mrs Martina describe the Beechworth community as friendly, including towards migrants, and suggest they were not particularly involved in political movements except for protesting after the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. They discuss visiting the Albury Show. The sisters briefly discuss 'them pushing the wheelbarrow to Mt Buffalo'. This refers to a publicised wager between garage proprietor Tom Parkinson and Post Office Hotel licensee Tony Evans in 1935. Evans challenged Parkinson to push him in a wheelbarrow for over 80km (with an elevation of 1000m) from the Beechworth Post Office to Mt Buffalo in just eight days, with the winner awarded twenty pounds. A brochure was published with official rules, and the incident made international news in the New York Times. They briefly discussed that their parents worked at the 'Mental Hospital', the full name of which was the Mayday Hills Mental Hospital, known at other points as the Beechworth Asylum and the Beechworth Hospital for the Insane. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.The statement captures a personal perspective on the teaching profession and education at rural schools during the mid-twentieth century, with a focus on the experience of young girls and women going to school. It specifically discusses the establishment of Beechworth Secondary School. Mrs Hill and Mrs Martina also provide insights into the social dynamics of the town, as two girls from a well-off family discuss how they believed people from different backgrounds interacted with one another. The interview also puts Beechworth into a wider social context, as the women discuss how they were perceived when they went to College and how they interacted with wider politics. This oral history account is socially and historically significant as it is a part of a broader collection of interviews conducted by Jennifer Williams which were published in the book 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth-century Beechworth.' While the township of Beechworth is known for its history as a gold rush town, these accounts provide a unique insight into the day-to-day life of the town's residents during the 20th century, many of which will have now been lost if they had not been preserved.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Elva & Mrs Mary Martina /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, hill, martina, sisters, boarding school, rural school, primary school, beechworth secondary school, mayday hills mental hospital, gender, gender at school, entertainment, albury show, dress codes, wealth gap, whitlam dismissal

Mrs. Helen Jackson, originally from Melbourne, moved to Beechworth in the 1950s for the purpose of her husband's employment with the Mayday Hills asylum as a vegetable gardener. Living in Beechworth for over 40 years, Mrs. Jackson spent her time as a devoted full-time mother raising her family of biological and foster children where she has fond memories of Beechworth being a safe and fun place to live - "Oh it was, life was fun!". This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.The oral history record of Mrs. Helen Jackson is a representative insight into life in Beechworth from the 1950s onwards, specifically in the descriptions of commerce, business, family, and leisure activities for residents of the town during the post-war period until the present day. Mrs. Jackson's recollections have a social value to the town of Beechworth as a local perspective on its development and contributes to its cultural and social history. This oral history account is socially and historically significant as it is a part of a broader collection of interviews conducted by Jennifer Williams which were published in the book 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth-century Beechworth.' While the township of Beechworth is known for its history as a gold rush town, these accounts provide a unique insight into the day-to-day life of the town's residents during the 20th century, many of which will have now been lost if they had not been preserved.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Helen Jackson /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, jackson, helen jackson, linda peacock, mayday hills

This oral history interview was conducted with Mrs May Harris (née Peach), who grew up in the farming town of Stanley, about 9km southeast of Beechworth. Mrs Harris moved to Melbourne and got work cleaning houses before getting married. Her husband worked on farms, and the couple eventually found their way back to Stanley. She describes experiences of illness, particularly her husband and children's experience with asthma and the impact that had on their lives and careers. Mrs Harris talks about local fundraising events in Stanley, particularly what she calls 'Australian Teas', as well as some of the dances and picnics that were major sources of entertainment when she was young. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.Mrs May Harris' statement explores life in a small farming community alongside some of her life in the city, which might provide an interesting comparison. She discusses the difficulties of facing illnesses in these rural communities, noting the lack of available resources and need to travel to Beechworth. She discusses community events, highlighting both the social aspects and the fundraising aspects.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, illness, asthma, farming, farm work, rural life, stanley, stanley athenaeum, sinclair's sawmill, sawmill, the great depression, housework, australian tea, fundraising

Mrs. Vanessa McDonald was born in Beechworth in 1917. Christened, Agnes Bertha Collins, Vanessa changed her name in 1960. Mrs. McDonald's family's connection with gold mining in the district reach back to the first of Beechworth's gold rushes, when her great grandfather, a Dutchman who adopted the name Charles Collins, arrived in 1851-1852. Mrs. McDonald spent her childhood in the isolated hamlet of Stanley, in the area known as 'Little Scotland', where she recalls helping her mother to raise younger siblings, picking apples and walnuts on the family farm, and roaming the hills for wildflowers. As a young woman Mrs. McDonald attended religious and social gatherings in the local community. In 1940 she went to Melbourne to work as a mothercraft nurse during the Second World War. She met her husband at a Beechworth football match and was married at the Stanley Methodist Church in 1941. The gold diggings known as the 'Nine Mile' became the hamlet of Stanley, after the British Prime Minister, Lord Stanley, in 1858. By the late 1850s, Stanley boasted schools, an athenaeum, a church, a weekly newspaper and several hotels and other civic infrastructure to cater for a growing population. The area attracted large numbers of Chinese miners, whose presence was frequently resisted. Like other early Victorian mining settlements, Stanley was a hotbed of political and racial tensions during the gold rush. One side of the Nine Mile Creek was known as 'Little Scotland’, the other, 'Little Ireland'. A number of Christian denominations built congregations and churches in Stanley, including the Church of England, Methodist Church, the Catholic Church, and Presbyterian Church. Stanley became part of the United Shire of Beechworth in 1871. By 1880 timber was being cut and two sawmills were established by 1887. River-dredged gold mining consumed vast amounts of timber from the forests in the area, and in 1931 the first of several softwood plantations began. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth'. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.Following the decline in the mining and associated industries during the early-mid-twentieth century, the Beechworth district experienced a period of general economic decline. On the east side of the Dingle Range, Mrs. McDonald's father, William Henry Collins, felled timber and the family were pioneer apple orchardists. The establishment of apple orchards in Stanley reflects changes to how land was used and contributes to our understanding of the historical development of rural communities following the gold rush. Mrs. McDonald's recollections are significant for understanding family and social life in a small rural town in years leading up to the Great Depression and prior to the Second World War. This oral history recording may be compared with other oral histories and items in the Burke Museum's collection. This oral history account is socially and historically significant as it is a part of a broader collection of interviews conducted by Jennifer Williams which were published in the book 'Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth-century Beechworth.' While the township of Beechworth is known for its history as a gold rush town, these accounts provide a unique insight into the day-to-day life of the town's residents during the 20th century, many of which will have now been lost if they had not been preserved.This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Vanessa McDonald /listen to what they say, beechworth, oral history, burke museum, emigration, gold rush immigration, victorian gold rush, mining families, apple orchard, forestry, forest plantation, little scotland, stanley, twentieth century history, regional australia, rural australia, farming, harvest festival, great depression, dingle range, the nine mile, australian wildflowers, high country wildflowers, mothercraft nurse, rural and regional women, social history, collins, mrs. vanessa mcdonald, building community life, shaping cultural and creative life, fruit growers, family history, changes to land use in regional victoria

Gwendoline Warden was born in Ararat in 1913. When she was 13 years old, she moved to Wangaratta, where her parents owned the “Hibernian Hotel”. Her father`s name was William Lavender. When Gwen was around 16 years old, she moved to Beechworth, where she met her husband and they got married in 1935. They had their wedding reception at Warden`s Hotel and they had two children together, a boy and a girl. She recounts how difficult it was for them during the war to manage their grocery's shop and source the supplies they needed, having coupons for food and the black-market prevailing. They faced financial difficulties and, ultimately, they had to sell the shop. After the war she did a few other jobs and she retired when she was nearly sixty. Gwendoline portrays Beechworth as a quiet place, where people were happy and peaceful, enjoying the many opportunities they had for entertainment, such as dances and balls, or the celebrations for the New Year's Eve. She also witnessed the beginning of the famous wheelbarrow race, which started just outside the post office and a big crowd gathered to farewell the two barrowmen. When comparing the past with the present, she points out how much Beechworth has changed over the last decades, with many new people coming to town, making her feel as “the only one around”. She also remarked that young people have changed as well; in her day they were entertaining themselves but nowadays they want to be entertained. This oral history recording was part of a project conducted by Jennifer Williams in the year 2000 to capture the everyday life and struggles in Beechworth during the twentieth century. This project involved recording seventy oral histories on cassette tapes of local Beechworth residents which were then published in a book titled: Listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century Beechworth. These cassette tapes were digitised in July 2021 with funds made available by the Friends of the Burke.Gwendoline Warden's account of her life in Beechworth and the local area during the 20th century is historically and socially significant as it offers valuable information about the business activity in the region and provides a deeper insight into the way hotels and grocery shops were operating during the first half of the previous century. Additionally, along with all the details provided for many aspects of social life, her personal account of the war period is of great importance, offering vital information to research on the way the Australian society experienced WWII. This is a digital copy of a recording that was originally captured on a cassette tape. The cassette tape is black with a horizontal white strip and is currently stored in a clear flat plastic rectangular container. It holds up 40 minutes of recordings on each side.Mrs Gwendoline Warden/ararat, wangaratta, hibernian hotel, gwendoline warden, william lavender, beechworth, warden`s hotel, grocery`s shop, coupons, black-market, war, dances, new year`s eve, balls, new people, listen to what they say: voices of twentieth century beechworth, jennifer williams, cassette tapes, friends of the burke, oral histories