Historical information

Taken around 1858, depicting a row of five business buildings on a rocky, sloping hillside at New Town, with a view across to residences and open land. Businesses included, Joseph E. Bishop, Coach Builders; Straughair Duncan, Engineers, Blacksmiths & Farriers; Straughair Duncan, Beechworth Foundry; Wholesale & Retail Est. 1855, Mackenzie Family Store ; and T. Pratten, Grocer. The Mental Hospital can be seen in the background.

Mark Straughair and John Duncan, established the Beechworth Foundry, Newtown in 1858 and went on to build an important industry, employing around sixteen men, after acquiring Alexander Roger's New Ford Street Foundry in the late 1860s. Making and repairing mostly mining and agricultural machinery for the Ovens District and a Beechworth brewery, the business continued to function after Straughair's death in 1882, up until the death of Duncan in 1896, when the business folded.

Significance

This photograph is historically significant because it shows the development of the businesses in Beechworth from the early establishment of the town.

Physical description

Sepia rectangular photograph printed on photographic paper mounted on board

Inscriptions & markings

Obverse:
[Pin holes from circular tacks in all four corners]

Reverse:
84.216-1/ Newtown/
1997.2650/ 21/
BMM3056/

References