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/
Subjects
- new town,
- newtown,
- newtown beechworth,
- local business,
- 1858,
- 1850s beechworth,
- joseph e. bishop,
- coach builder,
- coach,
- mark straughair,
- m. straughair,
- straughair and duncan,
- john duncan,
- j. duncan,
- beechworth foundry,
- mackenzie family store,
- t. pratten,
- grocer,
- beechworth grocers,
- beechworth mental asylum,
- beechworth mental hospital,
- mayday hills mental asylum,
- mental hospital,
- alexander rogers,
- new ford street foundry,
- 1860s beechworth,
- 1860s,
- mining machinery,
- agricultural machinery,
- manufacturing,
- bridge road
References
- "Beechworth: A Titan's Field" by Carole Woods ISBN/ISSN: 0 949905 25 9 Information about Beechworth history from 1840s, concentrating on the nineteenth century. Page 120-121 information about expansion of small industries in Beechworth during the 1860s, including those of Joseph Bishop (Coach building), Mark Straughair and John Duncan (Engineering and Beechworth Foundry). p164 Years of deaths for Straughair and Duncan, plus reopening of Foundry by W.H. Phillips in 1905.
- TROVE - Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth Vic: 1855-1918) Saturday 24 August 1867 Reference to the Beechworth Foundry (Straughair and Duncan) progress in nine years.
- TROVE - Benalla Standard (Vic: 1901-1931), Friday 02 May 1902 Article detailing the sale of the Beechworth Foundry after the death of John Duncan, for 900 pounds.
- TROVE - Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth Vic: 1855-1918) Thursday 14 August 1884 Death notice for J. E. Bishop, Coachbuilder (John Elder Bishop) of Beechworth, aged forty-seven years, at his residence on 12 August 1884.