"How many churches are there in this town anyway?", he demanded.
"Well, we could get on our bikes and have a look", I suggested.
Later (much later) we were riding around the hill of Beechworth hunting out current and past churches.
We took lots of photos, but we seem to have mixed them up a bit.
Could you help match the church to the image?
The Cache - ...and these are the steeples....
There are seven waypoints, but they are not far apart. They can be done in any order you like.
What you need to do to find the final is to link up the waypoint number with the letter on the image.
For example if there was an image of a big bell labelled Z, and you saw the bells in the tower at WP4, then Z = 4.
You can walk, ride, or even skateboard between the waypoints. Randolph doesn't recommend driving as you will miss too many interesting buildings.
Randolph and I rode the cache as written and it took us about 20 minutes and is approximately 1.5 km.
He also mentioned that there is sometimes a magpie near WP6 - beware!
Church 1: The Bookshop - old Methodist Church
36 21.669 146 41.101
The Methodists were the first to hold services on the Beechworth gold fields, their initial services being conducted in 1852 in the open air. They progressed to tents on this site, and then the first church building was constructed in 1854.
Three years later they built a larger church adjacent to this building. Both still stand, but neither are still churches.
This one is currently a bookshop.
Church 2: Beechworth Neighbourhood Centre - Methodist Church
36 21.679 146 41.092
The foundation stone of this former Methodist church, was laid on 1 January 1857 and was completed by Easter of the same year at a cost of 2,106 pounds.
It is currently the Beechworth Neighborhood Centre.
Church 3: ex-Baptist Church, now private residence
36 21.727 146 41.025
This converted church was the former Baptist Church circa 1873. The property was renovated in about 2001 and has now been sold three times in its long history.
Church 4: Christ Church - Current Anglican Church
36 21.655 146 41.083
The foundation stone of the Anglican ‘Christ Church’ at Beechworth, was laid by Justice Thomas Spencer Cope on Saturday 13th November 1858 and the church was built to the designs of prominent Melbourne Architect Leonard Terry. The foundation stone is now hidden beneath the tower which was erected in 1864. William Abderson of Melbourne installed the organ in 1887. The impressive tower holds a ring of six bells (see Note below).
Church 5: St Joseph's Catholic Church
36 21.580 146 41.021
In 1977 this 103 year old church was gutted by a fire. Worst affected was Our Lady’s chapel, the oldest part of the church. The chapel was built in 1874 as the first part of a planned cathedral. The rest of the church was built a year later. The central quarter-foil cluster columns were unique in Australia. In the 1870’s Beechworth was mooted as Australia’s future national capital, this was to be its cathedral.
Church 6: Former Congregational Church, currently Gospel Antiques
36 21.499 146 41.161
The land on which this former church now stands was used as a cemetery prior to 1856. Later those interred here were removed to the present Beechworth Cemetery where they were re-buried in a special Pioneers' section. The Sunday School was erected in 1858, and the church completed in 1869.
Church 7: St Andrew's Uniting Church - former Presbyterian Church
36 21.467 146 41.336
The first Presbyterian congregation began meeting in 1857 at the Star Hotel and eventually held services inside this church when it was constructed in 1857. St Andrew's Uniting Church is a five-bay Gothic Revival design of cement stucco. For this reason it is a Heritage Listed building.
St Andrew's Uniting Church is of historical significance for its long association with the Presbyterian charge at Beechworth: from 1857 to 1977.
The Final (at last!)
You are looking for a small cache at:
S36 21.B(A-C)F E146 41.(B-F-G)(D-G)(E+G)
Randolph hopes you enjoyed your tour of Beechworth. (and that those bells didn't wake you up too early!)
Don't forget the clue for Randolph's final.
Note: For those interested in the Bells, they ring out on Monday evening and Sunday mornings at Christ Church, Beechworth.
Bells: 6 bells. Tenor: 4-0-25
Practice: Mon 5:30-6:30pm
Service: Sun 9:30-10:00am
http://www.anzab.org.au/towers.php?tower=BEE&expand=VICR-
Randolph has produced 10 tokens that go with his caches for any cachers who find the matching caches.
When you find the caches, PM me your address, and Randolph will post the ones you have earned out to you.
This is the only way you can get one of Randolph's tokens.
The caches that presently have tokens are: 01 Treeclimber, 02 Vampire Hunter, 04 Pirate's Treasure, 05 Shred the Trails, 09 Thirsty work, 10 Rat Hoppet, 11 Ready Aim Fire, 13 Hang Glider, 14 Winton Racer, and 15 The Final.