Beechworth Historic Park
- Powder Magazine -
History
The Powder Magazine at Beechworth was constructed in 1859 by the Melbourne builders, T Dawson and Company. The boundary walls were completed the following year by another Melbourne firm, Atchison & Lumsden.
This was one of several government magazines built on the Victorian goldfields at the end of the 1850s for the safe storage of gunpowder. The need for the magazines resulted from the exhaustion of surface gold deposits in Victoria and the subsequent change to the mining of deep alluvial and quartz deposits, which required the use of large amounts of gunpowder for blasting. Storage facilities were needed close to the mines but at a safe distance from habitation.
The Beechworth Powder Magazine was opened for use by the local gold miners in 1860. It was obsolete by the early 1900s, as local gold mining decreased and nitro-glycerine compounds such as gelignite came into use. It was closed in 1918 and its condition deteriorated during the following decades. It was restored in 1963-66 by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), and in 1966 became the first of their properties to be opened to the public outside the Melbourne metropolitan area.
Description
The Powder Magazine stands in a bush setting to the west of the town of Beechworth, and is separated from the town by a deep gorge. It is a small rectangular-plan building with stone walls of local granite and a slate roof, and has a small entrance porch at one end. It has parapeted gable ends, and along the side walls are small buttresses and slit openings for ventilation.
The building has an elaborate system of lightning conductors running along the roof ridge and down the end walls. The arched inner roof and double arched foundations were designed such that if an explosion did occur, the force of the blast would be directed upwards.
The magazine building is enclosed by a granite wall with large entry pillars and a timber gate.
Access
The Powder Magazine is part of the Beechworth Historic and Cultural Precinct and is one of only a handful of gunpowder storage sites remaining in Victoria.
It is open 10am - 3pm daily and access to the grounds is free of charge.
The Cache
This geocache replaces the archived geocache at this location by Coruze.
You do not need to enter the sites grounds to find the cache, access is available at all times.
Please take the time to rehide the cache well to help ensure its longevity at the location.