You can follow Ned’s story through the places he was linked to in Beechworth.
Beechworth Historic Courthouse
The Beechworth Historic Courthouse is among the few remaining living history museums in Australia and one of Beechworth’s most visited attractions. The Courthouse features an atmospheric soundscape, featuring audio re-enactments of some of the key cases heard and expert historians bring to life some of the dramatic events which took place inside these walls, including the committal trial which sealed Ned Kelly’s fate. The Historic & Cultural Precinct team offer fascinating insights into the people behind the stories including the hardships faced by Ned Kelly’s mother Ellen who was sentenced to three years gaol here.
HM Prison Beechworth
The prison has been home to some of Australia’s most well known bushrangers including Ned Kelly, Joe Byne and Harry Powers.
The prison also held twenty suspected Kelly sympathisers in 1879 in an attempt to limit support to the Kelly gang. Iron gates were installed at this time as it was feared that there might be an attempt to break the sympathisers out of the prison.
Beechworth Lockup
The Beechworth Lockup is in the main Beechworth Historic and Cultural Precinct. Prisoners arrested and awaiting trial were kept here on remand until their trials came up in the nearby courthouse. Ned Kelly was kept here in 1871 and his mother Ellen in 1878.