Adult Group Tours

The Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum
One of Australia’s oldest museums, the Burke Museum is a must for anyone planning a group tour to Beechworth.

The Museum boasts a fascinating and historically significant collection of more than 30,000 individual items, many dating back to its establishment more than 150 years ago and some linked to famous and infamous figures of history such as Ned Kelly, Dame Nellie Melba and of course, the museum’s namesake, Robert O’Hara Burke.

Highlights of the Burke Museum collections include:

• An extensive collection of Aboriginal artefacts purchased from R.E. Johns in 1868 which is of major national cultural significance. It is one of the oldest and most comprehensive single collections of its type surviving in the 21st Century and comprises 96 items, including finely crafted and richly decorated wooden weapons, digging sticks and baskets. The artefacts are considered to be important early examples of weaponry/objects, some in use prior to European contact showing the great skill of the Aboriginal craftsmen using pre-European technologies and materials. 
• Ned Kelly Collection: Beechworth and the Ned Kelly story are inextricably linked. All four members of the Kelly Gang spent time in Beechworth Gaol, Ned for a total of two years. Ned appeared in the Beechworth Courthouse on August 6 1880 on a charge of murder. He was committed to stand trial here before returning to Melbourne for his Supreme Court trial and subsequent hanging. Ned's mother Ellen also appeared in the Beechworth Court and was held in the Beechworth Gaol for a short time before being taken to Melbourne to complete her sentence. The Burke Museum Ned Kelly Collection includes a life-sized copy of Ned Kelly's armour and one of the four death masks taken of Ned after his execution. These objects are presented within their local and regional historical context through copies of original documents and photographs that present the life and times of the Kelly Gang. 
• The Street of Shops: This 19^th century recreation of a Beechworth streetscape is a unique visitor experience. Including a sound-scape and a regular program of temporary exhibitions, the Street of Shops is a must-see attraction of the Burke Museum

 Click Here to Download The Burke Museum Group Tour Fact Sheet

Lazy Harry at the Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Tour groups visiting Beechworth can now enjoy the talents of one of Australia’s most successful singers, raconteurs and recording artists in the unique surrounds of the Burke Museum’s Street of Shops.
Lazy Harry, alias Mark Stephens, is available daily for 45-minute seated performances of his original Australian folk songs and bush ballads in this fantastic venue.

Click Here to Download Lazy Harry at The Burke Museum Group Tour Fact Sheet

Telegraph Station - Beechworth’s home of Morse Code
Built in 1858, the Telegraph Station, one of a suite of beautifully preserved Gold Era buildings which make up the Beechworth Historic & Cultural Precinct, once linked the town to the outside world through the medium of Morse Code. This revolutionary new communications tool was the Internet of its day, enabling fast delivery of messages and news, including famously, the Kelly Gang siege at Glenrowan transmitted from this building.