Beechworth Historic Park

Karen and I were up at Beechworth Historic Park in North East Victoria last Sunday to complete the research on the last walk to be included in our forthcoming Daywalks Around Victoria guidebook. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned and in the end we decided to drop the walk from the book. Before I launch into my reasoning behind our decision I want to point out that I am well aware of the poor funding Parks Victoria receives and that most Parks Victoria staff are doing their best with limited resources. However, it wasn’t until we had walked 4km along the trail that we arrived at a permanent looking sign informing us that the next section of trail had been closed to walkers as the bridge over Spring Creek had been removed (see the image). I later talked to Parks Victoria and was told that the trail closure is a ‘fairly’ permanent situation unless they get funding to replace the bridge. What really annoyed me was that at the main carpark (at the Powder Magazine) there were no signs informing walkers that the trail had been closed. Basically you had to walk 4km to find out that the trail had been closed. Neither were such changes indicated on the Beechworth Historic Park page of the Parks Victoria website. Not good. What is even more annoying is that having decided to disregard the sign we discovered that the creek was nothing more than an easy step across. It was no more difficult an obstacle than possibly hundreds of other creek crossings on hundreds of other bushwalks encountered in Victoria (many of them managed by Parks Victoria). Sure, the creek may on rare occasions flood but surely this is where a walker uses his or her experience to make a decision as to whether or not it is safe to proceed. The implication I gathered from Parks Victoria is that walkers visiting Beechworth Historic Park cannot make such decisions for themselves because of the ‘type of walker’ who visits the area. I’m still not quite sure what that means. As it was we decided that we wouldn’t include the walk in our next book as many casual walkers would feel uncomfortable in negotiating an officially closed trail (even though Parks Victoria cannot actually stop anyone from using this route).

Beechworth Historic Park has some wonderful walking terrain. I’m also certain that many visitors to Beechworth have no idea how breathtaking the surrounding bushland really is. What is badly needed is a walking trail circuit incorporating both the Cascades and Woolshed Falls and which doesn’t follow any 4WD tracks just because it is cheaper and easier to align them that way. The trails are currently a dogs breakfast and it appears that no real planning has ever taken place. And it is worse now that the trail linking the Precipice to the Cascades has been closed. It’s true that there has been an effort to put in good signage but that is doesn’t hide the fact that Beechworth Historic Park is mainly a series of compromised patched together trails linked by old and current 4WD tracks that seem to go nowhere. Such a shame.