About the Author

Bill Wilson holds a PhD in history from Charles Darwin University. His interests lie in the history of police, crime, punishment and how policing and the criminal justice system affect the wider social history of a given period. Although retired, Bill brings his professional historian's eyes to aspects of Beechworth's history. He is fascinated by the rich history of the Old Beechworth Gaol because it is a microcosm of the early goldfields history in a town that was 'Ultima Thule [the place to the furthest north] of North-eastern Victoria' during the early years of Victoria as an independent colony.