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Indigo Council: Beechworth Precinct Renewal - Courthouse Kelly Trials Experience

This project will activate a significant cultural heritage and tourism site, providing a world-class interpretive experience. It will create a motivating, contemporary heritage experience for Indigo Shire, leading to increased visitation from untapped growth audiences.

The project will achieve this through creation of a high quality, immersive interpretation of the Kelly trials and experiences at the Courthouse, inspired by the interpretation of the Trial of Joan of Arc in Rouen Cathedral in France. The experience will be a mixture of modern and traditional interpretive methods, culminating in a powerful digital, projection-based experience of the committal hearing in the main courtroom. The key characters of the Kelly hearing will be projected in their places in the courtroom. Further experiences will also be developed, including the Trial of Ellen Kelly and other sympathisers. This will allow a changing suite of experiences for different audiences and times. Displays of court documents and original objects linked to the trial will provide tangible links to the past.

This project will enable a multi-faceted re-interpretation of the building, funding digital interpretation, creative production and visitor experience and museum infrastructure, allowing this significant building to take its place as a key tourism and heritage site.

The project will be supplemented with an augmented reality app that extends the experience to the nearby Police Paddocks. This site was the camp for the police involved in the hunt for the Kelly Gang, and the app will allow visitors to walk amongst the camp. This app will be able to be extended across the Shire in future.