Board of Works, to survey the road to the Beechworth Falls, so whether Carlo just inspected the Falls or surveyed the road is unclear by the newspaper reports, but it is likely that he actually did both - inspected the area and surveyed the road.
The Sphinx, Beechworth - one of the attractions of the Beechworth area that could be viewed with the new tourist road to the Beechworth Falls.
State Library of Victoria Image H87.206/76
At first, the Beechworth Council did agree to provide the £100 The question therefore arose as to who was to provide the £100 - the West Riding, in which the road occurs, or the entire shire, which may indirectly benefit by it? It was a nice question. The council, after some discussion, and not without emphatic dissent from the members of the South Riding ultimately decided that the expense should be borne by the entire municipality, on the ground that the work was " national," rather than local in character. (Ovens & Murray Advertiser, November 7, 1908)
However a report in a later paper said that the Council had not availed themselves of the offer The offer had not been availed of by the council, some of whose members were averse to the spending of municipal funds upon such an object. (Ovens & Murray Advertiser, November 20, 1908). Perhaps to try to get some local enthusiasm going to fund the road at a joint meeting of the Beechworth Shire and the Progress Association held on June 30, 1911 the Shire President reminded the meeting that when Mr. Catani visited Beechworth he was greatly in favor of a road along the Gorge. It appears that this meeting may have borne fruit as from further reports in the paper it seems that the road must have been started around 1911, because the Ovens and Murray Advertiser of June 8, 1912 said that the plans and specifications for Stage 2 of the Gorge road had been approved by the Public Works Department.
The Gorge, Beechworth
State Library of Victoria Image H90.140/530
Two years later the council had another government grant - this time £175 to complete the Gorge Road. They just needed £75 to add to the grant. The Beechworth Progress Association was right behind this proposal and planned to run a series of picture shows in Queen Victoria Park in order to raise the sum of £75 (Chiltern & Howlong Times February 13, 1914) Once again, the Shire Engineer prepared plans for the road and a bridge across Reid creek. Was the road completed then? I don't believe so as in 1916, there was a public meeting, this time to raise £50 in order to claim the Government grant of £100 towards the completion of the Gorge Road. Was the road completed then? No, you can understand, of course, that the First World War would have taken the Government and community focus off tourist roads and onto other issues, so it wasn't until 1923 that work seemed to have recommenced. In 1923, the Tourist Committee, a Government body that had £50,000 to spend for beautification purposes....This time the Council was given £1000 towards the completion of the Gorge Road as long as the Council could raise £600. (Benalla Standard, August 24 1923)
The Gorge, Beechworth. Victorian Railways photographer.
State Library of Victoria Image H91.50/743
Tenders were called for the completion of the road in February 1924, which was described thus - for a road that when completed, will open up some of the finest scenery in the district. (Albury Banner February 29, 1924). The Gorge Road was finally opened by the Minister of Public Works, Mr G. Goudie, on May 26, 1926 - 18 years after Carlo first surveyed the road.
I have created a list of newspaper articles on Trove about the construction of the Gorge Road, you can access it here.
