The panels will be unveiled on the 150th anniversary of Ben Hall’s death, on Tuesday, May 5, which Forbes Shire Council’s marketing manager Sarah White said is very appropriate.

“It’s very timely and fitting for the anniversary,” she said.

“I think having the interpretive signage completes the loops for tourists to visit and understand the sites that have been identified.”

The new interpretive panels replace the old sign at the site where Ben was shot in 1865 by police and black trackers, about 25km northwest of Forbes, near Billabong Creek.

One of the main reasons the old sign needed to be replaced was because the Ben Hall character on the sign had multiple bullet holes in his stomach, which, ironically, is eerily similar to the way Ben Hall came to his demise - from the multiple gunshot wounds police fired at him on that fateful morning 150 years ago.

“The old sign didn’t have much information on it and also it was shot at,” Ms White said.

“It was a bit outdated and so we decided it was time to update it and to provide visitors with interpretive information to enhance their experience and understand the story.”

The project has been ongoing since 2009 and can mostly be credited to local historian Kerry Neaylon, who spent a great deal of time gathering the information for the interpretive panels, as well as designing them.

There are now two separate interpretive panels at the site - one free-standing single panel close to the exact spot where Hall was shot, which is marked with a plaque, and another L-shaped structure with four panels of information.

Information on the L-shaped panels includes a chronology of the activities of Ben Hall, John Gilbert and John Dunn, the police and informant; an outline of the weapons used by the police and the vegetation present at the time of the shooting; distribution of the reward; Mick Coneley’s role as the police informant; ballads written about Ben Hall; and two newspaper accounts of the shooting and death of Ben Hall.

The single panel features a reproduction of sub-inspector James Henry Davidson’s evidence at Hall’s inquest, as well as a coloured reproduction of Davidson’s sketch showing a map of the area where Hall was shot.

The plaque marking the spot where Ben Hall was shot has also been repainted in the same colour as the panels and polished.

Ms Neaylon said she is thrilled with the finished product and proud of all the work she has done for the project.

“Out of all the things for Heritage Week, I was most anxious to see these,” she said. 

“I’m pretty pleased.”

The unveiling of the interpretive panels will be held at 11am on Tuesday, May 5 at the site.

A free bus service will be leaving Town Hall at 10.30am to take anyone interested to the shooting site.