PORT MACQUARIE NEWS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1965
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ON Thursday evening last members of the Historical Society saw a selection of 100 slides on Bathurst sesqui-centenary, and heard a commentary from society president Mr. Ken Gollan.
It was all very enlightening and entertaining, but the portent… In a very short time, 1968, Port Macquarie will celebrate its sesqui-centenary - 150 years since John Oxley walked into Port Macquarie after sighting the coast from Mount Seaview.
That's a fair sort of a hike, but it’s the sort of thing we'll all be thinking about in three years time. Perhaps that will be the easiest thing to do associated with it all, however, if Bathurst is to be any kind of a pattern.
First up, to make it go at all, there will need to be tremendous local enthusiasm; about half that obviously displayed at Bathurst would enable the celebrations to get by; any less would result in a flop.
But why not the ultimate? Why not start working on it now, despite the "snags" already scraping the bottom of the good ship endeavour!
For instance, Bathurst started off with a £5,000 handout from the State Government - for promotional expenses - and that's something to start work on now. The Prime Minister went to Bathurst's centenary; for such an important occasion he'd no doubt come here, even though we won't be able to borrow Bathurst's Civic Centre for all the grand occasions.
The Army, the Air Force, the P.M.G. - with his bush post office of the early days - were all there, and those are things for planning now.
The procession of Governors to visit the area could be as glamorous here, and the Cobb and Co. Coaches could rattle along once again, but with the wool wagons and bullocks too.
The vintage cars wouldn't be impossible to have, nor the "old fashioned pub on the corner" for the grand ball.
The spirit of it all at Bathurst came from the people and family groups in period costume were an outstanding feature.
Such spirit is needed wherever or whenever that kind of celebration is contemplated, and the will to do it is the first thing we’ll have to start thinking about here.