A bicentenary event will celebrate our heritage at Mrs York’s Garden.
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Two heritage tours from Allman Hill to Gaol Point on Wednesday, October 31 will shine the light on the area’s historical significance.
The walking tours will leave at 10am and 11am for a gold coin donation.
People can also stroll through Mrs York’s Garden and enjoy morning tea.
Heritage consultant Mitch McKay will highlight the European history of the area, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s Aboriginal liaison officer Kelly O’Brien will talk about the significance of the Together as One sculpture and historian and author Richard Grimmond will speak about the area’s maritime history.
There will also be garden walks with Friends of Mrs York’s Garden volunteers.
Information panels containing photographs from yesteryear will be dotted throughout the garden.
Morning tea will be available for a gold coin donation.
Friends of Mrs York’s Garden volunteer Di Davison said there were so many wonderful heritage sites in the area.
The volunteers thought it was important to recognise the history of the garden and surrounding area in conjunction with the John Oxley bicentenary celebrations.
Heritage consultant Mitch McKay said a lot of people didn’t realise the history in that part of the town.
He said the former government house site, the military barracks and officers’ quarters, the lumber yard and Port Macquarie’s first European cemetery were located within 100 metres from the start of Mrs York’s Walk.
The bicentenary event runs from 9am to noon on October 31.
People are encouraged to dress in period costume.
The late Bertha York started planting her garden in 1963. It became a focal point of Port Macquarie’s headland and a tourist attraction.
Volunteers have revitalised the garden with more than 3500 native plants over the past three and a half years.
“The community really got behind us and I think that really inspired us to keep going,” Mrs Davison said.
The flourishing headland garden, which overlooks Town Beach Reserve, is once again a place of solace and reflection.
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