Port Macquarie News - Tuesday, August 12, 1969.
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Competing in brilliant sunshine, the athletes of the Port Macquarie High School, excelled at Oxley Oval on Thursday, breaking many records. The champion house was Macquarie with 1249 points, who just held off Hastings with 1233 points. McLaren with 861 was third, well ahead of Oxley, 559 points, fourth.
Of the events in which records were broken, perhaps the high spot was the open mile event in which 16-year-old Ian Tomkins ran an amazing 4 minutes 59.2 seconds to clip over seven seconds from the old time.
Tompkins, a lightly framed fourth form student, went to the front of the big field and stayed there. Ken Little, the previous record holder, held off challenges to run second. Bruce Pengilly was third. All three placegetters were from McLaren house.
Motel sale
Unconfirmed reports have it that the Beachfront Motel has been sold for a substantial figure. Manager of the motel Max Bracey said on Monday the motel had been sold but refused to name the figure. Rumours had circulated the price was in the vicinity of $400,000. It is understood Mr Bracey will continue as manager. The motel's facilities include a recently installed sauna. Built at a cost of $2000, the sauna is one of the few to be found at motels throughout the state.
No place offers more
"No place in the Pacific has more to offer than Port Macquarie; there is no valid reason why this sea port should be closed." These were two of the observations made by Don Shand, chairman of directors of East West Airlines, when he visited Port Macquarie last week and spoke at the Rotary Club. Mr Shand said Port Macquarie had a tremendous future, just around the corner. He likened the future here to his own airline - a humble beginning; not so very long ago with one man and one thousand dollars; today 360 employees are on East West's payroll.
Mr Shand said: "The day of the jumbo jet was only a few years away; three of them will put 1200 people into Port Macquarie, taxing the number of beds you have".
In regard to the sea port, Mr Shand said it was a great pity it had closed. You must continually agitate to have it opened again; this is the day of the power boat, the yacht and the hovercraft, and what a port to come to, he said. What if your airport was closed, he asked. That is your gateway to the entire world today. Mr Shand went on to say: "You have no idea how happy it made me to see that immaculate airport of yours today. It is so very well maintained and a wonderful welcome to your town".