In Wagga’s Past – 25 and 50 Years ago.

9th September 2023

Compiled from the Daily Advertiser by the Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society.

25 Years Ago

• Barter’s Restaurant and the Prince of Wales Motor Inn have closed with 18 staff stood down but are expected to reopen in the coming months following a major refurbishment to cost $500,000.

• Construction is about to start on the new Woolworth’s Plus Petrol outlet in Forsyth Street.

• Two masked bandits armed with knives and possibly a handgun threatened female staff and customers during a robbery at a general store in Ashmont.

• Australian football superstar Wayne Carey returned to his roots to watch his older brother, Dick, play the final game of his career in the Farrer League minor semi-final at Maher Oval.

• St Michael’s Regional High School band with director/conductor John Cruickshank took out two championship prizes at the Wagga Eisteddfod.

• Life members of the Yathella-Coursing Park branch of the Country Women’s Association, Dorothy Booth and Pat McKenzie cut the branch’s 60^th anniversary cake during celebrations at the Country Comfort Hotel.

• Kasey Trethewey, Nathan Powell, Scott Small and Emma Moroney were among more than 400 people who turned out for the annual Emergency Services Ball at the Kyeamba Smith Hall.

• Pop Power, John Neeves, Ray King, and Jim Tweedle were among the members of the Kooringal Rotary Club working in O’Halloran Park to lay a new footpath.

• Mt Erin High School celebrated the 60^th birthday of the oldest of its present buildings with a blessing ceremony and a speech from Nita Buswell (nee Salmon) who attended the school when the building opened in 1938.

• Directors, Alan Norris, Ly Smith, Michael Georgiou, Jane Shields, David Font, and Jim Booth are pictured in the Daily Advertiser, attending the Radio 2AAA annual general meeting.

• South Wagga Bowling Club’s Charlie Atkinson was the skipper of the best-performing team against playing against the ACT in Queanbeyan.

• About 70 people attended a meeting of the Future Directions Advisory Committee established by the Wagga Catholic Diocese and Presentation Sisters to focus on an education system that will take the diocese into the next millennium.

• Tim West, Greg Howick, and Peter Davies announced that well-known local real estate agencies, Peter Davies The Professionals and Lowry and Howick will merge next month.

• Matthew Carroll, Brad Aitken, and Kerry Brain all won the Farrer League Player of the Year award sponsored by the Daily Advertiser and Peter L Brown and Associates, in a thrilling three-way tie.

• The Rotary Club of South Wagga are holding their 18^th Annual Antique Fair at the Kyeamba Smith Hall.

• Wagga Motors is again sponsoring the qualifying round in the nationwide four-person teams’ event at the Wagga Country Club this weekend.

50 Years Ago

• A new drive-in bottle department has opened as the first stage of an extensive modernisation project costing about $100,000 at the Turvey Tavern Hotel Motel.

• Between 1500 and 1800 spectators attended the Wagga Caledonian Society gathering at the Eric Weissel Oval.

• Mates are selling Swiss Incabloc watches with jewel movement from $14.95.

• Inspector Ken Frost took up his appointment as officer-in-charge of the Wagga Police Sub District.

• Noel Townsend of Wagga City Bowling Club won the Wagga and District 1973 State Singles final from Norm Chant of Wagga Commercial Bowling Club.

• Roland Bannister and Gayle Jennings are among teachers from local High Schools and lecturers from the Riverina College of Advanced Education who are forming a Wagga Citizens School and College Band.

• Peter McCoullough Real Estate announced the appointment of Ron Jewell to their sales team.

• Ben Hall, the great-grandson of the bushranger, Ben Hall, rode into Wagga driving a Cobb and Co. coach as part of a 12,000-mile trip around Australia.

• Group Captain Gordon Hughes is the new Commanding Officer of the Base Squadron at Wagga’s RAAF Base in place of Air Commodore H V Gavin who retired last month.

• The Wagga Adult Education Committee and the University of Sydney announced a series of evening courses including “Economics and Social Goals” and “Music in the 20^th Century”.

• Judy Stone and Roy Cressey plus Mayberry Park are featured this Saturday night at the Leagues Club.

• Mr Noel Collison, principal of Wagga’s newest school, Sturt Public School said that 190 students had been enrolled on the first day of the school’s operations.

• Miss Vicki Willis, a nurse at the Wagga Base Hospital was named winner of the Miss South-West title in the Miss Australia 1974 Quest at a Gala Presentation Ball held at the Leagues Club.

• A Wagga branch of the Young Liberal Movement, the fourth in the Wagga district in the past 15 years, was formed with interim President, Peter Duff and vice presidents, Grahame Morris, and Pam Lamont.

• Riverina Tourist Officer, Ald R J Harris attributed better promotion for a more than two-fold increase compared to last year in the number of tourists visiting Wagga and District.

• District Dairy Officer, Mr J B Chittick said that milk production in the Wagga area for August was 21% higher than for the same period last year.

Membership of the Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society is open to anyone with an interest in the local and regional history of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.  For more information about us and information on how to join our Society visit our website at https://www.wwdhs.org.au/about-us/members