13th April 2024
Compiled from the Daily Advertiser by the Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society.
25 Years Ago
- Highly respected, retired Wagga doctor and specialist dermatologist, Allen Collins passed away after a long battle with illness.
- Apprentice builder, Owen Plum, the inaugural winner of the Rotary Club of Wagga’s Pride of Workmanship Award is travelling with TAFE Building and construction teacher, Peter Klimpsch to Papua New Guinea to spend two weeks helping to construct a school dormitory.
- Anglican Bishop of the Wagga region, The Right Reverend Godfrey Fryar, opened the doors of St John’s Anglican Church to all who wished to express their concern for ethnic Albanian refugees driven from their homes in Kosovo in recent weeks.
- Wagga agents Association president, Mark Logan, said that cattle prices at the Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre are the highest they have been for seven years.
- The licence of the Hotel Shirley at Bethungra is likely to be transferred to Sydney following its shock closure this week.
- Vin Carroll has opted to play another season for Marrar and will play his 100th senior game for the bombers this weekend.
- More than 120 people gathered for the official reopening of the Wagga War Cemetery.
- Maternity patients at Calvary Hospital are now occupying the new 12 bed extension of the Saint Gerard’s Wing which is part of the latest stage of the hospital’s multi-million-dollar redevelopment.
- Gissing’s Soul Pattinson Chemist are having a Grand Opening Sale at the Sturt Mall with 6 pack toilet rolls, 2 for $5, nappy rash cream $3.85 and assorted soaps 4 for $1.
- Francis Smith, Amanda Smith, and Marena Douglas were among those attending the Wagga Dressage Championships held at Euberta.
- Reg and Molly Crichton celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a surprise party thrown by their six children and 15 grandchildren.
- The Fernleigh Road Nursery is advertising 20% off roses, deciduous fruit trees and deciduous ornamental trees.
- A meeting called by Council in response to community concerns was told that volunteer-based dementia day care services are being stretched to the limit with suggestions that Greater Murray Area Health cutbacks may be to blame.
- Commonwealth Bank general manager, Dick Perkins, said that there were no plans to close either of Wagga’s Commonwealth Bank Branches.
- Council’s director of corporate services, Tony Elphick said that Council was on top of the millennium Y2K bug problem having identified any systems which might not be compliant and taken appropriate measures.
50 Years Ago
- Murrumbidgee river flooding has closed the Caravan Park and is within inches of isolating North Wagga as the river at Wagga reached 29 feet 3 inches the highest since February 1970.
- South Australian, David Fuller and his speedboat “Full a Fun” retained the Arch Spooner Gold Cup at the Australian Outboard Championships held at Lake Albert.
- The Murrumbidgee Turf Club named a race, the Lionel Robinson Flying Handicap in honour of Lionel Robinson who has been a race day employee of the MTC for 59 years, missing only two meetings in that period – when he injured himself falling off a haystack.
- Manager of the Wagga branch of the Bank of NSW, Keith Hutton, was presented with a gold watch recognising 40 years of service.
- Among the 102 students who graduated this week from the Riverina College of Advanced Education were 16 students who are the last to graduate from the Wagga Teachers College which was replaced two years ago by the RCAE.
- Kevin Parker has taken over from Kerry Delaney as chairman of the Wagga and District Productivity Group.
- Wagga Leagues Club presented football jerseys to Wagga High School first grade and 14 years Rugby League Teams.
- Ald Dick Gorman, who is also secretary of the Wagga Flood Warning Association, told Wagga City Council that 1974 could be a bad flood year in the Murrumbidgee Valley as both Burrinjuck and Blowering Dams were very full.
- Police radar speed traps operating in the Riverina over the Easter period caught 133 motorists exceeding the speed limit.
- One of Australia’s top bands, Chain, is playing at the Riverina College of Advanced Education’s Graduation Ball.
- Mitchell Shire President, Councillor R F Harris, said that the Shire is currently negotiating a $100,000 loan to assist people wanting to set up residence within the Shire. The Council has also purchased 10 acres of land at Uranquinty.
- Kooringal Primary School P&C Association, Tony Howarth said he was surprised at councils’ comments that the need for a second swimming pool had been reduced by the large number of private pools being installed throughout the city.
- Traffic lights will be erected in Bourke Street adjacent to St. Maria Goretti School.
- Wagga International Club is celebrating their fifth anniversary with an anniversary dinner-dance.
- Former Wagga High University Shield second rower, Mal Cheney, has been named in the Parramatta team to play Riverina in the second round of the Amoco Cup at Leichhardt Oval.
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
