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

22nd June 2024

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

25 Years Ago

• A lack of representation for rural residents has prompted two representatives of the Rural Ratepayers Association, Mark Gooden and Allen Mulholland to stand in the upcoming council elections.

• Greater Murray Area Health Service agreed to delay the relocation of aged care services to the old library and art gallery and to establish a working party to investigate concerns raised at a public meeting attended by 400 people.

• Wagga’s Deputy Mayor, Dennis Blackett, took over the reins from retiring President, Bernard Benson at the Sunrise Rotary Changeover dinner held at the Garden Court Restaurant.

• Wagga’s Video Ezy store in Fernleigh Road has been broken into eight times in the last eighteen months.

• Tim Egan was announced as winner of the NSW Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition and will contest the National Competition in Hobart in August.

• Dawn and Ron Small, Roxanne, Cedric and Natasha Locke and Mick Small were pictured hiding their true colours behind various masks at the Wagga City Rugby Club’s “Boiled Lolly Ball”.

• Former Wagga City Council town clerk, Bill Ellis celebrated his 80^th birthday.

• Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner, Royce Atkinson visited Wagga meeting with local zone commander, Superintendent Jeff Bender and other local staff.

• Wagga High School students, Fran Dengate and Jane Lorentzen are pictured attending a Career Awareness Day organised by Charles Sturt University and the District Careers Advisors Association.

• Students from Kooringal High School took out the top prize when they competed in the Sunrice Mathematics Challenge Day in Griffith.

• Mount Erin High School sports co-ordinator, Regina Roach congratulated, student Jacqueline Murphy who has been awarded a Pierre de Courbetin for her excellence in numerous sports at the school.

• A donation from the Wagga Community Advancement Fund has helped provide security doors for the Mount Austin Girl Guides Hall.

• Wagga City Councils recreation and cultural services committee has given in principle support to developing Robertson Oval which flies in the face of a plan outlined by the member for Wagga, Daryl Maguire who hoped that a state-of-the-art football field would be developed at Maher Oval.

• The annual Red Nose Day raising money for research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) was launched in Sydney by Police Commissioner, Peter Ryan.

• The Wagga Chamber of Commerce and Industry inaugural ball was held at the Wagga Marketplace with entertainment by Patrick Almanci and Juice, a sit-down dinner and drinks.

50 Years Ago

• Wagga’s first Golden Gown Award was very successful with 400 guests attending including special guests Signor Salvador Barbera, First Secretary to the Spanish Embassy and Al and Ellinor Grassby.

• Tony Quinlivan’s Menswear won the trophy for the “Best Dressed Window in Wool” competition held in conjunction with the Golden Gown Award.

• Members of the Red Shield Appeal Committee, Merv Howard, Henry Gissing, the Mayor, Ald Morris Gissing, Captain Bruce Buckmaster, Barney Greenway and Bill Hurd met in preparation for the annual Red Shield Appeal Day on 7^th July.

• Five hundred women packed the Wagga Leagues Club for the Quota Club Wool Day at which Mrs Shirley Wilson of “Dalwood” Illabo was chosen as the “Best Dressed Woman in Wool”.

• Kooringal High School principal, Frank Nethery, retired after 44 years in the teaching profession and is pictured with school captains, Geoff Fisher and Cecily Collison and the new acting principal Mr McDowell.

• RSL Club president, Mr Wal Spokes, announced that the Club’s Christmas stage show for children will be presented this year by the Wagga School of Arts rather than a Sydney troupe.

• A modern underground watering system was officially turned on at Gissing Oval.

• Mrs Rosemary Read and Mrs Judy Gifford, members of the Wagga branch of the Nursing Mothers Association, travelled to Sydney to participate in the annual State conference of the Association.

• Mr Stan Pratt was elected president and Mrs Dawn Weir was elected secretary-treasurer of a new Wagga branch of the Australian Saddle Pony Association.

• The Mayor, Ald Morris Gissing, Ald Bob Harris and North Wagga residents, John Bowe, Roy Veerhuis, and Albert Burgmann have been appointed to a new committee to draw up a proposal for changes in the town plan to give North Wagga residents full residential status.

• Group 9 Rugby League has raised admission prices for the final series to $1 per head.

• A 91-year-old Wagga woman died when her clothes caught alight in the lounge room of her home.

• The Murrumbidgee Turf Club will increase the minimum prize money to $1000 per race for all meetings held at Wagga.

• Mrs Tassell is the new president of the Association of Civilian Widows.

• Several residents in the region of Albert, Gurwood and Gossett Streets have complained of the number of dogs which have been roaming the neighbourhood.

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