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

28th September 2024

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

25 Years Ago

• Secretary of the Wagga Show Society, Bruce Mulqueeney said the 134^th Wagga show will run from Wednesday to Friday this week, rather than the traditional Thursday to Saturday and will be officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fischer.

• Carly McGuiness, Sara-Jane Reilly, Kristie Reilly and Jessica McGuiness are pictured in The Daily Advertiser braving the heavy rain at the Wagga Show.

• Morgan and Forsyth streets were worst hit as flash flooding caused by torrential rain caused traffic chaos in Central Wagga.

• 21-year-old Wagga butcher, Jane McDonnell, won the New South Wales Apprentice of the Year at the New South Wales Training Awards attended by 600 people at the Sydney Exhibition Centre.

• About 110 former staff of Calvary Hospital met with current employees at a reunion held over the weekend.

• Bridget Hall and Samiuela Pahula were among those attending the NAIDOC Ball on Friday night.

• Senator Bill Heffernan officially opened the Wagga Regional Art Gallery’s latest show Upfront: Faces of Australia at War.

• Kapooka Army Base is hosting over 50 Camp Quality children between the ages of 4 and 14 this week.

• Riverina Australian Rules Football Club, Bowls President, Vince Beard, congratulated Allan Gow on his elevation to life membership of bowling section.

• Charles Sturt University academic and practicing Wagga pharmacist, Maree Simpson, hand-picked by Health Minister Craig Knowles, is the first ministerial nominee from a regional university to the Pharmacy Board of NSW in its 100-year history.

• After about 40 years the hairdressing salon operating from the Romanos Hotel building is closing as hotel publican, Peter Bolton plans improvements to the hotel including bar and gambling areas.

• A time capsule from the opening of the Civic Theatre 37 years ago which was accidently exposed during recent renovations has been added to and resealed at the theatre.

• The Wagga Netball Association donated more than $2000 to the Radiotherapy appeal.

• Wagga Motorcycle Sports Club is hosting a round of the Riverina Dirt Track Series at the Wagga International Speedway.

• One in every five public school children in Wagga is unable to read and write after three years of schooling according to statistics on literacy and numeracy levels released this week.

• Wagga participants in the 1999 World Vision 40-Hour Famine have raised more than$55,000 with more than 1600 local people, including 37 schools and 19 church and other community groups participating.

50 Years Ago

• A special service to mark the opening of the Wagga Supreme Court was conducted by Archdeacon K A Osborne at St John’s Church of England.

• Six of the retiring 12 aldermen including the Mayor, Ald M H Gissing, who had polled the second highest number of primary votes, were defeated in the Wagga City Council Triennial Local Government elections.

• Ald H Frisby, Ald E Heard, Ald R Harris, Ald A Loch and Ald K Condon were also not re-elected. The new aldermen elected were Ald A Collins, Ald C Houen, Ald P Clark, Ald B Hedditch, Ald P Brassil and Ald N McLennan.

• Ald Dick Gorman was elected unanimously as Mayor of Wagga. Ald Brian Allen was also elected unanimously as Deputy Mayor when Ald W H Fife declined nomination.

• A record 524 entries have been received for the 1974 Riverina Open Tennis Championships to be held over the Labour Day long weekend next Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Tennyson Park Courts.

• A mammoth hailstorm and more than two inches of rain forced the night session of the Wagga Show to be abandoned for only the second time in 100 years.

• Equestrian events at the Wagga Show were dominated by Mount Austin High School student, Miss Jenny Munro and her horse Prairie Girl.

• Mr Bert Schmidt won the championship award in the Crafts Section of the Wagga Show with a beautifully handmade copper Chinese entrance lantern.

• More than 300 entries were received in this years Gissing’s Wagga Show Photo and Slide Competition with Mrs A L Willis winning the Best Overall Award.

• South Wagga Lions Club president, Ian Mortimer and Jim Wright chairman of the clubs, Boys and Girls Committee are pictured in The Daily Advertiser with Kim Barrett, 16 who has been selected by the club to undertake a three-week student exchange program in New Zealand.

• Mr Darryl Elsley, a life insurance agent with National Mutual Life Association in Wagga has returned from Miami, Florida where he attended a meeting of life insurance agents from around the world who have sold more than $1 million of new life insurance each year.

• The entire Wagga city area is being treated to control fruit fly in a project conducted jointly by Wagga City Council and the Department of Agriculture.

• The Bishop of Wagga, Dr F P Carroll has announced the appointment of Mr Trevor Williams as administration manager for the Catholic Education Office in the Diocese of Wagga.

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