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

28th December 2024

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

25 Years Ago

• Bolton Park will serve as the venue for Wagga’s Millenium Mardi Gras. The event will start at 5pm culminating with a welcome to the new millennium with a spectacular fireworks display just prior to midnight. Lisa Pinn was pictured later in the week enjoying the celebrations.

• Wagga’s first baby born in the New Year was Samuel Anthony Wilson who arrived at 1.27pm on Christmas Day.

• Awards for long and dedicated service to Wagga City Council were presented to Bryan Short, Sid Pope, Ian Graham, Len Baker, John Mack, Stan Folley and Ian Thompson at a special ceremony hosted by the Mayor, Kevin Wales and general manager Brian Andrews.

• Relationships Australia, Riverina farewelled its branch manager, Tony Lawler after 13½ years of service in Wagga.

• More than 150 people lined up outside Wagga’s K-Mart to be first in the door in the post-Christmas sales rush.

• Bill Heaney is pictured preparing for the Wagga School of Philosophy’s celebration of 2000 years of Christianity to be held at Mount Erin Chapel on New Years Eve.

• The Shanty Hotel is advertising as a destination for parties with free bus pickup and the biggest beer garden in Wagga.

• Well known Wagga solicitor, Phil Day has retired as Waratahs’ Rugby Union secretary a position he has held since 1985 as well as doubling as a Waratah’s player until 1990.

• Members of the Suidgeest family are holding a family reunion held over four days at the Borambola camp.

• Knight’s meats are advertising chicken thigh fillets for $5.95 kg, legs of lamb for 4.45 kg and beef mince for $2.75 kg.

• Two men were admitted to Wagga Base Hospital in the early hours of Christmas Day following a brawl arising from a longstanding neighbourhood dispute at Gumly. One man was flown to St Vincents Hospital and another to Canberra Hospital, both suffering head injuries.

• Farmers in the eastern Riverina could lose up to a third of their harvests due to unseasonal rainfall.

• The population of Wagga continues to increase with a natural increase of 970 in 1999 despite a decline in the number of births.

• Mayor Kevin Wales assured concerned parents that the controversial Dalman Parkway bus stop will be resolved before school resumes next year.

• Police Inspector Frank Goodyer said it appeared that a fire at the Edel Quinn Shelter was deliberately lit as an accelerant was found nearby.

50 Years Ago

• District residents helped ease the suffering of Cyclone Tracy victims by donating more than $27,000 during a doorknock appeal for the Wagga Mayor’s Darwin Relief Fund.

• Between them the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Salvation Army have also collected almost $8000 during the week for victims of the Darwin disaster.

• Wagga Leagues Club is holding a spectacular concert this week with all proceeds including trading, poker machine profits, staff salaries and fees between 2pm and 6.30 pm also going towards the Darwin Relief Appeal.

• Wagga Tennis Association in conjunction with Schipp’s Sports Store is staging a tournament and the Wagga Commercial Bowling Club is holding a men’s fours tournament with proceeds from both going towards the Darwin Relief Appeal.

• Wagga’s twenty hotels will contribute to the Mayors Darwin Relief Fund by giving part of the money raised from their regular Friday night charity competitions.

• Bronwyn Lewis was crowned as Miss Wagga 1975 and Sue McGinn crowned as Community Advancement Fund Charity Queen in front of a huge crowd gathered at the Council Chambers.

• The Member for Wagga, Wal Fife, has been allocated the Transport and Highways portfolio in the new cabinet of Premier, Tom Lewis.

• Mr Fife’s appointment coincided with the 50^th wedding anniversary of his in-laws, Mr Perc and Mrs Mim Stanley.

• Wagga jockeys made a presentation to former Chairman of Stipendiary Stewards, Mr Dick O’Donnell who is taking up a position with the North Queensland Racing Association at Townsville.

• A fire of undetermined origin gutted a Wagga marine, and sports store owned by well known Wagga sportsman, Barney Rooke.

• Mr K M Kenneally, Chartered Accountant advises that he has a new address in Docker Street.

• Kathy Southwell of Mount Austin escaped to Wagga City beach from the heat as the mercury soared to a scorching 39.6 degrees Centigrade or 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Huthwaites are advertising Monbulk Strawberry, Raspberry or Blackberry conserve, 8oz for 23 cents, Mountain Maid Garden Peas, 439g for 20 cents and Street’s Ice cream, 2 litres for 69 cents.

• Wagga’s population increased by close to 1,000 people last year to become the biggest city in New South Wales.

• Fatal car smashes in the Riverina reached 98 for 1974, one more than 1973.

• A 36-year-old man died in a skiing mishap at Lake Albert.

• Wagga City Baths manager, Mr. Miller, is expecting about 100 children to attend learn to swim classes starting on 6^th January.

• Wagga Cricket Association urgently needs billets for members of the Murrumbidgee Council’s under 21 team which will be playing at Gissing Oval on Friday.

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