WASPS image

WASPS

The Women’s Security Agricultural Production Service (WASPS) was formed by Don Shand, a grazier from Armidale, to ensure that rural food production was sustained and increased during World War 2 to feed Australians at home and troops abroad. Shand set up the initial WASPS gr...

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Empire Day  image

Empire Day 

For many years, the birthday of Queen Victoria, 24 May, was also marked by a special day in Australia, Empire Day, but not until after her death. Empire Day was held across NSW for the first time in 1905. The day was intended to recognize Queen Victoria’s long reign and to e...

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Port Macquarie Gaol image

Port Macquarie Gaol

Port Macquarie Gaol no longer exists, however it once stood in the area between Lord and Joffre Streets, near the headland known today as Gaol Point. Referred to as the “old gaol” by the local community, it served at other times as a New South Wales Prison and police lock-up....

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Tuppenny Road   image

Tuppenny Road  

On April 25 each year we commemorate Anzac Day to recognise, remember and reflect on the contributions and sacrifices of Australians in many wars and conflicts. Some of those contributions are acknowledged through built monuments and landmarks such as the Port Macquarie War Memor...

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King Neptune's Park image

King Neptune's Park

During the 1970s and 1980s Port Macquarie was the home of many theme parks including the Dolphin and Marine Park which was later known as King Neptune’s Park. The park is now long gone but its memories are strong for those who worked there and visited it during their holidays t...

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The Royal Hotel   image

The Royal Hotel  

Port Macquarie’s waterfront landscape includes the Royal Hotel building adjacent to Town Green. The original Royal Hotel built by Major Archibald Clunes Innes was advertised in 1841 '…The comfort and luxuries, if you visit the Hotel Royal, will render it MONTPELIER itself'. T...

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Tacking Point Lighthouse image

Tacking Point Lighthouse

Tacking Point lighthouse was built in 1879 when lighthouses were the responsibility of each colony. Before roads and railways, oceans and rivers carried freight and passengers from local towns and villages to major cities. Sea travel was quite perilous and there was much excitem...

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