Geraldine celebrations raise museum money

Press, 31 March 1980, Page 2

Geraldine celebrations raise museum money

The procession to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of* the Geraldine Borough, organised' by the Geraldine Vintage Car and Machinery ' Club, attracted wide attention, and was reminiscent in' many ways of earlier days: in The Geraldine district. T In 1884, a town board had! been created to look after the development of the town- ( ship, and in 1905, the town! was constituted as a munici-• pality. • ? ! The anniversary process sion was led by- the Mayor, of Geraldine, (Mr W. S,. Ait-! ken), who was driven in- a] gig,- by : Mr John Green. Het

was followed by the present borough councillors' ? and a tableau of; an early town board meeting staged ,by the Geraldine Historical Society. There were many' other floats of interest — hu- ; morous and serious — including a replica of the Bark ! Hut, the first home in Geraldine which was built by Samuel Hewlings in 1854 [when. he. surveyed the town. ' There, were also vintage [ cars. The oldest was the < Knight family’s 1904 De ,Dion Bouton, once owned by ! Cr A. J. Bell. There was also ; a Ford truck, rebuilt by Mr I A. H. W, Smith. It had been

damaged in last year’s disastrous fire.

Traction engines, big and small, took their place in the procession, which included vintage farm machinery of various kinds, types and ages- . ; :■ On the former Geraldine saleyards site, ; threshing mills, driven by traction engines arid" tractors, created a lot of .interest. •

During the field day held after the procession, $650 was raised toward the rebuilding of ? the- vintage car museum destroyed by fire on New t Year’s . Day last year. . ;