5th September 2026

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

25 Years Ago

• Winner of the wool award at the 28^th Golden Gown Awards was Sam Stolhand of Young.

• The 81^st annual Wagga Eisteddfod is underway at venues including the Civic Theatre, Wagga Leagues Club and Presbyterian Church Hall.

• Horrie Rex, who spent 25 years as Chief Executive Officer of Wagga Base Hospital and was a long-time supporter of the Loretto Home of Compassion, has died at the age of 77.

• Twenty-two Riverina school principals were presented with 22-year service certificates by Department of Education and Training Wagga District Superintendent, Colin Parker.

• Barbeques Galore owner Gary Gurtner and his daughter, Prue, are pictured celebrating 20 years of trading in Edward Street West.

• The 7^th Annual Wagga Wagga Jazz Festival is on again at Romano’s Hotel and the Wagga Commercial Club.

• The Reverend Fred Nile was in Wagga to introduce Rev George Capsis, the leader of his Christian Democratic Party’s Senate team for the next Federal election.

• Holy Trinity Primary School’s Mitchell Francis, 8, raised $370, more than any other pupil in a challenge run by the school to boost its information technology department.

• The Daily Advertiser’s contribution to the campaign to raise $3 million for the radiotherapy cancer treatment centre in Wagga was recognised when it won a prestigious excellence in marketing award in the community events category at the 32^nd annual conference of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association in Melbourne.

• Ian Williams and Colleen Bell have been appointed managers of the new motel complex now nearing completion alongside the Wagga RSL Club.

• Eric Daniels, Clinical Nursing Management Officer for Greater Murray Area Health Service, said a seminar held to attract mature-aged people to a nursing career drew about 100 prospective employees.

• North Wagga’s Matt Fife won the under 14s best and fairest award at the Wagga and District Junior Australian Football Association presentation night.

• The Sturt Mall, which recently completed major renovations and expansion, has been sold by developer Austexx Investments to the New South Wales-based Local Government Superannuation Scheme.

• A Uranquinty man who was stopped for drink driving twice on the same day was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for six years.

•  Peta Jane Cullis won the 17-year-old girls’ Riverina Junior Squash title at the Tolland Squash Centre.

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50 Years Ago

• East Wagga defeated Cootamundra in the Central Riverina League grand final held at Maher Oval.

• Comical and colourful floats and carts of all types took part in a street parade to celebrate the 21^st anniversary of the founding of San Isadore.

• Member for Farrer, Mr Wal Fife, announced that the Commonwealth Government has approved a $267,000 grant towards construction of a 20-bed nursing home by the 2WG Old Peoples Trust at the Haven.

• The operations of the Wagga Airport will be discussed by Wagga City Council, including the matter of rebuilding the main passenger terminal building, which became antiquated long ago.

• Miss Cath Nicholson has retired after 44 years working at the Wagga Telephone Exchange.

• Annelies Hoogland, eldest daughter of Ted and Coby Hoogland of Gregadoo, celebrated her 21^st birthday with eighty guests, including guests from Holland, Melbourne, Ballarat, Sydney and Goulburn.

• Miss Wagga Quest entrant, Miss Fiona Wright, conducted a “bowlathon” at the Wagga Bowling Centre.

• Barter’s Restaurant’s Olde English Roast night features a five-course meal, Bubbly, Wine, Coffee and Music for an all-inclusive $9 per head.

• Fulham Gardens in Gurwood Street are selling Juicy Apples, ten for 69 cents, Sweet Navel Oranges, ten for 39 cents and tasty firm bananas, ten for 59 cents.

• Huthwaites are advertising Meadow Lea Poly-Unsaturated Table Margarine, 500g for 69 cents, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, 500g for 54 cents and Rosella Hot Pot Tomato Soup, 445g for 46 cents.

• Senator Kathy Martin from Queensland is pictured with Mrs Zoe Pratt, president of the Wagga Women’s Branch of the Liberal Party, at a special dinner meeting of the branch at the Riverine Club.

• Willis Picture Frames are advertising their expert custom framing service available from Castles Hardware and Ernest Tooley Studios.

• Immanuel Jewellers in South Town Walk are adverting as “Manufacturing Jewellers to the Riverina” with all manufacturing and repair work done expertly on their premises.

• A meeting will be held to form a pony club to cater for riders in the Lake Albert area.

• The Wagga Family Day Care Centre in the Esplanade is celebrating its first anniversary.

• Owners of dogs in Wagga risk losing them or facing additional fines if they do not keep them secured on leashes in fenced-in backyards, as Wagga’s “dog catcher” and pound keeper, Mr Reg Makepeace, makes regular patrols of Wagga Streets.

• The Mortimer family have a busy weekend with three of their sons playing in different clubs in important Rugby League matches, 300 miles apart.

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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