Spring into a country rose festival

Spring at the 1968 Camden Rose Festival

Spring was a time of celebration and ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. Camden celebrated its ‘re-birth’ with a week-long spring festival held in the late 1960s in late October with a spring flower festival full of community events.

 

Spring, the season of re-birth, was celebrated in Sydney with the Waratah Festival which ran from 1956 to 1973. Originally festivals in Melbourne and Sydney were sparked by the thousands of people who flocked to see the visit of Queen Elizabeth in 1954. The optimism of the post-war years was initially celebrated in Melbourne with it Moomba Festival from March 1955 and then the following years by Sydney’s Waratah Festival in October.

The 1960s were a period of prosperity and optimism in the Camden district.  One expression of local optimism and perhaps the inspiration for the Rose Festival may have been the new rose gardens in Macarthur Park which were planned and laid out in 1964, and planted out with 80 roses the following year.

 

Founder of the Camden Rose Festival

The founder of the Camden Rose Festival was insurance salesman JW Hill as fundraiser for Camden District Hospital. Hill was a keen volunteer and a member of a number of community organisations including Lions, RSL, Masons, scouting movement and an enthusiastic bowler, golfer and swimmer. (Camden Advertiser, 11 February 2009)

Hill led the organisation of the 1968 Rose Festival celebrations and involved the whole community. Festivities opened with a street parade along Argyle Street and were a highlight of the week. Festival publicity boasted that the parade would ‘feature decorated floats, vintage motor vehicles, commercial displays and costumed marchers’. (Camden News, 23 October 1968)

 

1968 street parade

‘Several thousand people’ lined Argyle Street and watched the procession of floats in the street parade which boasted a strong local line-up starting with ‘school children and members of the Air Training Corps, Scouts and Guides’ supported by five bands. (Camden News, 30 October 1968)

 

Officials including the mayor, Alderman Ferguson, and local member of parliament, Max Dunbier MLA, supervised the parade from their vantage point near the post office. Parade floats included the Camden Historical Society which ‘entered a buggy and a team of horsemen in period costume’, Fossey’s store staff ‘featured girls in different national costumes’ while the fellows from Camden Apex Club provided a ‘humorous comment on National Dental Week’. The Camden Theatre Group float provided publicity for their up-coming show ‘The Pyjama Game’. (Camden News, 30 October 1968)

 

Parade proceedings were briefly interrupted for a short time when ‘a motley crowd of roughnecks’ called the ‘Kelly Gang’ rode into town on their horses. The gang provided ‘hilarious’ entertainment when tried to hold-up the CBC Bank, but instead decided to kidnap a bank officer, Bob Green, and transported him and his ‘charlady’ to the Camden Showground. (Camden News, 30 October 1968)

The western side of Argyle Street (the Hume Highway) was closed off and there were a series of entertainers: at 11:00 there was the Issues; followed at 12.00 by young dancers from the Camden Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Academy.

 

Wheelbarrow derby

A wheelbarrow derby started at 1.00pm and finished at the bowling club with hotel sponsored-teams in racing colours expecting stiff competition. The winning Crown Hotel team was made up of local identities Charlie Mulley and Eric McGrath.

The day was topped with a traditional village-style sports day at Camden showground with tug-o-war where the Apex team over-powered the local police. There were foot races for local men with rolling-pin throwing for ‘ladies’ and a ‘diaper derby for toddlers’. The winner of the ‘beard-growing contest was Don Rolfe who won an electric razor. These activities were supported by a pet-zoo and model aeroplane display. (Camden News, 23 October 1968)

 

Festival art exhibition

Local artist and school-teacher Ken Rorke organised the festival art exhibition, which attracted over 500 entries. The success of the art prize was a fore-runner of what would eventually be the Camden Art Prize which started in 1972 after the last Rose Festival was held in 1971. There were sections for adults and children (infants, primary and secondary) supplemented with handicrafts. (Camden News, 23 October 1968)

 

Festival queen

The 1968 Rose Festival Queen Marilyn Fuller was crowned by 1967 Queen Michele Chambers at the showground festivities after the parade. Other festival queen entrants were Miss Hospital Beverley Thornton and Miss Apex Ngaire Davies. (Camden News, 30 October 1968.

 

Masked ball

Festivities in 1968 peaked with the masked ball held at the AH&I Hall on Saturday night 2 November 1968 which started at 8.00pm. Tickets were $3.75 with proceeds going to ‘local charities’. This was the second ball organised by the festival committee, president J Hill, secretary H Kitching and treasurer UH Parsons.