Usual arrangements, BYO everything for a great picnic day at the beautiful bush setting.

Let's make this a family reunion day, so contact all those rellies you haven't seen in donkey's years and ask them all to meet with you at Waanyarra on 16/03/2003.

Jack Lockett
(110 Years young)

This was the seventh "Back To Waanyarra" held since 1988—when we again began celebrating the history and families of this unique old gold mining and farming area , after a hiatus of some 25 years.

Only once (in 1992 when we had a couple of showers early in the day) have we had rain. True to form, Waanyarra turned on a superb day for our get together this year, allowing a great picnic atmosphere to develop in which many old acquaintances were renewed and new ones begun. The superb bushland setting of the Bicycle Rest Area contributes immensely to the enjoyment of these days.

It was especially pleasing to see that our visitors from interstate, seeking information on the Bofill and Jarry pioneering families, found their travels rewarding beyond their expectations. When things such as this happen one realises the value of keeping reunions like ours going.

For the third reunion in a row we had the ensemble from the Dunolly Concert Band to entertain, providing us with music throughout the afternoon. As usual Celia Morton was persuaded to "take the hat around" for the band, resulting in a donation of $125 to their funds.

In accordance with our (ancient ??) custom we had again planned to conduct our raffle of a nugget of genuine Waanyarra gold. We had obtained one from Harold Sturni, when, on the day, Tim Raven generously donated another speciman as a prize—so we had two nuggets !

Our other major raffle of the day was the fabulous Hannah Malone, a beautifully dressed doll, made and presented to us by Lyn Inglish. Hannah came with her own life story scroll and was a big hit.

Other wonderful donations we were given to have as additional raffle prizes included a pen handcrafted from rare Australian wood, a hand painted 1992 FAFOW commemorative medal (a real rarity) and a crocheted rug.

Raffle winners were:- Ray Jarry (gold), Rueben Sturni (gold), Ron Thorp (Hannah), Deb Chapple (medal), Alex Rooney (pen) and Kath Bulach (rug)—Dennis Lacey was the lucky winner of the "Lucky Draw" hamper.

Grateful thanks to :-Tim Raven and Harold Sturni for the nuggets, Lyn Inglish for "Hannah"and Austin Quinlan for the pen, also the anonymous donors of the medal and rug.

With our cemetery projects completed, we are going to take a break for a while unless someone has a bright idea. In the meantime we think we may do a bit of lobbying to get the toilet facilities at the Rest Area improved.

Seems that the Authority to ultimately have responsibility for the area around the Rest Area is currently being thrashed out between Parks Victoria and Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment, and until this is resolved we don't know who to "harrass" about the "Loos"!!!!

We have some more pictures coming so come back and visit our site in a couple of weeks eh?

The main momento of our 1992 Waanyarra reunion was a 19 carat gold plated medal featuring the historic 1864 Shire of Bet Bet emblem on one face and the Waanyarra Double Waxflower and commemorative wording on the other.
The minting was limited to 300, and those people who are fortunate enough to now have one in their possession, have something which should have historic as well as monitory value as time goes by.

Long time "Families and Friends" supporter Rueben Ampfer
unveiling the second cemetery plaque at the 1996 "Back To Waanyarra"