1960 Bruce Rock Mob: 2024 - Walk Along Johnson Street and Museum Visit

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Once breakfast was consumed most of us went for a wander down memory lane while looking at the various shops and sights along the way.

The ‘new’ Bruce Rock War Memorial has been considerably expanded and made a wonderful feature of the town. The groups recognised include the two main World Wars, the Fuzzy Wuzzy from PNG, Salvation Army, Red Cross, various peacekeeping missions, Vietnam, Nashos and the various women’s auxiliary services.

There are also some informative displays about the local indigenous peoples and the fact that they recognised six separate seasons – first summer (Dec - Jan), second summer (Feb – Mar), autumn (Apr – May), winter (Jun – Jul), first spring (Aug – Sep) and second spring (Oct – Nov). They clearly knew a lot more about these lands than our early settlers.

L-R - Janet and Lynette McGellin

Like our 2014 reunion, we made a visit the Bruce Rock Museum. A lot of work has been done over the last 10 years. The museum is housed in the old NSW Bank and last time we saw some interesting displays in the old banking chamber and associated rooms.

Since then, the bank manager’s house has been renovated and set up as various period rooms – like the lounge, dining, kitchen and whatnot. And out the back was an audio-visual room, a late 19^th century mud brick cottage, a mid-20^th century school room, a workshop, a saddle making facility and other things.

We thank Kathleen Schilling and Cecily Aurisch from the historical society for opening up especially for us and putting on a scrumptious morning tea.