William Smith: Old Bar Defender
Bill was tasked with protecting the strategically located Old Bar Airstrip. Airplanes used to stop at Old Bar for refuelling and repairs…
Church of Christ Taree
In June 1863, Jane Andrews, her husband Thomas, and Henry Western met together as the first members of the Church of Christ on the Manning River. They were joined by…
Neville Weiley Bridge
On Friday 18 April 1958 over 1000 people attended the opening of the Neville Weiley Bridge at Bohnock. It was the first bridge to link the islands of the Manning River’s delta…
Taree Masonic Hall
Taree Freemasons held their first meeting in the Protestant Hall (now a liquor store, 2024) in Manning Street on 4 October 1878…
Taree Protestant Hall
The Loyal Orange Institution is a Protestant masonic order founded in Ireland in the 1790s. It aims to uphold and promote strict Protestant beliefs. In June 1874, a lodge known as “McGibbon”…
The Beehive Store
Scottish born Andrew Thomson was a baker by trade but after arriving in Taree in the mid 1850s he was encouraged to become a school teacher. Having taught at The Bight, Woolla and Ghinni…
The Beehive Store: behind the scenes
A “beehive” implies a busy place with small compartments – an apt description for a department store “always humming with business”…
Tragedy Strikes Dumaresq Island
Speedboats from the festival swarmed the island as the plane continued to burn. Eric Henshaw and John Paine were among them. They scrambled up the bank…
William Boles and James Henry Bolster: a tale of two architects
The long-awaited Manning River District Hospital was designed by Sydney architects, Bolster and Hotson. In December 1888, James Bolster visited Taree…