More than 300 people attended the Rudall Centenary Celebration at the weekend, where locals and former residents celebrated 100 years of settlement in the Hundreds of Rudall and Smeaton.
The day kicked off with the official launch of ‘Cherish the Earth’ – a book of local history compiled by local volunteers. Chairman of the Centenary Book Committee Maurice Smith recounted the process of collating the district’s history into a permanent record subtitled ‘Cherish the Earth’ and introduced former resident Heather Dunn.
Heather, after recounting her efforts together with the late ‘Mabs’ Pearce almost 30 years ago to collect stories of the early pioneers, officially launched the book and praised the committee for continuing on from her initial efforts.
Vintage cars were on display and featured in the centenary pantomime along with static displays of memorabilia and plenty of reminiscing.
A memorial plaque was unveiled by Hazel Ranger, the oldest living former resident of Rudall, amongst a group of current locals representing the next three generations of Rudall residents.
Matthew Dunn, a descendant of the pioneering Kestel family spoke on behalf of the current community with recollections of his 40 years living at Alsbra Park in the Rudall district.
The centenary plaque is set in local sandstone collected from the Verran area, and magnificently presented due to the in-kind efforts of several local Rudall businesses and tradesmen.
More than 50 families participated in planting a ‘Centenary Tree’ around the boundary of the Rudall Recreation reserve as a permanent memento to their involvement in the weekend’s proceedings.
After patiently waiting for a late plane, guests were introduced to Julie Bishop MP, the Deputy Leader of the Federal Liberal Party who, whilst travelling through the region, was pleased to place a time capsule in front of the Sports Clubrooms which will be resumed in 25 years time.
Rowan Ramsey, Federal Member for Grey, assisted the Deputy Leader in lowering the capsule, and the two mingled with the crowd until most left to prepare for the highlight of the weekend - the Centenary Dinner and pantomime.
After a sumptuous meal served by the ladies of the Rudall Netball Club, guests celebrated the 100 years milestone with a birthday cake cut by historian Heather Dunn, and a surprise donation of wine by former resident Rodney McDonald gave local auctioneer Andy Lee the opportunity to extract a considerable amount of bidding from the keen crowd, much to the delight of the organising committee.
As the crowd was entertained with music by ‘Sedgway’ - a Cummins band featuring former local AFL footballer Darren Smith - the sun finally set low enough for the gathered crowd in the marquee to view a power-point presentation put together by Kelly Morrow, which was accompanied by an historic and sometimes outrageously hilarious, pantomime portraying the events that have shaped the past 100 years in the Rudall area.
With musical accompaniment by Elaine Elson the organisers had the crowd on the edge of their seats all night in anticipation of what was to come from some overly enthusiastic performers, ranging from junior and preschoolers running through the crowd dressed as mice to the more mature giving historical enactments of actions of their pioneering forebears.
The event was sprinkled with the unexpected, from characters played by Wade Mason and Mignon Dunn, to the totally outrageous performances of Peter Forrest and Bronte Crosby who filled multiple roles during the evening.
“Organisers Helen Lovegrove, Helen Burton, Annette Phelps and Jill Hampel, together with Julie Burton and Lorrae Weiss, who put most of the weekend together with the assistance of their long suffering spouses and many other willing workers within the Rudall Community Sports Club, need to be congratulated for an outstanding effort that will truly be remembered by those in attendance for a long time to come,” MC Grantley Siviour said.
The weekend concluded with a non-denominational thanksgiving church service on the oval led by Pastor Matt Eckermann and former resident Father Eddie Travers, who gave an extremely appropriate and humorous address, with musical accompaniment from Maurice, Gwen and Bronwyn Smith.
As visitors drifted home mid-afternoon the compliments were still flowing, and the organisers wish to recognise the contribution made by the wider community providing in kind support and equipment, as well as manpower and memorabilia to bring the weekend to fruition.
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