Mullumbimby Now and Then
A lone woman at the parade by Rod Wallace
The facts as I know them: Coronation Day Parade down Burringbar Street, Mullumbimby, North Coast NSW. The date 1911.
The story I imagine: ‘A lone woman at the parade’
I am standing in Burringbar Street, the same street where in 1911 a lone woman stood straight and tall in her Sunday best in front of the Mullumbimby bank, intently watching the Coronation Day Parade. Was her husband the band master who led the parade with great fanfare after nights and nights of practice with the brass band? I can almost smell the pungent aroma of spit and polish, brass cleaner and valve oil as the band marches past.
Was she watching someone else in the parade? Was she remembering someone loved or lost? Or was she representing the King?
Notice the five youngsters and their dog on the other side of the parade marching in time, yahooing and secretly dreaming of the day they can join in the parade. Other onlookers are just milling around Burringbar Street avoiding the horse manure, doing a little window shopping and casually watching the parade, but none of the onlookers that day had the interest or intensity of the lone woman.
By Rod Wallace
This Now and Then photo and story was created in an ABC Open NSW North Coast workshop (abc.net.au/open) in partnership with the Brunswick Valley Historical Society and the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre (NRWC). Courtesy of the NRWC workshop participants were guided through the writing task by author Alan Close who invited the group to imagine themselves into their Then photos. The result is this creative collection of Now and Then "the story as I imagine...."
A lone woman at the parade by Rod Wallace
The facts as I know them: Coronation Day Parade down Burringbar Street, Mullumbimby, North Coast NSW. The date 1911.
The story I imagine: ‘A lone woman at the parade’
I am standing in Burringbar Street, the same street where in 1911 a lone woman stood straight and tall in her Sunday best in front of the Mullumbimby bank, intently watching the Coronation Day Parade. Was her husband the band master who led the parade with great fanfare after nights and nights of practice with the brass band? I can almost smell the pungent aroma of spit and polish, brass cleaner and valve oil as the band marches past.
Was she watching someone else in the parade? Was she remembering someone loved or lost? Or was she representing the King?
Notice the five youngsters and their dog on the other side of the parade marching in time, yahooing and secretly dreaming of the day they can join in the parade. Other onlookers are just milling around Burringbar Street avoiding the horse manure, doing a little window shopping and casually watching the parade, but none of the onlookers that day had the interest or intensity of the lone woman.
By Rod Wallace
This Now and Then photo and story was created in an ABC Open NSW North Coast workshop (abc.net.au/open) in partnership with the Brunswick Valley Historical Society and the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre (NRWC). Courtesy of the NRWC workshop participants were guided through the writing task by author Alan Close who invited the group to imagine themselves into their Then photos. The result is this creative collection of Now and Then "the story as I imagine...."