100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SANDALWOOD HALL 21/10/2023
On the cool, overcast morning of Saturday 21st October, car club members in their vehicles, individually departed Murray Bridge. Travelling through the small sparsely populated towns of Chapmans Bore, Wynarka and Borrika and the larger township of Karoonda, viewing the mallee farming areas and scrubland, we arrived at Sandalwood Hall.
Here we were greeted by the parking attendant and directed to our display area, where we joined the Tailem Bend and Loxton clubs with a total of approx. 28 cars on display. Upon alighting from our vehicle, we discovered the Wehrmann Family had arrived the afternoon before, setting up to camp overnight. What a terrific idea.
Throughout the course of the morning, a steady array of visitors arrived to partake in the day’s proceedings and wandered along the classic and vintage vehicle display, admiring, and chatting to their respective owners. Towards lunchtime, whilst the glorious aromas of the barbeque drifted across the area, a young lad of around 10 years of age arrived to view the collection and was carefully educated on all the aspects of the older vehicles by one of the events coordinators. The lad duly departed to return with siblings to impart his recently acquired knowledge.
After enjoying a barbeque lunch of sausages, onions, bread, and salads, followed by a delicious serving of strawberries, ice-cream and cream and a welcome cuppa, came the speeches, including a highly entertaining one given by Peter Goers, and the unveiling of the 100-year-old plaque.
Inside the hall there was a meticulous display of the history of the hall and surrounding areas and various stalls which also overflowed to the outside. Some of us were also privileged to be given a private tour of the townships’ combined historic Post Office, General Store, and dwelling, together with some of their outbuildings.
Despite the cool day and relatively strong winds which whipped up the dust from time to time, it was a relaxing and pleasant day out. Thank you to the Sandalwood Hall 100-year Anniversary Committee for inviting our club to stage a static display at their event.
