Thousands gathered on the banks of the Macquarie River yesterday to witness the reinstatement of Macquarie’s Flag Staff and celebrate the city’s bicentenary.

The ceremony held to mark our bicentenary recalled the past and looked to the future. Described as one of the great events in Bathurst’s history, the ceremony was moving, humorous and inspiring. 

The large crowd screamed when the Redcoats fired their guns, laughed along with the various speakers, and grew sentimental when the Wiradyuri children swept and danced and the All Schools Choir sang “We Are Australian”. 

Speakers wove a story of Bathurst from the days when the Wiradyuri roamed the plains, on to settlement, and then through the years until today.

As master of ceremonies, Christopher Morgan told a tale 40,000 years in the making.

The steady beating of a drum signalled the arrival of the Redcoats and the re-enactment of that day in history 200 years ago when Governor Lachlan Macquarie proclaimed the settlement of Bathurst.

One of the most moving moments in the two-hour ceremony came when Dinawan Dyirribang, a descendant of the great warrior Windradyne, presented mayor Gary Rush with a ceremonial possum skin coat, saying the day was about the story of two peoples.

“I hope we can all walk together as equals. We want to be there with you. We want to share everything with you,” he said.

The city’s Aboriginal elders joined them at the flag staff, their faces alight with the significance of the day.

“This beautiful area, running alongside the Wambool and recorded in white man’s history as The Bathurst Plains is also very proudly the home of the Wiradyuri people,” Cr Rush said.

“We celebrate today the history and heritage of this unique part of Australia and the traditions of all people, places and events that have shaped us.

“This is not merely a one-sided story, for to tell that story from only a white perspective would be like reading a story book with missing pages.”?

Cr Rush added that we have travelled far in 200 years to the place we are today – a modern, vibrant, prosperous regional city. 

He added, however, that it is not just what we are that defines us, but what we value. 

“We are a community that values family and friends; we value the opportunity to have choice in education for our children; we value the opportunity to work in a diverse economy with strong consistent growth,” he said.

“We value our open space, clean air and natural beauty. We value our quality of life where we make a contribution and help each other, not for fame or recognition, but bec-ause it’s the right thing to do. 

“We value the concept of looking one another in the eye and saying ‘g’day’.

“In 2015 we create new traditions with a shared future together, where intolerance and injustice have no place, and respect and mutual understanding are at the forefront.”

NSW Governor David Hurley affirmed his respect for the living custodians, elders past and present, and said they had done a fine job of caring for the land.

He spoke glowingly of Governor Macquarie as an inspirational figure and a man who had performed one of the great feats of the colony in opening up inland Australia for settlement.

Governor Hurley also pondered what Governor Macquarie might have made of Bathurst today with its beautiful tree-lined streets and magnificent buildings. “I think he would by amazed by its beauty,” he said.

Deputy prime minister Warren Truss said the bicentenary was a special day not just for Bathurst, but for all who live outside our capital cities.

He also described Governor Lachlan Macquarie as a visionary with a passion for infrastructure. 

“Under Macquarie, Bathurst made the vital and necessary steps from penal settlement to a free colony,” he said.

“Two hundred years later we are reaping the benefits of Governor Macquarie’s hard work.”

Other guest speakers included Bathurst MP Paul Toole, Bathurst youth mayor Laura Van Uum and Member for Calare John Cobb.