OUR photo this week shows Bathurst's Machattie Park covered in a heavy fall of snow on Wednesday, August 3, 1921. The then Presbyterian Church is in the foggy background. The photo was taken by J.J. Kelly's Studios.
Mr Kelly was so pleased with his images, he turned them into a series of black and white postcards which he titled "Bathurst in Snow 1921".
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The National Advocate welcomed the sight as: "Beautiful snow. Wait until it commences to thaw though. Yesterday's fall in Bathurst was the heaviest for several years."
At least three falls of snow were recorded throughout the month of July 1921 to the east of Bathurst and surrounding districts, including over to Lithgow.
The National Advocate described Machattie Park after the fall of snow: "In Machattie Park the fir trees were in their element and clung on to the flakes as if they were both to lose their added charm they offered. Lawns and gardens were prettily robed, but the wattle blossom repenting of its folly, in making its appearance so early, gave up hope of preserving its fluffy petals, and when the storm was over the wattle trees looked dejected and drenched."
The big fall of snow in and around Bathurst led to local children and adults going snowballing.
Most felt it was the largest fall for years.
While Bathurst generally misses the snow that falls on the surrounding hills and it was thought that Bathurst had had its turn, there was a cold, driving rain before the forenoon and people said it would snow.
The snow came suddenly. Shortly after one o'clock, when most business people were on their way home for lunch, a veritable snowstorm broke over the city.
The wind played with the flakes, driving them along the streets in a blizzard, whirling them around corners, and making them form fantastic revolutions before disposing of them on the ground, in the trees, or on the roofs.
There were a few to spare to whisk into a man's eye or down a girl's neck.
The fall was fairly heavy and continued until nearly three o'clock.
The saturated ground and the wet streets helped to thaw the snow in places, but for over an hour, most things were included under the white mantle.
The snowfall had come at a most opportune time for school children, for whose delight it could not fall fast enough.
Squeals and laughter betrayed the participation of girls in the fun. Boys gathered the snow by the armful, declaring their fingers were not cold, although their hands must have felt like icicles.
Groups of young men waited behind street corners to catch passers-by, and where they knew there was no risk of offence, they attacked in force.
The friendly umbrella was a handy means of defence, but without that shelter, and the 'enemy' in strength and firing at short range, the wisest strategy was to retire at the double.
The district had been quite dry for some time, so the moisture was welcome.
Most residents and, especially, visitors who had never seen snow before became excited and revelled in the experience.
The most notable fall of snow in Bathurst had been about four years previously, when the city awoke one morning to find everything robed in white.
The present winter had gone so far with so little reality of winter.
The consumption of fuel on the family hearth had probably been all that could be desired by the vendors of wood, coal and coke for the fireplace had had an undeniable call day and night.
The snow ceased to fall in Bathurst about three o'clock in the afternoon, but the temperature was low enough to keep the heaps of snow handy for the snowballers for several hours longer.
With few people out for shopping purposes, shop girls found time while the excitement was fresh to enliven the events of the day by watching encounters in the streets and to sneak a handful on to a chum's neck when it was least expected.