The Australian flag flew from the wrong flag pole, the official car arrived from an unexpected direction and the Prime Minister was locked out of the Town Hall.
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But nothing could spoil the excitement of Gough and Margaret Whitlam’s visit to Mudgee in March 1973.
Here to open the Mudgee Show, the Whitlams and their daughter were greeted at the Town Hall by “pensioners, mothers and fathers with the children to show them the Prime Minister,” according to the Mudgee Guardian reporter who shadowed the PM throughout his visit.
“Ask him about that refrigerator Margaret says he raids. Ask him what he keeps in it,” crowd members joked with the local press as they waited.
Meanwhile, councillors, aldermen and their wives and a mysterious “professional man in a lemon figured shirt” were ushered into the council chamber by “two dapper clerks”.
“Kellett’s store all of a sudden sprouted two flags, the stars of the Southern Cross waving it all over the neighbour, the British Flag,” the Guardian reported.
“Everybody had been looking towards the Church Street intersection, then the attention of the crowd was directed to the Perry Street intersection and the oncoming black Galaxy Ford.”
“God, he’s tall,” one woman exclaimed as Mr Whitlam stepped out of the car and was ushered to a civic reception in the upstairs theatre.
“Some children noticed there was no flag flying over the Town Hall and the two dapper clerks said they must have ‘forgot’.
“This apparently brought on more activity from the cantilever verandah of Kelletts as the two flags were being swiftly hoisted down.
“Up went the Southern Cross again, on the other flag pole,” while a smart Alec in the crowd noted that the national flag must always take preference and be flown on the right.
Police and a few children waited outside the Town Hall, as occasional applause drifted from the upstairs window, until the official party emerged.
“The crowd had tumbled out onto the footpath and the people overcame their shyness and shook Mr Whitlam by the hand.
“…The Mayor took Mr Whitlam away towards the front door of the Town Hall.
“There was a fumbling in the pockets by Town Clerk, Barry Sengelman, when it was found the door was locked.
“Someone went to the rear of the building to open the way for the Prime Minister to sign the visitors book.”
Then the Prime Minister was off to open the Mudgee Show, helping to attract an all-time record crowd of 5000 people for the day.
The Whitlams met chief steward Malcolm Roth in the fruit pavilion and admired the caged birds, the Army display and the dairy cows.
In the animal nursery, they were shown a sleepy wombat and “looked in particular at the lamb with five legs”.
“When they visited the cattle lines, Mr Whitlam remarked that it is very important to have a good steak,” the Mudgee Guardian reported.
The PM may have been thinking of the buffet lunch waiting at the Mudgee Golf Club, but before this the official party still had to see the sheep.
The empty goat section prompted him to remark “I see you have separated the sheep from the goats”.
In the wine pavilion, Mrs Whitlam was impressed with the local white Burgundy and promised to buy some for The Lodge.
“That’s about the biggest thrill I have ever had,” said Mrs B. Costello of Cherry Tree Hill, after shaking hands with Mr Whitlam in the Horticulture section.
“I’m lost for words.”
Not at all lost for words were Mudgee Mayor George Moufarrige, Cudgegong Shire President V. Goninan, and Members of Parliament John England and Leo Nott, whose addresses hogged the whole of the Mudgee Guardian front page, pushing the PM’s speech to the inside.
“This is a classic day. My wife and daughter and I will long remember it,” Mr Whitlam said, when he finally got a word in.
Mr Whitlam confessed the opening of the Mudgee Show had been discreetly shifted to an earlier time so he could be in Albury later in day to give away one his office staff members at her wedding. The bride was a “very shy child” who didn’t want the press to know about it, he added.
Mr Whitlam made no promises on the Windamere Dam or funding for night lighting at the Mudgee airport.
“Irrigation and flood mitigation are very expensive processes and we must make sure that every dollar that is spent is spent wisely,” he said, pointing to the Ord River Dam as an example of a project “we probably would have had second thoughts about if there had been a thorough investigation”.
After a lengthy speech ranging over food production and Federal funding for local government projects, Mr Whitlam said he had never had an audience like that in Mudgee.
“What the Mayor’s wife says to him about speaking too long will be nothing to what my wife will say to me,” he said.