The Port Macquarie & Districts Family History Society has recently launched a new publication dealing with stories from local farming families that range from the 1820s to 2011.
Over recent years, Gwen Grimmond and other members of the Society have been busy gathering stories of families farming within the Hastings.
With the financial help of Arts New South Wales and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, the Society has now published a 336-page book called Harvesting the Hastings; Farming Families.
This new publication contains stories told mostly by the families themselves, portrays the history of the local area from the early 1800s to the present day and is accompanied by scores of photographs.
One interesting story deals with WASPS.
During years of the Second World War, just about every available cleared block of land was used for food production to aid the war effort.
To fill the shortage of manpower on local farms, the work was carried out with the help of the Women’s Agricultural Security Production Service known as WASPS.
Not only did women harvest hundreds of tons of vegetables, they also raised money that was used to buy equipment for the then unbuilt hospital, for the local ambulance and for the local council to erect a town clock.
A town clock was eventually constructed in 1963 and still proudly stands at the intersection of Horton and William Streets to commemorate the work of the Women’s Agricultural Security Production Service known as WASPS.
