WHO remembers this? On May 24, 1988, thousands of people, including hundreds of schoolchildren, lined Main Beach at Byron Bay from early morning to welcome First Fleet Re-enactment tall ships making their way to Sydney for major Bicentennial celebrations.
Unhappily, they waited in vain. The ships had already sailed by and were well south of Byron Bay.
The fleet commodore had decided very early in the morning not to drop anchor at Byron Bay and keep heading south to beat expected bad weather.
There was a great sense of excitement given that six tall ships had unexpectedly called into Byron Bay on their way north about a week beforehand and presented a magnificent site anchored in the bay.
The headline above a column I wrote for the Northern Star on the non-event just about summed up the feelings of the people waiting at Main Beach.
There was more than a little anger in the air when people finally learned the fleet had gone past.
And it was probably justified as well, because in what could only be described as an appalling breakdown in communications, many people at the beach as late as 10am, still were expecting the ships to fill up the empty bay.
It was not until the chairman of the Byron Shire Bicentennial Committee, Ed Gaskell, took to a temporary stage at the beachfront just after 11am and said it was a ‘great tragedy’ for the organisers that bad weather had prevented the fleet from coming in that the crowd heard officially of the cancellation.
For those waiting, especially those who had travelled from far away to witness the spectacle, it was a ‘great tragedy’.
I’m just glad I saw them the first time around. It was some spectacle.
TOP PHOTO: The headline above my column in the Northern Star on May 31, 1988 says it all.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Not quite the First Fleet Re-enactment, but HM Bark Endeavour anchored at Byron Bay in 2000. It’s the only tall ship photo I have.