Four generations of Black Mountain residents were reunited in the village on Saturday.
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“Growing up, we were a very close community,” Alison Hutchens (née Youman) said. “We thought it’d be a lovely idea to get people back together again.”
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Mrs Hutchens and Tim Snell organised the event, using Facebook and word-of-mouth.
About 125 people attended – many from former farming families, who had moved to Armidale and Guyra. Others came from as far away as Grafton, Brisbane, Newcastle, and Sydney.
“It was amazing!” Mrs Hutchens said. “Everybody’s still buzzing. Some people hadn’t seen each other for 40 years.”
Black Mountain, 10 km south of Guyra, had a population of 310 as at the 2016 census.
It has a small public school, a roadhouse and motel, a church, and a nursery, as well as a heritage-listed railway station and post office.
In the 19th century, notorious bushranger Captain Thunderbolt (real name Frederick Ward) lurked in the nearby caves.
"In Black Mountain, when we were growing up,” Mrs Hutchens remembered, “tennis was a big thing, and cricket. We have a tennis and cricket grounds there. All the facilities are still standing, even though they're not used very much these days. They were built by our dads, when we were at Sunday school."
The Black Mountain Public School, the railway station (run by the Black Mountain Preservation Society), and the Black Mountain Baptist Church were open for viewing in the morning.
“We had the most beautiful day,” Mrs Hutchens said, “so Black Mountain was at its best, with all the blossoms and beautiful flowers. Lots of people wandered around the mountain doing the Heritage Walk organised by the Preservation Society.”
For lunch, everybody moved onto the Guyra Bowling and Recreation Club.
“They chit-chatted for hours,” Mrs Hutchens said. “It was wonderful.”
Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall gave the opening address.
One of the oldest living residents, 90-year-old Mrs Lauris Hutton, and Mrs Joy Snell cut a cake made by Robyn Knight, daughter-in-law of former stationmaster Fred Knight.
“Wow, what a day!” attendee Lyn Gollan wrote on Facebook.
“As we looked back we remembered the Church as being much larger, the Railway Station too – even the walk from the School seemed a long way. Of course, we were little then ...
"What was not diminished though was the fantastic community spirit and the gifts we shared growing up in such a wonderful and happy environment. So many beautiful memories.
“Thank you Alison and Tim for bringing us back together to share those times. We may have lost many of our loved ones from the Mountain but their spirit lives on in us. We have been truly blessed. xxx”
There are no plans at this stage for another reunion – but, Mrs Hutchens said, “based on how well this one was received, we would be open to doing it again!”