The Olympic Torch comes to town
The Olympic Torch comes to town
The Olympic Torch relay travelled through Lake Macquarie on 28 and 29 August 2000, days 82 and 83 of the relay.
Following the Olympic tradition, the flame was lit at Olympia on May 11, the relay transferred the flame through Greece, including a number of Greek Islands. From there it headed to Oceania, firstly Guam, then Palau, Micronesia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and New Zealand, before arriving in Australia on June 8 at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
By the time the torch relay entered the Lake Macquarie area, it had travelled over 30,000 kms and visited every state and the Northern Territory, with ACT to be visited soon after.
The torch bearers were a worthy mix of people selected on the basis of their contributions to society and the community, having inspirational tales, Olympians past and present, other sports stars, entertainment identities and representatives of Olympic sponsors.
Thousands of people got into the spirit by lining the route or attending the celebrations, in the lead up to Australia’s largest sporting event.
The torch relay arrived in Lake Macquarie, early Monday morning into Highfields, travelling through Charlestown, Mount Hutton and onto Speers Point for a celebration at Speers Point Park.
The celebration included the lighting of the community cauldron by Geoffrey Thomas, a welcome ceremony from the Mimaga Wajaar peformers, custodians of Aboriginal culture in the Hunter Valley and some Taiko drumming from schoolchildren from Tanagura, Japan, Lake Macquarie’s Friendship City.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the torch relay continued with Lisa Naughton, Australian representative hockey player, getting things underway by lighting her torch from the cauldron.
The relay then headed south through Warners Bay, Eleebana, Valentine and Belmont, onto the Pacific Highway through Belmont South, Marks Point, Blacksmiths, Little Pelican and Swansea. It went through Lake Munmorah and Doyalson, before heading to Terrigal for the night.
Re-entering Lake Macquarie on Tuesday afternoon at Wyee, it headed to Morisset, Dora Creek, Toronto and Awaba, then onto Kearsley and Cessnock, completing a festive and popular journey through the area.
A few weeks later the community was again involved in a global sporting event when the 2000 Paralympic Torch Relay travelled through the area.
On October 15, commencing at Wheeler Place in Newcastle, it travelled through Kotara, Kotara South, Charlestown, Gateshead, Bennetts Green, Jewells, Belmont North, Belmont, Belmont South, Marks Point, Blacksmiths, Pelican, Swansea and Doyalson on its way to The Entrance.
The following is a list of 2000 Olympics torch bearers who were either from Lake Macquarie or who carried the torch through the Lake Macquarie area.
The list has been collated from newspaper articles and other available information from the time.
If you can add information to the list, please contact us via the feedback form or email [email protected] .
| Torch Bearer | Suburb | Torch Route |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Burgess | Speers Point | Dora Creek |
| Colin Dennis | Seahampton | Kearsley |
| Paul Yardy | Edgeworth | Toronto |
| Don Ellercamp | Swansea | Belmont |
| Peter Mick Ellercamp | Caves Beach | Marks Point |
| Maree Dowd | Belmont | Croudace Bay |
| Michael Kelly | Mirrabooka | Morisset |
| Greg Wiseman | Lakelands | Warners Bay |
| Richard De Groot | Valentine | Valentine |
| Laurence Roddick | unknown | Charlestown |
| John Matthew Johnson | Coal Point | unknown |
| Colin Elliott | Eleebana | Dora Creek |
| Tim Harrison | Marks Point | Belmont |
| Steven Alcock | Highfields | Charlestown |
| Don Begg | Caves Beach | Pelican |
| James Sidebottom | Seahampton | Morisset |
| Bradley Downes | Kotara South | Warners Bay |
| Barbara Davis | Jewells | Mount Hutton |
| Margaret Sulman | Marmong Point | Morisset |
| Alan Grigg | Valentine | Valentine |
| Colleen Bisson | Charlestown | Merewether |
| Warren Broadbent | Toronto | Toronto |
| Jenny Anderson | Valentine | Dora Creek |
| Wendy Evans | Charlestown | Adamstown Heights |
| John Domandl | Eleebana | Speers Point |
| Nicholas Powell | Speers Point | Speers Point |
| Caytlin Weir | Charlestown | Adamstown Heights |
| Peter Elith | Eleebana | Speers Point |
| Hugh Nossiter | Cardiff | Mount Hutton |
| Leon Burwell | Eleebana | Speers Point |
| Bob Staddon | Warners Bay | Warners Bay |
| Dan Prowd | Warners Bay | Mount Hutton |
| Angela Sheean | Cardiff | Toronto |
| Michelle Kent | Belmont | unknown |
| Brian Fulmer | unknown | Belmont |
| Paul Harragon | Whitebridge | Eleebana |
| Fang Zeng | unknown | Warners Bay |
| Ashley Gordon | Kotara | Warners Bay |
| Glenn Caroll | Warners Bay | unknown |
| Jim Rixon | unknown | Belmont |
| Geoffrey Thomas | unknown | Warners Bay |
| Ian Chapman | Belmont North | Warners Bay |
| Darron Mink | unknown | Warners Bay |
| Paul Atkin | Charlestown | unknown |
| Kath Bergqvist | Kotara | unknown |
| Jeff Brown | Summerland Point | unknown |
| Gavin Dengate | Valentine | unknown |
| Linda Ireland | Cooranbong | unknown |
| Gordon Johnson | Cardiff | unknown |
| Daryl Marshall | Argenton | Toronto |
| Ollie Maywald | Belmont | unknown |
| Neil McGregor | Eleebana | unknown |
| Louise Nixon | Eleebana | unknown |
| Jane Power | Speers Point | unknown |
| Kristen Radford | Belmont | unknown |
| Krisitne Snell | Coal Point | unknown |
| Jon Thurlow | Charlestown | unknown |
| Eleanor Thomson | Cooranbong | unknown |
| Bob Kalaf | unknown | unknown |
| Lisa Naughton | unknown | Speers Point |
| Beverley Spargo | unknown | unknown |
| Arnold Tammerkand | unknown | unknown |
| Laura Brisbane | Kurri Kurri | Toronto |
| John Holt | unknown | unknown |
| Peter Coughlan | Speers Point | Newcastlwe West |
| Neville Holt | unknown | unknown |
| John Constantine | unknown | Morisset |
| Robert Deaves | unknown | Merewether |
| Ben Smee | unknown | unknown |
| Craig Phillips | unknown | unknown |
| Ashlee Fox-Smith | unknown | unknown |
| Colleen Bisson | Charlestown | unknown |
| Luke Bower | Wyee | Wyee |
| Tery Charlton | Charlestown | unknown |
| Fiona Carr | unknown | Morisset |
This work by Lake Macquarie City Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License