Hackett celebrated its 50 birthday over the 21-22 September 2013 weekend from 10am to 10pm on the Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on the Sunday.
During the week leading up to the celebrations Canberra experienced some of the heaviest rain on record and the likelihood of a fine weekend looked increasingly unlikely. Fortunately the Saturday proved to be a perfect Spring day with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. The Sunday was marred by cloud cover and light rains but by early afternoon the sun had broken though.
Ms Robyn Archer AO, the Creative Director of the Centenary of Canberra, officially launched the celebrations at midday on the Saturday. The Hackett Preschool choir accompanied by the North Ainslie School band sang ‘Happy Birthday Hackett’. Robyn followed by cutting the cake which was quickly shared by the large crowd in attendance.
Each day was commenced with an acknowledgement of the original owners and a flag raising ceremony. This was followed by an extensive and varied program of entertainment including live performers, school bands and choirs. On the Saturday live bands and a local DJ continued into the evening and on the Sunday an interdenominational service was held at midday.
A number of our local representatives visited the celebrations over the weekend including the Chief Minister Katy Gallagher MLA, Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Steve Doszpot MLA and Senator Kate Lundy.
The weekend was an outstanding success with many thousands of people taking advantage of the near perfect weather and extensive and varied program to join in the celebrations.
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