Newcastle, New South Wales, Arcadia's Australian sister city, walked away with all the honors in recent competition staged by Australia Sister Cities Association in Alice Springs. Reg Mason, vice-president of Newcastle Sister City Committee is in town for first reunion of Arcadia High School band members and other Arcadians who were in Newcastle last July.
John Bunton is a reporter for The Star, a weekly paper published in Arcadia's sister city, Newcastle, Australia. Bunton has been visiting in the U.S. with his family.
An earthquake registering 5.5 on the Richter scale hit Australia's southeast coast at 3:28 PST on Wednesday, December 27, 1989. Newcastle, Australia's fifth largest city, suffered the majority of damage as 11 were known to have died. A city of 500,000, Newcastle has the largest concentration of heavy industry in the country.
Arcadia will receive a coveted international city award for its sister cities program with Newcastle, Australia, in ceremonies on Saturday, July 21, at the conclusion of the 24th annual Sister Cities International Conference in Denver, Colorado.
The Marching Koalas, the Newcastle and Hunter Region Combined Band from New South Wales, Australia, will be the only non-American band participating in the 95th annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on Jan. 2.
The Arcadia High School Apache Marching Band won the Sweepstakes Award at the annual state championship All-Western Band Review for the third consecutive year which earns them the perpetual trophy. This makes the third time they have won the perpetual trophy which goes to a school that has won the Sweepstakes Award three times in a row. This is a "first" in the All-Western Band Review.
The Arcadia High School Apache Marching Band will travel to Arcadia's sister city, Newcastle, Australia, in late June. Parents have agreed to make up the difference, if the $37,000 still needed cannot be raised. Besides Newcastle, where they will perform for 5,000 high school students, the band will sight-see and perform in Canberra and Sydney.
In honor of the high school marching band traveling to Newcastle, Australia, a film crew from "Down Under" arrived in Arcadia to shoot scenes around the city. Mayor Don Pellegrino served as tour guide. A second article tells of the preparations made by Jack and Barbara Saelid, and numerous others, as the Saelids prepare to lead 164 teenagers and chaperones plus 30 others on the trip to Australia.
Arcadian John Stephens, who has been moonlighting as a high school basketball referee for 12 years, is considered one of the best referees in the state.