Canon fire and musket volleys will sound through Raymond Terrace and a paddlewheel ship will once again be seen on the Hunter River when the Step Back into King Street Heritage Festival returns in May.
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Raymond Terrace Rotary Club has taken over the organisation of the festival that celebrates the history and heritage of King Street, which was the epicentre of the town in the 1800 and 1900s.
"The festival is a free day for people of all ages to step back in time, dress up, enjoy old fashioned activities, music and dance and historical displays along the original main street of Raymond Terrace," Rotarian and festival co-organiser Sharon Chambers said.
"When the previous organisers, Kaye Newton and Peter Robinson, moved to New Zealand last year we were asked whether we would be interested in taking over. We thought it was a really great thing, a great community event, and agreed to take it on."
The mostly free festival will return to King Street in Raymond Terrace for its six instalment on Saturday, May 15 from 10am to 3pm.
The Rotary club has incorporated even more history into the festival for the public to enjoy.
The 40th Regiment of Foot will safely fire a canon and musket volleys throughout the day while a replica of Australia's first steam powered ocean-going paddlewheel ship, William the Fourth, a vessel significant to Raymond Terrace, will be offering river cruises.
In 1831, when the Australian Agricultural Company began to have a profound impact on Newcastle, a shipyard was established at Clarence Town where the original William the Fourth was constructed to operate between Sydney and Morpeth.
The replica William the Fourth that will be operating during the festival was a Port Stephens Bicentenary Project, also built in Clarence Town, at a cost of $1.5 million. It was launched in Raymond Terrace in 1987.
The replica operated commercial cruises on the Newcastle Harbour and Hunter River until a boiler leak put it out of service in 2001. The vessel was fully restored in 2008 and now operates charters out of Newcastle.
The festival cruises will leave Raymond Terrace wharf at 11am and 1pm. Tickets, through via trybooking.com/eventlist/williamthefourth, cost $30 per adult, $20 per child (up to 12) and $85 for a family of four (Dine and Discover NSW vouchers can be used).
To kick off the festival, the in costume 40th Regiment of Foot soldiers will escort William the Fourth's captain and dignitaries to the King Street marriage trees where an official opening and welcome to country will be held.
From there, festival-goers can enjoy old-style games such as hopscotch, knucklebones, splat the rat, marbles and flip a frog, a variety of stalls, entertainment and food.
The day will include a performance by the Maitland Pipe and Drum Band and Raymond Terrace Men's Shed Band, displays from Raymond Terrace Historical Society, a town crier and bush poet recitals.
The Voyage of Irish Dance group will perform and there will be a mock wedding under the King Street marriage trees.
"There will be many stalls and plenty of food from the Raymond Terrace Lions Club and Raymond Terrace Rotary Club, along with Terrace Meats and other food vendors," Ms Chambers said.
The festival has been made possible through a Port Stephens Council's vibrant spaces grant, and sponsorship and donations from Raymond Terrace Bowling Club, MarketPlace, Bunnings, TerryWhite Chemmart, Blooms the Chemist and Capital Chemist.
Attendees are being encouraged to dress in theme of the festival. There will be prizes for best dressed.
Stallholders are still being sought for the festival. Contact event organiser Adam Nicholas at stepbackintokingstrt@gmail.com.
About King Street, Raymond Terrace
King Street is still a living piece of Port Stephens history.
For about 110 years from when Raymond Terrace was gazetted in 1837 King Street was the thriving business centre of the town, important mainly because it ran parallel with the Hunter River.
Food, produce and other materials could be loaded and off-loaded from the rear of the businesses in King Street. The Hunter River was the major transport means before decent roads linked the town with Newcastle.
Raymond Terrace became an important shipping centre in the 1840s for wool carted by road from New England. Shipping continued into the 1920s but the town had long been in decline by then as traffic was diverted to New England when the Hunter River began silting up.
But it was the big floods of 1955 which sounded the death knell for King Street as a viable commercial centre and businesses gradually moved away from the flood-prone street.
Today most of the buildings in King Street still date from the 1890s and the street was named in honour of James King, from Irrawang.
The historic marriage trees that still stand in King Street were used to wed people in the absence of churches prior to 1840.
Festival to help End Polio campaign
An iron lung, or polio respirator, will be on display at the Step Back into King Street festival as Raymond Terrace Rotary Club sells raffle tickets to raise funds for End Polio.
Polly the Iron Lung is a respirator that been restored and mounted on the trailer with the intention of taking it around Australia to raise funds for polio eradication.
Polio is a contagious disease, spread by close contact with an infected person and is prevented with vaccination. In Australia there were major polio epidemics in the late 1930s, early 1940s and 1950s.
The last epidemic was in 1956 and the last case in Australia in 1972.
People with polio lived iron lungs to stay alive.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years.
Raymond Terrace Rotary Club will be showing Polly the Iron Lung and selling raffle tickets in MarketPlace Raymond Terrace on May 12, 13 and 14 before it is on show at the May 15 festival.
