Events come and go, but snapshots of history prove increasingly hard to find.
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That’s precisely what makes this photo so special.
Taken 62 years ago, at the 1952 Eden Show, it represents a period in the town’s history that has long since passed.
The men depicted in it however, remain a symbol of Eden’s present.
“The Eden Show was a tradition; it was something the whole town went to and it was a big thing in those days,” John Fletcher said.
“It was held at the Eden Showground, which was where the tourist park is now at Aslings Beach.
“I’m not sure how long it went for after that, but I would say it was probably one of the last Eden shows.
“This photo is one of the few I have in my collection from those days, and those guys, Eric Fletcher and John ‘Pedro’ Perry, are still good mates of mine today.
“We played football together and were just good mates, and we’re still good mates today and we catch up with each other regularly.
“I’m very proud of that photo.”
The 1952 Eden Show would be the last John would ever attend.
A 17-year-old post office worker at the time, he would leave for the big smoke the following year after being transferred to Sydney.
After a few years, he joined an electrical firm, before going into the taxi business.
It was this trade that would eventually open up the opportunity for him to return to Eden.
“I’d never been to Sydney as a teenager, only when I was younger and I couldn’t remember anything,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe the noise and all the mad rushing around, but you get used to it and I became a city slicker after a while.
“I bought a Cumberland cab and drove that for about 15 or 16 years, but I could see the writing on the wall with immigrants starting to get into that business, so I brought the family down here to Eden.”
With John’s return came the start of a new era for taxis in Eden.
Starting his own cab company in 1978, he decided it was time to put an end to the days when taxis simply looked like every other car on the road.
“They just had taxi plates on them, there were no markings on them or metres,” he said.
“When I came, I brought the metres in and decked them out, put the rack up on top with the spotlights on the side and all the rest of it.
“I only had them for five years in the end, and perhaps I would’ve kept them a lot longer if we had mobile phones in those days.
“The problem was that somebody had to be at home to take the calls and relay them to the driver.
“When the kids came home from school, they had to man the phones, and they absolutely hated it, so that was never going to work permanently.
“It would be a much easier business now, but I was very proud that I brought taxis here and made them look like taxis.”
Another move back to Sydney, and a brief stay in Nowra took John briefly away from Eden for a second time.
But he was never going to be gone for long.
“I came back in 1998, and I’ve never left.
“It was family mainly [that kept me coming back]; I have brothers and sisters still living in Eden, and at the time, mum was still alive.
“Eden is a beautiful place; it’s just paradise and I wouldn’t go anywhere else.
“I have no intentions of leaving, until I go to that cemetery down there [Aslings Beach].”