Bonny Hills resident Ian Simpson moved to the area two years ago from Orange and was surprised when he found there was scarce information on the location’s history.
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Ian joined the Bonny Hills Progress Association and helped put together a pictorial history of the village, with the help of three others.
Ian said the team was made up of two members who were new to Bonny Hills, plus two people who had been in the area for an extended period of time.
The photographs were compiled by the members, grouped into categories and then formatted for the book Bonny Hills Yesterday & Today.
Once people got word of the book, they came forward with their own stories and photographs.
Ian said one of the biggest challenges in putting together the book was finding good quality old photographs.
“We were limited with what we could put into the publication due to the quality of some of the images,” he said.
Ian said the aim of the book was to highlight the natural beauty of Bonny Hills.
He learnt a lot through compiling the information and photographs.
“I didn’t know John Oxley camped here,” he said.
In 1818 explorer John Oxley referred to a sandy beach in his journal. The beach is now known as Bartletts Beach.
The first church service at Bonny Hills was photographed in 1960 and was held outside on the grass.
The pictorial history took nine months to compile and was officially launched at the Back to Bonny celebration in September.
The book is dedicated to the Birpai people, pioneers, the people of Wauchope and the community members of Bonny Hills.
Copies of the book are available from the Bonny Hills Plaza, the Bonny View Store, Wauchope Hastings Co-op, the Kew Corner Store and the Port Macquarie Museum.
