Two hours before
The local sports oval, Pennant Hills
Park was transformed to a fun fair.
This part of the park is where the
Olympic Torch bearer will enter and
light a community cauldron. There
were singers, dancers, and
entertainment both before, during
and after arrival. Larry & Colleen are
here behind the balloons, on the
opposite side of the aisle from the
white "sound" tent.

The Cauldron
The dark blue silk covers an
Olympic Community "cauldron", one
of only 188 that were used around
Australia to light lunchtime or
evening celebrations where the torch
spent some time.

Parade of flags
Not a normal part of the Olympic
Torch Relay, the local council
decided to include a parade of flags
of the 202 nations competing in the
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The
flags are carried by local
personalities, both able and disabled
bodies !

The torch arrives
Triple Olympian swimmer, Matt
Dunn of Wahroonga (a suburb nearby
to Pennant Hills) proudly carried the
torch into Pennant Hills Park flanked
by escort runner, Katherine
O'Conner of Asquith Girls' High
School.

The media
One thing is guaranteed, where ever
the Olympic Torch goes, so does the
media. What you don't see here are
the 3 helicopters circling above too.
Pennant Hills Park festivities
featured heavily in that evening's
news reports on all the TV stations'
reports.

The cauldron is lit
Directly behind the blue balloon in
the centre of the picture is the
community cauldron, now uncovered,
being lit by Matt Dunn. No need to
describe the cheer by all as the
cauldron was lit.

Torch re-light
Hornsby Shire's 1998 Young Citizen
of the Year, Faith Tara Belich lights
her torch from the cauldron as the
torch relay prepares to depart
Pennant Hills Park. Needless to say,
the torches departure did not stop
the festivities for continuing for
many hours in the lovely spring
sunshine.

The torch close-up
Many of of the torch bearers were
local people. They had to purchase
their torch for A$400 if they wanted
to keep it (and more $'s if they
wanted a perspex stand as the one
shown), but don't think there were
too many who didn't find the money.
Here John Wade stands next to a
torch that was carried through
Castle Hill on 13 Sept, 2000.