Dot Huthwaite

Dorrie 'Dot' Huthwaite 1917 Wagga Wagga "Still happy to be here!" Some of Dot's fondest memories of her time here in Wagga Wagga are the Dixieland dances she attended as an eight or nine year old. She recalled to me dressing up for Dixieland, the 'summer dancing resort of Wagga', which held weekly dances throughout the 1920s under the willows on the Murrumbidgee river opposite the Riverine Club in Sturt street. I can picture the glamour and excitement of these nights, initially held on a floating dance floor before being flooded, then on a more permanent structure funded by the Wagga Brass Band; the electric lighting reflecting on the water as dancers took to the floor and spectators watched on from the tiered seating on the bank opposite. Dot has shared in much of Wagga's history. She worked for sixty years at the American Dry Cleaners which opened in 1920 in Fitzmaurice street, and only closed its doors in 2003, "I guess I loved it!" And she credits her full life to her involvement in VIEW Club, a women's volunteer organisation attached to The Smith Family which sponsors their Learning for Life program. Dot built her home in Wagga Wagga in 1964. She has two children, eight grandchildren, eighteen great grandchildren, and one great, great grandchild. She loves watching her family grow and still attends all their birthdays.