For the first time in many years a lot of Campbelltown residents are looking forward to another Festival of Fisher’s Ghost.
The revamp of the program, including bringing back the parade, have really created a sense of anticipation and excitement across our town.
Getting to this point hasn’t been easy, as none of these things are, but the important thing is that we now move forward united in our commitment to making the 70th Festival of Fisher’s Ghost the best one ever.
The 2026 festival also marks 200 years since local man Fred Fisher disappeared and his body was not found until another notable local, John Farley, reported seeing Fred’s ghost along what we call these days Fisher’s Ghost Creek.
Fisher had been murdered by his neighbour George Worrall, who dumped his body down by the creek.
Worrall was eventually arrested, charged and found guilty in court. He is buried near one of the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Now it may or may not been true that Farley had a few beers at the local pub before heading home and allegedly seeing Fisher’s ghost sitting on a wooden fence.
Either way, a legend was born, and surprising, it took 130 years before it was decided to have a community festival named after Fisher’s ghost.
That was 1956, and it has to be said, the parade, which always had a strong ghostly theme, was the anchor for the whole thing.
Plenty of other events were added as the years went by, including the Fishers Ghost art prize, now one of the biggest in Australia.
Year after year a large number of Campbelltown residents took part in the festival, either by having a float in the parade or just turning up to wave the flag and applaud.
As I said above, after a few lean years, when the parade was dropped from the program, Campbelltown Council has got behind one mighty effort to celebrate the two milestones.
But there’s an even more important reason we should work together to make this the best festival ever: to secure its long term future.
A successful parade, and festival will go a long way achieving that goal.
We here at the South West Voice can’t wait for November to roll around.
And we hope everyone else is as well.
It’s excellent to see our Historic Fisher Ghost Street Parade Return for future generations to enjoy!
I am sure that the Community will show up in numbers to either participate in the Parade or as a spectator with their families. This homegrown Parade must stay as the cornerstone of the festival and we should embrace it and never let it go again! I cant wait to be a participant, once again in our ICONIC STREET PARADE this year!