

Paul Borg’s grandmother lived next to Campbelltown Showground in Iolanthe Street so every year he and his siblings would go there for lunch, sit on the verandah and watch the Fisher’s Ghost festival street parade.
“I’ve lived here all my life and have been to every parade – and if I didn’t watch it, I was in it,’’ says the man behind a petition calling on council to bring back the parade.
“I remember the first time I was on a parade, I was on a judo club float, and I was 11 years old.’’
The 2019 parade was the last one held before Campbelltown Council dropped it from the festival program, even though there were 84 floats taking part for one last time.
It had been going since 1956, and as far as Paul Borg is concerned it was a terrible decision.
“Little did we know it was our last parade, and there wasn’t any consultation by the council with the community, which there should have been, considering the event started in 1956 and it’s one of the biggest in Australia,’’ says Mr Borg.
“Numbers dwindled a bit, but it was lacking promotion, there was Covid, and council also changed a couple of things that didn’t help.
“One was changing it from a 1pm start to a twilight parade, which went down like a lead balloon; it wasn’t family friendly the evening start,’’ he said.
“The other thing council did was create a different parade theme for every year, and I think that also put pressure on people, they didn’t want to wear a certain colour or get into this theme and so on.
“You don’t throw history out, you promote it and bump it.
“The parade is a unique thing to Campbelltown; there’s not many places that have a street parade, and for the life of me I don’t know why we want to let it go.
“The parade brought the community together and kept the spirit alive in Campbelltown,’’ Mr Borg said.

His petition was borne out of Mr Borg’s strong desire to give a voice to the people who want the street parade brought back.
“At first I had a chat to Councillor Josh Cotter in the middle of 2024 and that got the ball rolling,’’ Mr Borg said.
“I started talking about it at home with family, and a few people at different events, and everyone had the same feeling about the street parade: why did it go, and they miss it, it was something that was special to their family, an amazing event.
“And it was, because everybody in the community got involved with it.
“We had dancing studios take part, sporting clubs, marching bands, you name it, it was there in the parade every year.
“A lot of the different cultures of Campbelltown also took part in the parade.
“And the shopkeepers along Queen Street were flat out serving people during the parade.
“The main street was alive,’’ says Mr Borg.
He says that it’s important we do something quick before the memory of the parade fades away.
“We have to bring the parade back, hopefully in time for this year’s festival.’’
Mr Borg’s petition is closing in on 800 signatures, but the more the merrier, she he’s calling on everyone in Campbelltown to get involved, right now.
If you’d like to support his call, visit the petition page by clicking https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-our-beloved-fishers-ghost-street-parade-in-campbelltown-nsw