Riverina Rewind: Five times we set world records in the Riverina

A recent Facebook post recalling a popular 1980s live music venue in Wagga included the reminder that the Riverina bar once held a very random world record involving patty pans and lightbulbs.

It prompted us to wonder what other world records the Riverina may have conquered and ask – what’s next? What record would you like to see broken?

Could we refloat the Gumi? The world record for the longest line of water inflatables is held by the Saskatchewan resort town of Lac Pelletier in Canada.

Surely Wagga, the previous home of the Gumi inner tube race, could gather enough floaters to pass the 350-metre record!

What about Chiko Rolls? Could Wagga cement its claim as the ‘Home of the Chiko’ with a global title?

The world record for the most spring rolls eaten in one minute is a paltry 303 grams. Given that the average Chiko, a close cousin of the spring roll, weighs in at a solid 162 grams, you’d only have to eat two in 60 seconds to easily overtake that margin.

Or could we go for a pothole record? Mumbai in India once claimed to have the most, boasting almost 27,000 in their city.

Given that Mumbai has a population of more than 26 million, this breaks down to less than one pothole per thousand people. On a per capita basis, this would mean that Wagga would only need around 70 potholes across the city to beat them!

Before we look at our list of five times we ruled the world, let’s reflect on a couple of valiant efforts made in recent years.

Tragically, a 2018 attempt to break a Guinness Book of World Records title for the most people wearing high-vis in one place fell short.

While an enthusiastic 1242 people turned out in their fluro vests to raise awareness of mental health issues, they fell well short of the Japanese-held record of 2136.

Another mental health fundraiser attempted to establish a new record in September last year by assembling the largest number of black dogs.

While the paperwork has been filed, the wait continues to see whether the 32 canines will claim a gong.

OK – without further ado – here’s five times the people of the Riverina have been the best in the world.

Light bulbs

Back in the day, the Bootleg Wine Bar & Restaurant, just near the lagoon at 17 Fitzmaurice St was a wild and wonderful spot for a beverage, live music and a meal.

Likened by one former patron to the iconic Mos Isely Cantina in Star Wars, the Bootleg was immortalised by Guinness World Records for having the largest number of individual light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

The 1543 15-watt bulbs were notable not just for their number, but for the fact that each one sported an upside-down foil tray (patty pan) as a reflector!

Rice

The Riverina has long been famous as a rice-growing region and on 28 October 2000, it also became the place to cook it.

At Wagga’s Bolton Park, the team from the once-popular Golden Season Family Restaurant cooked up the world’s largest bowl of rice, weighing in at a whopping 4.7 tonnes.

To celebrate, the Forsyth Street restaurant commissioned commemorative bowls with the logo, and date of the record-breaking feat.

Licorice

Once upon a time, the record for the world’s longest piece of licorice stood at an unimpressive 10 metres.

The Druce family at the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory decided to put their product on the global map and smashed it with a single length of sweet, black goodness that stretched 144 metres.

As their website explains, “then a European liquorice company did 519 m and we thought we’d have a blossoming competitive relationship with these guys so we did 612 m and we haven’t heard from them since …”

Swedish sweets makers Lakritsfabriken and Scandi Candy were clearly intimidated by the enormous undertaking that required more than 500 zig-zagging licorice-holding volunteers to stand in the March sun in 2014.

Lambs

In 2019, New Zealander Aidan Copp broke a 14-year-old sheep shearing record at Gnadbro Station near Collingullie.

After training hard and expressing concern that wet weather could hamper his chances, the Kiwi shearer managed to de-fleece 524 first-cross lambs in eight hours, breaking the previous record by five.

Gold

In 2023, West Wyalong broke the Guinness World Record for most people gold panning simultaneously.

Determined to beat the previous record of 235 mud swirlers in the United States, a total of 268 volunteers gathered at the Evolution Mining Hearts of Gold to pan together for 30 minutes.