In 1951, the US State Department and US Information Agency initiated the making of the motion picture, "Small Town Editor", for use in foreign countries to encourage a rural press to supplement the usually government controlled news. This film, made in Littleton, featured Houstoun Waring, editor of the Littleton Independent, who had achieved national recognition for his editorials on foreign affairs.

WB (Curly) Annabel of the Bega District News in New South Wales, Australia, saw the film which dealt with the people, goals and production of the Littleton Independent. Entranced with the similarity of Bega and his newspaper with Littleton and its newspaper, Annabel began a correspondence with Waring in December 1954 and visited the Waring family for a week at a later date.

When President Eisenhower urged sister-city relationships, Annabel and Waring decided in 1960 to form a bond between the two cities. This led to an invitation from Annabel for the Warings to attend Bega Week in February, 1961. While there, they consummated the association and Bega, 9,000 miles away, became the first Australian town with a sister-city in America.

In August 1961 Annabel brought four young people to Littleton for Western Welcome Week. The early exchanges featured young people in our 4-H Clubs and their Bega counterparts and adults.

Thereafter, the custom was established for Littleton to send a delegation on the first and sixth years of the decade (1991 and 1996), timed with ANZAC Day, honoring service veterans of Australia and New Zealand. A Bega group visits Littleton on the third and eight years of the decade (1993 and 1998) to coincide with our Western Welcome Week festivities.

The delegates are hosted by member families and get a taste of home life in addition to tours of the immediate area. In 1983, the Bega delegation was present at the dedication of the bronze plaque, with profiles of Curly and Hous, in Bega Park, downtown Littleton, between Main and Alamo Streets just west of the railroad.

In 1986 Littleton delegation presented an identical plaque to the people of Bega for Littleton Park in front of their civic buildings. The handsome bronze plaque hanging in Littleton's City Council Chambers is a gift from Bega honoring the US Bicentennial.

The high point of each visit is the International Civic Dinner attended by the delegates, government representatives of both countries, members of various civic organizations, clergy and previous visitors. Over the fifty-four year span, many have returned unofficially to visit friends made on previous trips. An extended family in constant communication has grown from the efforts of these two influential founders of the Bega-Littleton Sister City Exchange.

Today, there are many new and old members of both Littleton and Bega's organization still maintaining their enthusiasm.