As part of the official Independence celebrations, the new Guyana flag, the Golden Arrowhead, was raised on Mount Ayanganna to coincide with the first moments of Independence Day, May 26, 1966.
A group of Guyana Defence Force soldiers and guides, led by Adrian Thompson and local Amerindian mountaineer Isaac Jerry, ascended the mountain on the eve of the flag-raising ceremony where Jerry raised the flag, and flares were fired off to celebrate the occasion.
The team later described the event as “rough, but exciting.” A plaque bearing the names of the party was left at the summit.
Tributes to Jerry were made posthumously in 2006 by Minister of Amerindian Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues on behalf of the government for his contribution to national expeditions.
Suriname Premier John Pengal turned down an invitation to attend Independence Day ceremonies due to a territorial squabble over the Corentyne River with what was then British Guiana.
The National Park was renamed the Queen Elizabeth II National Park in 1965 in honour of the Queen’s visit to Guyana. On Guyana’s independence it became known as the National Park.
It was formerly occupied by the Demerara Golf Club since 1923.
For the Parade of Floats which continued Independence celebrations, Wieiting & Richter, a distributor of ‘sweet’ drinks, including 7-Up, came up with a unique idea for their fairy tale float: Snow White and the 7-Up dwarfs.
In Puerto Rico, Aubrey Armstrong, Leonard Cummings, and Clifford Johnson raised the Guyana flag on Independence Day at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico’s administration building.
A Mr. J.G. Ramson claimed to have reaped a 10 and-a-half pound potato on Independence Day from his Thomas Street home garden.
50,000 Independence souvenir buttons were donated to the Guyana government by the Lions Club.
Some things never change. A road users’ theme was suggested by the police for Independence week celebrations: “Walk, Ride, and Drive Carefully.”
The first baby born in Berbice for the new nation of Guyana was Kamala, a 6 lb, 6 oz baby girl who was born one hour after midnight on May 26 to Ms S. Singh of Bush Lot West Coast Berbice. Singh was presented with two cheques as gifts.
The day before independence, Prime Minister Burnham was presented with a personal gift of a custom-made Western saddle by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln Gordon, who was Head of U.S. Delegation to Guyana’s independence.
Throughout Guyana, on May 29, independence dedication and thanksgiving services were conducted. Several were attending by the visiting dignitaries, including the Duke and Duchess of Kent, a visiting naval crew.
Just several months after independence, Guyana experienced its first international crisis called The Ankoko Crisis. On October 12, 1966 it was discovered that Venezuelan soldiers made an incursion on the island of Ankoko at the confluence of the Cuyuni and Wenamu rivers.
The island was divided between the two states in the The Arbitral Award of 1899, and drawn up on a boundary map which was signed on the 7 January 1905 by British and Venezuelan diplomats. Venezuela however, refutes the document.
According to Odeen Ishmael PhD, writing in the ‘Guyana Journal’, February 2006, the Ankoko issue declined in prominence, and both countries, since then, left the matter and the efforts to find an overall solution of the “border” controversy in the hands of the UN Secretary General.
Venezuela still occupies the Guyana side of Ankoko Island.
Ankoko island 1905
British Guiana’s first gold coins were issued in 1976 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its independence in 1966. (www.taxfreegold.co.uk/guyana) (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
