Sat. Nov 23rd, 2024
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A Sydney couple whose Christmas lights draw thousands of people each year are calling time on their dazzling display. 

For 30 years, Peter and Lauraine Overton’s home on Mallee Street at Quakers Hill in Sydney’s north-west has been covered in Christmas decorations including hundreds of lights, a snow machine, a small village, a moving ski lift and a workshop with elves building toys.

They’ve announced this year will be their last, as it’s becoming too dangerous in old age to set up decorations on the roof.

“I’ve got arthritis in my legs and my legs play up when I’m up on the ladder,” Mr Overton, 79, says.

“My wife doesn’t want me crawling up there on the roof but I don’t want to stop.”

a crowd of people looking at a house covered in Christmas lights
The home draws thousands of visitors every year.(ABC Radio Sydney: Natalie Agius)

Lauraine, 72, says she needed help this year decorating the windows, which prompted the pair to call time on the extravagant displays.

The home regularly pulls crowds over December, turning the quiet suburban street into a traffic snarl. Mr Overton says he and one of his sons go into the street to manage the cars coming through wanting a look.

“As it gets closer to Christmas, it’s a nightmare,” Mr Overton said jokingly.

The Mallee Street home has won prizes in Blacktown council’s Christmas lights competition 11 times, including five times consecutively winning the Champion of Champions award.

The lights were switched on December 1.

a house coated in lights and christmas decorations

There are about 40,000 lights in the display.(ABC Radio Sydney: Natalie Agius)

Two-month labour of love

Mr Overton says he was inspired by the big displays in the city’s department stores around Christmas time.

“We would go to the big department stores like Grace Brothers and Mark Foy’s,” Mr Overton said.

“Well, there’s nothing out here. We might as well start something.”

a two-storey house on a suburban street

The Overton house is unassuming the rest of the year.(Google Maps)

a house covered in Christmas lights

It takes two months to set up the decorations.(ABC Radio Sydney: Natalie Agius)

Mr Overton says he gets started in October to have the house ready by December.

It’s a lot of work, and involves installing plumbing for the rooftop snow, hoisting dozens of pieces onto the roof using a crane, and putting up 40,000 lights that cover every surface of the house.

A lot of the displays are made by Mr Overton. He’s particularly proud of a workshop with elves making toys, which is operated by wiper motors he bought from wrecker’s yards.

“I just used to go to the wrecker’s yards. You just go tell them what you’re after and they go down the back, find what you want,” Mr Overton says.

“I’m not an electrician or anything but I can I can pick things up pretty quick.”

A window full of christmas toys

Lauraine focuses on preparing the window displays.(ABC Radio Sydney: Natalie Agius)

Cherished Christmas memories

The Mallee St residence also draws Christmas cheer with a visit from Santa on a fire truck, presents included, courtesy of the Schofields Fire Brigade.

Ms Overton sets up a treasure hunt with gingerbread men, similar to an Easter egg hunt. She operates a letterbox to Santa, where kids can drop off letters to Father Christmas and receive a reply.

Carol singers from St Margaret’s church in Baulkham Hills regularly visit.

a house decorated with christmas lights and a sign saying 30 years

The pair have raised thousands for Westmead Children’s Hospital over the years. (ABC Radio Sydney: Natalie Agius)

Mallee Street neighbour Ashleigh Tuckwood says she is grateful for all the memories the Overtons have given her over the years.

“I owe a lot to Peter and Lauraine for contributing to the Christmas wonder of a child, now a grown adult and mother to a 22-month-old daughter,” Ms Tuckwood says.

“It is a wonderful thing to be able to relive the experience and see it through her eyes.”

Years of fundraising

For 20 years the Overtons have used their popularity to raise money for Westmead Children’s Hospital and Randwick Children’s Hospital.

Lauraine says they’ve raised $68,000 over that time, mostly through a donation box collecting cash and loose change.

They say they have loved putting up all the lights and bringing joy to the community over the past three decades.

“I mainly do it for the community. And little kids and the big kids, because I like Christmas,” Mr Overton says.

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