Today Canberra shoppers are scrambling for toilet paper, hand sanitiser and soap. But 40 years ago on this day, The Canberra Times reported that bedlam had taken hold at the Belconnen Mall during a wild scramble for Easter eggs.
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Several hundred children and teenagers were fortunate to escape serious injury as they fought and scrambled for the eggs.
Mall officials had arranged 16,500 eggs on the centre stage in the form of a message wich read "Happy Easter". It was planned that the Easter Bunny would arrive to give the eggs away.
Instead, the trouble began when youngsters crowding the stage took some of the eggs. A stampede followed. Onlookers were horrified as the youngsters piled on top of each other, pushing, shoving and yelling.
The chaos continued until the public relations spokesperson, Mr Harold Hird, using a microphone asked the youngsters to leave. The crowd dissipated, and so did the eggs.
Consequently, when the Easter Bunny arrived with more eggs in baskets, he was knocked to the floor, spilling all the eggs. According to a spectator, "people just went beserk".
