Independence night at MacCarthy Square

Just before midnight on 17 February 1965, crowds gathered at MacCarthy Square in Bathurst as the Garrison Bell struck from the Ministry of Finance. A retrospective commentary recalls the Union Jack lowered for the last time and the newly designed Gambian flag, in red, blue and green bands, raised by Harry Kates as independence took effect at midnight. ^{[thepoint-independence-clocks50]}

The formal handover the next morning brought the Duke and Duchess of Kent to deliver the instruments of independence to Prime Minister Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara. The same account recalls gymnastics displays led by P.E. instructor James B. Abraham, fireworks and drumming, and the royal couple's departure through cheering crowds, the kind of local, sensory detail that a bare constitutional chronology does not carry on its own. ^{[thepoint-independence-clocks50]}

The move to republican status was not decided in the same moment. A first referendum in November 1965 fell short of the required majority; a second vote succeeded five years later, ending the country's constitutional link to the British monarchy in April 1970. Both dates belong to Banjul's own streets and square as much as to a national chronology. ^{[thepoint-independence-clocks50]}