The last time a royal came to visit the region was in 1954, when Queen Elizabeth stopped by during her Australian tour and there was one thing in common between the Queen’s visit and this year’s royal visit: It stormed on the day.
In 1954 when the Queen greeted the locals at the Dubbo Showground, it had been raining so much that the ground turned to mud.
This year, as the clouds rolled over just minutes before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were set to arrive for a town lunch – the rain once again came bucketing down.
Just minutes earlier, the royal couple had met with the local Woodley family – who run a five-generation stock and cattle farm – to learn firsthand just how the two-year-long drought has affected and devastated their lives.
Both the couple and the town could see the humour and Prince Harry didn't let a little (or a lot) of rain stop him from giving a heartwarming speech to the community.
Before their arrival at Victoria Park in Dubbo, we spoke with some of the locals about they felt about the royal visit.
Retired couple Maxine and Bob Andrews have lived in Dubbo most of their lives and said they were very excited.
"My husband is particularly excited about seeing Meghan because he's a been an avid follower of Suits," Maxine said. "We haven't seen the final series just yet but he's very keen."
We asked them if they thought the attention from the royal visit would help struggling farmers in the area.
Bob, being a retired stock station agent said he hoped something would come from it.
"Even though we've had some rain and there's a little bit of a green tinge, its still very much drought," he said. "It's the worst I've [ever] seen but they'll get a feel for it and they've been given a terrific welcome."
The couple explained that the attention has also put the regional city (a five and a hour hour drive from Sydney) on the map for the rest of Australia.
"We were in Perth recently and they said 'where are you from'. I replied, 'Oh we're from Dubbo' and they said, 'Oh Harry and Meghan are going to Dubbo!'
And while the attention is a good start, Bob Andrews says there's one thing he'd love to see for the town.
"It'd be good if we could build some more industry in the town. We've got all the infrastructure here but it'd be good to see some of the specialist departments or industries come to the city."
But local worker Jessica Gough who runs a local coffee cart says she thinks the royal visit will definitely boost tourism.
"I think it's very good for tourism in our area and especially to make more people aware of the drought and the situation we're going through."