SYDNEY'S ROYAL EASTER SHOW - 1

One of the biggest events of the year for New South Wales is the Royal Easter Show where town and country get together so that the townspeople can see just how much they rely on the farmers and graziers. This show used to be held in the Showgrounds in the inner city suburb of Moore Park but when a new sports complex was being built for the Year 2000 Olympic Games, it was decided by the Showground Trust that a purpose built area was badly needed since the buildings and the whole area of the original site needed a great deal of money spent on them to bring them up-to-date.

Naturally a lot of people were against the idea of moving the Show from its traditional surroundings but the decision was made to go ahead with the work especially when a lot of influential people, who lived in an exclusive area next to the old showgrounds, threw their weight behind the move so that they would no longer be bothered by the loud noises (and smells) !

Where the Show is based now is alongside the Olympic sporting facilities and a good way from any residential areas and since the last time I went to the Show was possibly 15-20 years or so ago, way back when my daughters were still at school, this year I decided to go along and see what sort of a job they had made of the new complex.

The first change I noticed was that the tickets for combined transport and entry can now be bought online while for those who don't have a computer they can be bought at the railway stations or when boarding special buses leaving from local areas and travelling exclusively to the showground. The buses ran from 7/7.30 am right through until the last bus left for home at 11 pm with the journey from my area taking around an hour in the morning through rush hour traffic and 40 minutes for the homeward journey at 9 pm.

We were dropped off right outside the entry gates and from there we found ourselves in a different world of animals, country activities, amusements and fairgrounds, with lots of bazaars, displays, foods, etc., to satisfy even the most bored and hard to please child (and adult).


As I went through the gates I purchased a showground guidebook and made my way to the animal pavilions where the judging of the pigs and mohair goats had just finished. I had intended to go and look at the Cattle and Horse Pavilions, too, and also one where City children could go and milk the cows but I am afraid I am not as energetic as I used to be !

This goat was being fed by a small boy who totally ignored the many signs posted around the pavilion saying PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. The goat certainly wasn't going to tell on him.


The pigs had the right idea - they ignored the crowd completely and caught up on some well earned sleep except for some of the many hungry piglets.


When I looked at this photo on the computer at home, this sow had a very nasty red look in her eye - I'm still trying to decide whether it was caused by the camera or by her attitude to some of the public who were crowding around her trying to get a good look at her offspring !


This piglet was dead to the world and couldn't have cared less if the whole world had come to look at her - she had a full tummy and that was all she was bothered about !





This Pig Stud had had a very successful day at the Show.


Naturally being a spinner and weaver I had to go and check out the sheep and fleeces in their Pavilion....





...and after this I moved on to the spectacular produce displays which are one of the favourites of showgoers every year.

All of these displays are created from fruit and vegetables, both fresh and bottled, fleeces, wood - in fact anything that can be found on a country property.


If you look closely, you can see that the lawns are created from green apples with 'flower beds' of vegetables such as pumpkins, marrows, etc. while in the photo below, the wings of the butterfly were gently fluttering up and down in the corner of the display.


Many years ago I think only the country areas of New South Wales had these big displays but this year I noticed that one of them had been created by the South Eastern District of Queensland while some districts of New South Wales were not represented - no doubt because of the drought.....


....which was emphasized in this display where the running 'water' was created by using fleeces.


The red border of the central part of this display was made from thousands of shiny red apples.



All the fruit and vegetables from these displays are sold to the public at the end of the Show with the proceeds going to charity.

Next door to the produce hall was the Arts Pavilion where the entries for the Lace making, spinning and weaving, knitting, leather work, patchwork, embroidery, cake decorating, cooking and numerous other competitions were placed on display together with the painting, photography entries. So many different crafts and classes that is hard to remember just what was there !

Then from the Arts Pavilion the next stop was at the Sample Bag Hall - every child's delight.

Originally, sample bags were given away free so that the public could taste new delights and perhaps find some old favourites but then a small charge of 25 cents per bag was introduced until this year I was amazed to see some of them on sale for well over $20. Admittedly, the contents are now more than just small samples of sweets, drinks, etc., with some of the bags themselves being of made of strong canvas instead of the original paper but if you have two or three children to buy for then a day at the Show is far from cheap ! My daughters were allowed three or four bags each and I would also buy a couple of sample bags from the bakers stands which contained bread, small pats of butter, jams, cheese, drinks etc., and with these for lunch we would go and settle down in the stands surrounding the big arena where all sorts of events were taking place......and believe me, sitting down and relaxing after parading around the Show all morning was bliss.

SYDNEY'S ROYAL EASTER SHOW - 2

After the visits to the animal pavilions, bazaars, District Displays, Arts and Crafts and the Showbag Pavilion, not to mention the Woodchopping Arena - where they were between events - I headed off to the stands in the big arena to have lunch while watching the ring events such as this riding contest.


The big and beautiful Shire horses were being judged on the far side of the arena. Such majestic animals and so gentle in spite of close to a ton of weight behind them although one of them seemed to be very reluctant to leave the spotlight to return to the dim interior of his stable box !




The harness horses were also showing their paces around the track before pulling off into the centre of the arena for judging.....


....while the next contestant in the show jumping waited for his turn to go around the circuit.






The Show was officially opened, not on the first day but on the seventh ! Regardless, the pageantry was just the same as the State Governor, Professor Marie Bashir, was escorted around the arena by a mounted police escort before inspecting the Federation Military Guard of servicemen from all three services. The speeches always made on these occasions were agreeably short.




After the Governor had moved into the VIP box, the Navy band marched off.....


....and the Grand Parade got underway for its 100th Anniversary.

I am not sure how they do it but all the participants in the Grand Parade only have four slender stakes to guide them as they weave their way through intricate patterns all over the arena. Millions of dollars worth of many different species of livestock on parade in the same arena at the same time including dairy and beef cattle, harness, riding, show jumping and rodeo horses, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs. No cats though. Although there are classes for cats in the Show, I can just imagine the difficulty in persuading cats that they should condescend to join the other animals on display ! The audience was asked not to applaud the parade because a sudden burst of noise could have created havoc with the highly bred and sensitive animals especially if one of the bulls took off through the parade.

The cart in the photo below was an old rags, bones and bottle cart.


There was even an old bullock wagon and team. These teams were used throughout the outback many many years ago to deliver supplies and mail to remote stations.


Can anyone remember the old brewery carts pulled by a magnificent team of horses ?


Each night of the Show a rodeo was held in the main arena when a team of drovers from Australia took on a team of cowboys from the USA. The night I was there the Australians defeated the USA by 22 points to 14 but the previous night the USA had won by 5 points.


And on and on they came - it seemed a never ending parade as more animals entered the arena with most of them behaving beautifully but there were a few who seemed to be anxious to stay away from others.






As the livestock left the arena, the sun was setting and the flood lights came on....




.....the next event on the programme was the Police musical ride which finished with the horses and riders surrounding the band before marching off.


Then the evening programme began with the Camp Drafting competition. About a dozen steers were driven into an enclosure where a drover had to pick out an animal, stop it from rejoining the rest of the mob and then as the gate was opened, he had to chase it out of the enclosure and around three widely spaced stakes before driving it between two other stakes. The horse and rider had to stay close to the steer and prevent it from getting away from them as it was then classed as a lost animal. At times, the horse's head was only inches away from the beast as they raced at breakneck speed from one stake to another. Once it had been taken through the two stakes, other riders came to help move it back to the enclosure with the other animals where a white blob of paint was placed on its back showing the other competitors that this one had had its turn and couldn't be chosen again.

Because of the vast size of many of the outback stations it isn't always possible to pen the animals up during branding since the drovers go to the animals and not vice versa, so this is the way they separate them.





There was also a demonstration of how a good bullock driver could control his team by his voice alone, getting them to start and stop, turn right or left, go forwards or backwards and even to form a circle just by using his voice.

I also took a lot of photos of the rodeo events but since I am not familiar yet with the manual settings on my camera they all came out rather blurred and unusable - much to my disgust ! I will have to start learning how to alter the settings so that I can take sharper and clearer photos of this event next year.

The final event on the programme was naturally a fireworks display but what the effect on the animals was I don't know - I headed off to catch the bus home after the rodeo had finished.