The spoils of the Royals

The Royal Bathurst Show is 145 years old. What an achievement, hey?


Getting our daily fibre intake at the Royal Bathurst Show... The 2013 Land Sydney Royal Showgirl Kennedy Tourle (Dubbo) in the centre and 2013 Rural Achiever Candice Eyles (Tamworth) on the right.

It's older than Vegemite - they started in 1923 - and it's older than the company I work for (Ray White) celebrating 111 years this year. And we thought we'd reach a milestone!

Some 20,000 people walk through the gates over three days and experience Bathurst at its best: livestock, working dogs, a full arena, carnival delights and the occasional bout of comical jousting.

A spot of "jousting" at Bathurst Royal Show.

For my city-based friends (James, Dan and Sarah), the highlight was guessing a steer's weight for a grand prize of an esky. Each to their own!

But the number that most impressed me at the Royal Bathurst Show is much smaller than any of these. You see, sitting in the front row for the opening ceremony, the lecturn obstructed my view. I could see the showgirls perched to the left, and the pollies seated to the right (including John Cobb MP, Paul Toole and Mayor Monica Morse) but I couldn't see the Bathurst Agricultural, Horticultural and Pastoral Society president until he was called up to speak. And to be frank, he wasn't what we'd come to expect around the show circuit. The number that most impressed me is the age of the man who heads up "the best show west of Sydney". He is a spring chicken!

Young show president, Sam Farraway.

According to a recent article on him in the local rag - The Western Advocate - he's brought innovations like cost-savings for attendees in order to maintain crowd numbers. "We are not interested in boom and bust, we want stability which allows people to reinvest in the show movement," Sam says.

They allow people to pre purchase their show ticket and receive 20 per cent off the entry price.

“This means a family of four can save $9.50 off the best days entertainment at the best show in the west,” he said.

Another impressive figure was the surprising number of youngens entering Royal Bathurst Show's Young Country Achievers. Over 60 entrants this year (they say they've reached heights of 100 entrants) and the competition is in its' 25th year. Girls dominated on the day (not dislike the gender split in this year's NSW Rural Achiever programe with only one lonely male - the delightful Dwayne Schubert of Gunnedah). And, purportedly, it is the competition here in Bathurst that spawned today's NSW Rural Achiever program. 

Well, that's what the stalwarts of the Royal Bathurst Show tell me.

Royal Bathurst Show's Young Country Achiever program still attracts a huge number of entrants.

Candice Eyles and I were pleased to see the Young Country Achievers place-getters were all fabulous young ladies!

Candice tried to make a Rural Achiever out of a prize-winning ram.



A great start to the show year ahead. Photo courtesy Emma Downey and The Land newspaper.