Three-quarters of South Australians live in Adelaide. Three-quarters!
Yet, despite the city-centric nature of the state, their Royal Show attracts a crowd from near and far and has been doing so for 174 years, starting a mere four years after the state’s settlement.
Back then, Royal Adelaide Show was all about produce: cheese, wheat, wool, oats.... There were very few animals and it was largely non-competitive.
Today, it’s a highly sophisticated event underpinned by its rural roots and boasts strong competition. I was able to discover this first hand, thanks to the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW and the Agricultural Societies Council of NSW. These organisations sent the 2013 NSW Rural Achievers to Adelaide, all nine of us, to experience this show and meet our South Australian counterparts.
We mingled, we absorbed history, we enjoyed the best seats in the house and we fell in love with South
Australia’s vibrant agriculture scene.
We cheered the SA rural ambassadors on after their onstage interviews, took olive oil tasting lessons and stewarded in the grand parade.
We attended the Next Generation team breakfast - their version of a rural youth group. It’s held annually as an early breakfast for exhibitors each year to raise money for the Next Generation movement and network with fellow show-goers.
Our jaws collectively dropped at the woodchop when we heard that prize money tops $100,000 and their wood bill comes in around the same mark. Even the youth woodchop has sponsorship.
We marvelled at their use of solar panels to run the showground. And we finished the trip with dancing at the annual Royal Rendezvous in the showground’s Bull Bar.
It’s heartening and reaffirming to see the show movement bold and bright beyond our own state, and even more so to meet a swarm of young people ensuring its future.
