Centred around the theme of ‘Celebrating Rural Transport’, the Brunswick Agricultural Show attracted record crowds last Saturday and raised over $25,000 for Solaris Cancer Care.
Organised by the Brunswick Agricultural Society, the historic show is Australia’s largest one-day show.
It’s been running since 1931 – though plans were thrown into chaos last year when it had to be cancelled due to Covid. The only other time the event hasn’t run was for a few year during the 1940s due to WWI.
And there were fears Mother Nature could put a spanner in the works this time around, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. In the week leading up to the show, the area had 60mm of rain, which flooded the oval which is used to host the event.
“We had our challenges but I’m a big believer in karma and by Thursday, the sun came up, Friday was a beautiful day and then Saturday was the most magnificent day we’ve for a show – and the crowd came out and supported us,” said President of the Brunswick Agricultural society, Mark Talbot, who was also behind this year’s rural transport theme. “Everything went even better than planned.”
Talbot, 57, has been part of the Agricultural Society for over 30 years and is currently in his second term as president. “I’ve been to every show – I was in a pram when I went to my first one,” he said.
He’s also a beef farmer and a livestock transport operator. This year his company Wedderburn Transport is celebrating 25 years.
This year, the Brunswick Show had a Transport Hub that featured video
took visitors on a journey through the transport presentations of trucks working in rural WA, the promotion of careers in transport, and a display of transport through the ages. The display started with a working horse and cart, through to a 1912 Ford Model T, a 1927 Chevrolet truck and up to the present day with the latest pocket road train tippers and the latest C-train livestock combinations.
Bunbury-based transport business MGM Group also had a pink 60-metre Ultra Quad Road Train side tipper combination on show, to help raise money and awareness for breast cancer. MGM Group was named Best Exhibitor at the show.
In support of National Breast Cancer Month, MGM contributed $11,500 to Solaris Cancer Care through a monetary donation and the purchase of a pink plastic life-size cow named Clarabelle.
Clarabelle was auctioned on the day and sold to MGM Group for $6500. The company also donated a further $10,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Continuing with the rural transport theme, Yogi and Sludge from Outback Truckers were also at the event; and the group behind Mack Muster were there too.
In all, the one-day event attracted over 25,000 people.
“It really did bring everyone out,” said Talbot. “From my perspective as the president, I couldn’t be happier with everyone involved – the sponsors, those that brought equipment, everyone. It shows that we really are getting back to some sort of normality and reality. After having to cancel last year, is was a very heart-warming and humbling experience from my point of view to see it all come together.”