By TANIA PHILLIPS
YEE-HA – grab a cowboy hat, don some boots and head to Warwick this week as the annual Warwick Rodeo and Campdraft moves into top gear.
On the last full weekend of October every year, the nation’s top rodeo riders and the best broncs and bucking bulls gather for the Warwick Rodeo – known far and wide as “Australia’s Most Famous”.
At the same time, Australia’s top Campdrafters head to town to challenge themselves against fierce competition for top prizes and honours including the Gold Cup Campdraft – one of the longest running and most prestigious in the country.
Today, Warwick Rodeo and Gold Cup Campdraft attracts crowds in excess of 30,000 people with competitors and horses travelling from every mainland state to compete.
And while most of the action will centre on the showground – where competition is already underway – the event encompasses many and varied activities across the week.
Look for the Dungaree March Re-enactment tribute at the Warwick Rodeo on Friday at about 6pm, being organised by Bony Mountain Music Festival and the RSL.
It will feature the Mounted Troopers, Warwick Pipe Thistle Band and 28 foot soldiers – representing those 28 young men who marched out of Warwick and enlisted in 1915.
Norma O’Hara Murphy from Bony Mountain has written and recorded a special song – ‘Dungaree March’ – which she will be performing on the night.
The 100-year anniversary of the march is very close and descendants of the 28 who marched from Warwick and district will still be in the area. This will be a very moving ceremony so show your support while you’re at the Rodeo.
On Friday at 6pm there will be the Rose and Rodeo Festival Mardi Gras in Palmerin Street, which will include entertainment with Mike Oberle while back at the arena Lachie Cossor will take to the stage.
Then of course there will be the ever popular Rose and Rodeo Markets in down-town Palmerin on Saturday from 9am.
There promises to be plenty of stalls and fun for the crowds to enjoy in the lead-up to the grand parade at noon when all the colour and spectacle of the event comes to the centre of town.
This is always a colourful and unique experience and the perfect prelude to a top afternoon of campdrafting and rodeo action and an evening of entertainment including the Warwick Rodeo Australian Championships at 6pm on Saturday.
And then the weekend will culminate in the other big event – the final of the Pryde’s Easifeed Warwick Gold Cup at noon on Sunday.
