13/09/2026
š£ News alert!
Program for Saturday, October 3, 2026
7.30am: Gates open. Bush breakfast featuring bush poetry with Geoffrey W Graham in the marquee. Walk-ups welcome.
8am: Registrations taken for classes in horse ring.
8.30am: Horse ring events start in main arena. See the goat teams on the trotting track of the main arena. Masterclass on training goats in harness with Emily Parrott on the trotting track.
9am: Market stalls open. Meet and Greet our teamsters ā horses, camels, and bullocksā Q & A on the Commercial Hotel stage including special guests Doug Baum, Texas Camel Corps, USA, and Valeri Crenshaw, North American Camel Ranch Owners Association, Kansas, USA. Horse works with Steve Johnson. Furphy display. Carriage rides. Camel rides near the AKW Arena. Curly the blacksmith at work in the forge. See Rod Botfield making stock whips.
9.30am: Whip cracking demonstration by Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East. See Brad Taylor, Australian Saddle Safaris, give a masterclass on pack horses and their equipment in the AKW Cattle Arena. Matt Fitzgerald, Carnsdale Park Clydesdales, and his four-horse team working in the ploughing area. See the cow milking in the dairy. Animal nursery to 10.30am. At the Furphy Festival area, a unique sight of rebarrelling of rare 1930 Furphy pump end tanks.
9.45am: Warwick Doolan and his working dogs display at the sheep yards.
10am: Scone making, milk separating and butter churning, market stalls, barbecue and hot food, blacksmith forge, rope making, Riverina Light Horse Troop static display and talks. Lachie Cossor Outback Stockman Show in the Codemo Arena. Blade shearing with Lionel Garner, and fleece throwing, skirting and rolling with Panda at the shearing shed.
10am: Bushmanās Axe Skills demonstration ā tree felling, underhand, standing block and crosscut sawing, post splitting and shingle splitting with Ron McKinnon, Steve McKinnon, Rod Sirl and Rohan Morris at the AGnVET Yard near the blacksmith forge. Carriage rides. Old fashioned games for the kids, face painting. Whip cracking kidās workshop with Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East. Learn to crack a whip or improve your skills. Aleks Berzins, Bruce Bandy and Steve Johnson using horse drawn vintage machinery in the crop.
10.30am: Masterclass on yoking the bullock teams at the AGnVET Yard near the blacksmith forge with Phil Thomson. Standing jump competition for mules and donkeys in the AKW Cattle Arena ā Noel Wiltshire/Tanya Carbery/Rodney Sansom. Harvesting and mowing on the Findlays Barellan crop area with Aleks Berzins, Bruce Bandy and Steve Johnson.
11am: Official opening on the Commercial Hotel stage by CWA State President Tanya Jolly. At the Furphy Festival area, a unique sight of rebarrelling of a rare 1930 Furphy pump end tank.
11.15am: Elders Sheaf Toss Challenge juniors. Masterclass in harnessing donkeys with Emily Parrott at the AGnVET Yard near the blacksmith forge.
11.30am: Rebarrelling of Furphy water carts including a display of the 2025 commemorative cast iron end; Boots Civil camel races on trotting track with cameleer Rodney Samson, and Elders Sheaf Toss Challenge Seniors and Veterans, childrenās games. Animal nursery to 1pm.
12 noon: Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East demo and tips to improve your skills. Bar opens. BBQ, light luncheon in the Carroll Pavilion. Warwick Doolan and his working dogs at the sheep yards. Lachie Cossorās Outback Stockman show in the Codemo Arena. Horses pulling sleds and logs on the trotting track with Jason Gavenlock and Brian Pinchers. Training a young horse with master horseman Glenn Staines in the AKW Cattle Arena. Ron McKinnon gives a master class on training a pair of young lead bullocks on the trotting track and allows a Bendigo Bank team member to drive the team.
12.15pm: Masterclass on mules in harness with Noel Wiltshire at the AGnVET Yard. Kidās shearing competition ā open to little kids only ā who can shear a sheep the fastest on the shearing board?
12.30pm: Riverina Troop Light Horse display with songs and poems by Mick Batchelor and Glyn Shackleford on horses of the Australian Light Horse at their
site. Whip cracking workshop for the kids with Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East. Blacksmith John Reedy makes a set of hames in the blacksmith shop.
1pm: Bendigo Bank grand parade in the main arena.
1.30pm: Lachie Cossorās Outback Stockman show in the Codemo arena.
1.45pm: Master class on packing camels with Doug Baum, Texas Camel Corps, USA, and Valeri Crenshaw, North American Camel Ranch Owners Association, Kansas, USA, at the AGnVET Yard. Jerilderie Tyre Service wagon wheel retyring demonstrations under the trees with Tim Peel, Phil Thomson and Eric Douglass.
2pm: CopRice Dog Jump competition (enter on site Codemo Arena), childrenās games and face painting. Animal nursery to 4pm. Traditional lettering, pin striping and scroll work with Ian Stewart-Koster at the Aussie Heavy Horses site of a Clyde Water Cart owned by Peter Lowry and Clare Gorwyn
2.30pm: Bendigo and District Donkey and Mule Club talks all things miniature and small mules from packing to riding and driving at the AGnVET yard. Whip cracking demonstration with Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East.
2.45pm: Side saddle talk and demonstration with Vanessa Wells in the Codemo Arena.
3pm: Tribute to the Teams: See the Barellan horse team and wool wagon, camel and bullock, donkey, mule and goat teams in the arena. See the camel teams of Rodney Sansom, Anna Bay, and Peter Hodge, Shepparton, set a new Australian record for the greatest number of camels in harness pulling a laden Australian built wool wagon. See bullockies Phil Thomson, Ron McKinnon, Matt Stanford, Rohan Morris, Darcy Quinn and Joey Reedy set a new 21st century Australian record for the largest working bullock team. Whip cracking workshop for the kids with Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East.
3.30pm: Demonstrations of horse drawn implements, carriage rides, camel rides, and donkey rides. See the cow milking demonstration in the dairy
3.45pm: See bullocky Ron McKinnon and the Mallee roller demonstration on the trotting track.
4.30pm: Childrenās races on the trotting track including the Barellan Hobby Horse Championships for little and big kids, Teamsters Dash, Jackaroo and Jillaroo barefoot sprint and junior and senior tug-o-war competition.
5pm: Judging of the best rural hat ā open male, open female and youth under 16 years categories judged on the Commercial Hotel stage. Winners will compete for grand champion rural hat. Whistling competition ā open male, open female and junior. This competition will include a gum leaf whistling section.
5.30pm: The Big Crack Off whip cracking competition with Australian Ladies Whip Cracking Champion Emiliqua East (4 whips as prizes donated by Doug Priest, Uneke Leather). Presentation of the Tim Peel Cup entrants on the Commercial Hotel stage.
5.30pm: Two course camp oven dinner under the stars.
6.30pm: Danny Phegan and the Longreach band on the Commercial Hotel stage.
7.30pm During the band break: Geoffrey Graham bush poet ā Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, CJ Dennis and other mates on the Commercial Hotel stage.
