Mr ADAM MARSHALL ( Northern Tablelands—Minister for Tourism and Major Events, and Assistant Minister for Skills) (12:35): In the Northern Tablelands it is show season, and today I will talk to the House about a show that is the royal of the north. I speak, of course, about the Glen Innes Show. For the show's 150th year, the Glenn Innes community came together to celebrate the pinnacle of agricultural produce and achievement under great weather at the Glen Innes heritage-listed showground, which is exquisitely picturesque. The show has an interesting history. The first show, held in 1869, was a joint show with Inverell. The show alternated between the two towns until 1873, when each town established its own showground. It was great to see a true-blue Glen Innes gentleman, Roger Fletcher, open the show. Anyone from country New South Wales will know Roger from Fletcher International Exports in Dubbo and its meat products. He is an absolute giant of the agricultural sector and it was great to hear him talk about his days as a youngster showing cattle and agricultural produce at Glen Innes, and how that shaped his future career.
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I acknowledge Andrew Hancock, President of the Glen Innes Show Society. The show society at Glen Innes is special. At a time when many show societies are struggling to get committee members and volunteers to run the various sections of the show, the Glen Innes Show Society has more than 100 members, and people have to be interviewed to become members of the society. It was a great touch that, at the opening of the 150th show, a number of men who had served more than 50 years on the show committee were acknowledged. Bill Hughes, OAM, has served for more than 60 years on the Glen Innes show committee, and is still involved. Others who were acknowledged included Dick Hartmann, Geoffrey Lynn, Peter Sloman, Terry Sloman, Robert Wheatley, Malcolm Kiehne, Jack Alt and Jock Kerr. All those gentlemen have served for more than 50 years on the committee and every single one of them is still active as a chief steward or an assistant steward in one of the many events.
The show is great—not just because of the committee, the community spirit and the number of people who turn up, but also because of the wide variety of events. Events include the pet show; showgirl competition; ute show; woodchopping; young judges competition; stud beef cattle competition; the hoof, feeder and commercial cattle competition; sports shearing; merino and poll merino sheep and farm produce; meat breed stud sheep; prime lambs; wool in grease; caged birds; apiculture; horticulture; decorative horticulture, and preserves. I must mention the Glen Innes Show Kitchen, with Mary Hollingworth, Maggie Dent, Margie Leahy, Simone Sloman, Robyn McDougal and India Chapman-Burgess. They are the heart and soul of the kitchen, which keeps all of those committee people going throughout the show by supplying important sustenance.
On display at the show there is also needlework, handicrafts, fine arts, junior fine arts, photography, pottery, hand-painted porcelain and glass, folk art, and decorative painting. There is also a construction corner and home brew. That is just a small selection of what is on offer at the royal of the north, the Glen Innes Show. Andrew Hancock does a great job leading the team that puts on the show. I also mention the gourmet fiesta, which is now in its thirteenth year. That is a wonderful addition to the show, and continues to grow and grow. It is in a special section of the showground that is cordoned off. There is a beautiful big pavilion, where local producers are able to show off their wares and beautiful local produce such as home brew, gins, liqueurs and the goose products of U Goose. There are also bookshops, foods and other delights.
I pay tribute to Phil Lynn, Chairman of Gourmet Fiesta, and committee members, who do a terrific job in putting the display together each year. It is a real highlight of the Glen Innes Show. This year was not just the show's 105th year; it was a blockbuster show. The number of cattle entries reached almost record levels as a result of upgrading of the beautiful more than 100-year-old cattle pavilion, thanks to government funding. Beer takings were also up. This year the show went through 56 kegs or roughly 2,900 litres of beer, which is always a good indication of the success of a country show. The 2018 Glen Innes Showgirl was Tiarna McDonald, a local property agent who was a wonderful ambassador for the show and will achieve much over the next 12 months. I congratulate Andrew, the committee and everyone involved. The rural of the north is still going strong.
