Teebar Rodeo
The riders were ready at dawn, two broken legs and a concussion before 10am.
The Queensland air was sticky as we drove through the hills inland from Bundaberg. A Kangaroo had stolen one of Sams Birkenstocks overnight (is there anything more Australian?). We made a quick stop at a bakery in the old town of Childers, where signs of the old west remain in the architecture, before continuing south through the classic Australian outback: red dirt, tall gums, and roadkill. We were heading to the rural town of Biggenden to watch the Charity Campdraft Rodeo.
We were clueless as to what we would encounter, but the small rural town knew how to host a rodeo. Three different events spanned over the two-day ordeal: barrel racing, camp drafting, and bull riding; all of which I found simultaneously entertaining and heart breaking.
By 10am, we’d seen two men break a leg, and the rest of the day followed suit with concussions, wrist injuries, whiplash, 10-year-old boys bucked from baby cows, and of course, distressed animals. The lack of hustle from paramedics concerned us, but at one stage all the ambulances were occupied so the events stopped. It wasn’t long before an announcement came over the PA that ‘the show must go on’, and almost instantly the rodeo resumed.
The warm day quickly chilled as the sun set. A food truck served tacos and donuts, and the bundy and cokes started to flow. An auction was held to raise money for the cancer council, and we soon realised the wealth of these farmers. There were donations of horse saddles and shoe fittings, wine barrel tables, riding clothes, and various services from locals. They drank a lot and rocked out all night to a stereotypical, and apparently very popular country music band.
The cold desert air seeped into our sober bones, so we tucked ourselves in to our cosy Delica and listened to the night’s antics unravelling from afar, drifting off to a cover of Daryl Braithwaite’s ‘Horses’ (again, is there anything more “Australian”?)
On day two the riders were somehow ready at dawn. The air was brisk, and a thick haze engulfed the paddocks as we watched hungover cowboys and ‘horse girls’ trot around to warm up. Before long we were once again cringing as people were thrown from farm animals.
Sams highlights included the bacon and egg sanga for breakfast, and the two grown men attempting a fist fight while on their horses. I got a laugh out of the rodeo clown who was flung through the air by bulls on multiple occasions - I saw him later hobbling around while cowboys boosted his ego with pats on the back for a job well done. I must admit, the horse girl I never got to be was enticed in by the talented ladies absolutely killing the barrel racing.
We love people watching, and our observations taught us a lot about the lives of these rodeo-goers, and the wider community they’re a part of. There’s something almost romantic about the ‘wild west’, and the way country folk live and breathe a way of life that has been a part of Australian outback culture since the 1880s.
Disclaimer: we had many reservations about the whole ordeal, but Sam reminded me that our intention for this body of work is to document interesting people and places around the world from an objective point of view. Although we disagree with some of the practices at the rodeo, it was an intriguing thing to witness (plus now I really can say ‘this isn’t my first rodeo’).
