Local show, Royal show and a family history find

I grew up on the south coast of NSW and was always heavily tied to our local show- Kangaroo Valley. My parents were very involved and so I naturally was too. My fondest memories are of the show, seeing what ride would turn up during the week (we only had one main ride), getting a day off school on Friday and on a Saturday night at the rodeo I would collect glasses from the hill (you could sit outside the bar area in those days) and return them to the bar where dad would give me another $5 for rides if I collected enough!

When I went to high school, I joined the show cattle team and showed at Sydney Royal. I'd never been to the Sydney Royal Show before and my first experience was at the new Showground at Homebush. I used to count the days with a friend on a calendar until we were going to the show with the cattle. We got to stay above them too in the lockers, which was an absolute highlight for someone in their teens!

After leaving school I stayed involved with the show as a Rural Achiever (a fantastic experience) and that allowed me to have the opportunity to steward the cattle section for the next 6 years or so afterwards. I lived in Qld at this time but it was always great to come home at Easter and steward and catch up with so many friends and meet many new ones.

My show story came very roundabout as one day I was researching my family tree and found an article describing the first show meeting, and where it was held... my Great x5 Grandfathers house! James Robertson. It was a very exciting find and nice to feel our family has been included in something so amazing since the very beginning. It will be fascinating to see where the next 200 years takes the show and I look forward to visiting it and being a part of it for many more years to come.

KIRI BROAD