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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-07 Daily Xml
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Gawler Show

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:35): Today, I wish to bring to the house's attention the annual Gawler Show held a few weeks ago. The Gawler Show is the biggest show outside the Adelaide Royal Show and is held over two days. This year, about 35,000 people attended over the two days, which is a huge number of people. I must congratulate Claire Forgie, the president of the Gawler Show society committee, and also all the volunteers and judges who made the event such a success, including the various service clubs that help out in some way, either at the gates or providing parking services. There are a whole range of activities where they support the event, as does the Gawler council.

The attendance was probably boosted by two factors. One is that this was the first post-COVID show to be held. No show was held in 2020. In 2021, there was a modified show that capped numbers, which made it much smaller and a much more expensive event to hold. Also, the weather was ideal for the show. It was very pleasant weather, which made it really easy for families to come out and come to the show. My understanding is that about 17,000 people came on Saturday and 18,000 came on Sunday. Sunday was a bit more popular for the families. Perhaps a lot of parents still work on Saturdays, and so mum, dad and the kids came out on Sunday.

The Gawler Show obviously attracts a lot of people from Gawler, but I would say that it attracts a lot of people from the northern suburbs of Adelaide and also from greater South Australia, probably in equal numbers. It does that because the Gawler Show is a great alternative to the Royal Show for families. It costs less than going to the Royal Show, but it is also more accessible; in other words, the cost to get there is not as much and the cost to get in is not as much, but it also is not as big as the Royal Adelaide Show and is therefore more manageable, particularly for families with really young children. The Royal Show is much too big for that.

The last 'normal' show, for want of a better word, was held in 2019. The show society also this year upgraded to its new ticketing system, where you can pre-purchase tickets. One of the things about pre-purchasing tickets is that you do not queue at the gate to get in, and that made it much easier for people to come in, as tickets were scanned. Apparently, 25 per cent of the tickets were purchased online before the event itself, which made it much easier for families to get in through the gates because there was less queueing.

There were a whole range of activities at the Gawler Show, including woodchopping, medieval re-enactments, pony rides and a kids circus. The Agricultural Learning Centre is very popular, where they have a range of smaller animals and a number of people explain what the animals are, what they do and the produce, etc., so it has a very important educational outcome. The shows are becoming more important in terms of education because an increasing number of students and kids, as was mentioned earlier today, are not aware of where a lot of things come from, such as milk and a whole range of other products. Unfortunately, they think they come from cartons in supermarkets, so there is a much more important educational role, and certainly the Gawler Show promotes the educational component, which is really good.

Sideshow alley was popular again amongst the youngsters, and the rides were really busy. The show also had a village green, with seating areas for families where they could eat, drink, etc. and watch some of the activities and various demonstrations, and there were also a number of free activities. Saturday night was the return of the fireworks. One of the major sponsors of the show is Taylor & Forgie. Kittle motors provides a car for the raffle to raise funds for the show. It is a really important community event. There were over 3,000 entries for various competitions around animals, cooking, floristry, textiles, art, etc.

The show was officially opened by Sophie Thomson, who is a well-known gardening expert on the ABC, from memory. Congratulations to the Rural Ambassador, James Krieg, who has a demonstration dairy farm at Kangaroo Flat, and also to the Young Rural Ambassador, MacKenzie Wilson. You cannot underestimate the importance of country shows. They are part of our Australian culture. They help communicate a whole range of things to city-based people, and they are a leading event in most rural communities. They promote innovation and, for many of us, they have a lot of childhood memories.

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