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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-14 Daily Xml
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PORT ELLIOT AGRICULTURAL SHOW

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:44): Thank you, Mr President. As a country person, I will be speaking quite a bit slower than the previous speaker, the Hon. Mr Maher, who obviously had a lot to say in five minutes. What I want to do is put on the public record my appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers this year and over a very long period of time who work tirelessly right throughout the year to put on the Port Elliot show, which is presented by the Southern Agricultural Society.

The Fleurieu Peninsula has a long and rich history of agricultural shows. In fact, the show for the Southern Agricultural Society goes back to an establishment year of 1869. These shows are very important for those of us who live locally so that we can actually go and enjoy the efforts of a lot of people within the community, be it agricultural, horsemanship, crafts and arts or just to have some plain, good fun. They are also in an area within striking reach of Adelaide—within an hour or so of Adelaide—which is very, very good for the benefit of families in Adelaide who can take their children out to show them agricultural animals, machinery and just what happens in a farming environment.

The wisdom and initiative of the forefather volunteer members of the Port Elliot Show who ensured they could purchase land to have permanency available for their show society is also something that needs to be put on the public record. In fact, an initiative recently between this government and the show society was to relocate the Port Elliot Primary School onto part of that facility. They now, through the Education Department, maintain the arena area, and it works well for the young people in the district as well; so, there is another benefit that would not have even been envisaged years ago that is working really well for the community on the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula.

These show societies would not work without a lot of sponsorship from small business, and I commend all those small businesses and encourage them to continue their sponsorship of the southern agricultural societies. I want to finish with another great initiative of the Port Elliot Show society, that is, the Southern Fleurieu Historical Museum, which has now been set up at Port Elliot. One of the inspirational people was a friend of mine and a long-time local in Mount Compass, the late Ken Ekers. He was a great collector of old machinery, and it was great to see his brother, Colin, taking a good leadership role to ensure that the fantastic work done by the late Ken Ekers is maintained, together with the rest of the volunteers, in the new museum.

A lot of this machinery in the past had been kept up at Mount Compass in the late Ken Ekers' shed, and we were privy to see it but now anyone who wants to access the Southern Fleurieu Historical Museum at Port Elliot can see this machinery. It was amazing for me to visit and to stop and reflect not only on just how difficult it was to produce food in years gone by and how much easier it is with new technology today but also the importance of keeping that history.

I particularly was pleased to see the recognition of a good friend of mine, the late I.K. Arthur, known as Kelly Arthur, who invented machinery in our town and district at Mount Compass. He was the inventor of the rotary chain slasher—and there is one of those down there—which revolutionised control of bracken fern and weeds and reeds in the district and helped to increase production, and that is one of the good things that we do see when we go to look at these agricultural museums.

Also, it reminded me of just how hard the work was for our mothers and grandmothers and, indeed, great-grandmothers on farms—and anywhere for that matter—when you look at some of the old washing machines, for example, with the old hand wringers and scrubbing boards and realise how difficult it was and how much time and energy it must have taken them simply to prepare a meal at the end of the day for their family.

South Australia needs to be very proud of its agricultural and rural history, and I commend the volunteers who are committed to both the Port Elliot Show and all agricultural shows throughout South Australia and the Southern Fleurieu Historical Museum now available to be seen at Port Elliot.

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