The Gympie District Show Society

The rich history of the Gympie Show - Opening Day at the 1936 Show

The Gympie Show - History

The Gympie Show , like most things, had a small beginning:- a ploughing match at Seven Mile (now Kybong), south of Gympie on March 17th, 1877.

The Seven Mile Hotel, scene of the traditional St. Patrick's Day festivities, was conducted by Mr. & Mrs. W. Kidd, a family name that was to become synonymous with Gympie and district in following years. One descendent became Mayor of the City and another Chairman of the surrounding Widgee Shire.

Subsequent to this ploughing match the inaugural Show Society was formed and the first Show staged on October 16th, 1877, where the Railway goodshed and yards now stand, the Show marking the 10th anniversary of the discovery of gold by prospector James Nash, on October 16th, 1867.

Gate takings at the first Show totalled £72 ($144). A second Show was held on June 19-20, 1878 and a third on June 4-5 1879 and summer shows were held in 1879 and 1880.

1936 Fruit and Vegstable display in the Old Pavilion.
1938 Show Ball

The Gympie Agricultural, Mining and Pastoral Society, as it had become named, saw its first setback with the loss of its land to the railway then being built between Maryborough and Gympie. The Society had no legal title to the land so that in March 1881 the newly erected buildings were pulled down with the Society's claim for compensation settled at £800.

The Society then decided to join the Gympie Turf Club which had acquired grounds for a racecourse on Southside (the present site ) and in September 1883 the ground was gazetted a Reserve for Showgrounds and Racecourse under a trusteeship.

The first Show at Southside was held on May 20-21,1884 with annual Show to follow. When racing declined and the Turf Club got into financial difficulties, it sold its assets to the G.A.M.P. Society, and from then until 1927, the Society was the sole occupant of the Reserve.

Dairy Cattle, and in the pavilion fruit exhibits, particularly bananas, predominating as well as horses of varying types including heavy farm animals, were features of the early shows.

1936 Fruit and Vegstable display in the Old Pavilion.
1936 Fruit & Vegetable Display in the Old Pavilion

Annual Shows continued until 1914, the outbreak of the first World War, when the military took over the reserve for training purposes and all buildings, except the pavilion and the now replaced grandstand, were demolished.

After the war when the ground was handed back to the Society compensation from the army amounted to £200, the estimated value of a 2inch water main from the City supply to the grounds.

Since then the Society has been involved in a huge re-building programme with little revenue except "gate" receipts to finance its undertakings.

In recent years a conservative $100,000 has been spent by the Society on improvements, including electricity extensions, stable accommodation, and other ancillary buildings, culminating in the new $750,000 grandstand, the project of the Society and the Turf Club with generous Government financial assistance by way of grants from the Racing Administration Board and subsidies.

The Gympie Show dramatically portrays the diverse, wealth-producing rural pursuits undertaken by residents of the surrounding districts.

The district is widely known for its fruit and vegetable production such as pineapples, bananas, beans, peas and other small crops. With the decline in dairying, although still a big factor in the districts economy, the growth of the grazing industry is vividly portrayed in the excellent displays of stud beef and fat cattle during the Show.

A sad feature of the district's industry, brought about by decline of dairying, is that not one gram of butter is manufactured in Gympie whereas in the forties Gympie boasted the biggest single butter factory in the southern hemisphere with a record week's output of 126 3/4 tons of butter in the week ended January 16th 1943. Likewise the Wide Bay Co-op Association's two factories at Gympie and Cooroy produced over 645 tons of butter in a month with a payout of over £123,000 at about two shillings a pound first grade. The Association's biggest payout was £1,898,079 for the year ended June 30th, 1953.

This sad episode in the district's history was compensated for to some extent by the establishment in 1953 of the Nestles Co. factory which produced powdered milk and with Wide Bay Association's Gympie factory concentrating mainly on pasteurised milk and milk drinks, thus ensures a brighter future for the dairy industry, represented to-day (Show-day) by fine dairy cattle exhibits.

The New Pavilion was completed in time for the 1996 Show and what a successful year that was. We had a record Gate and with the New Cases and Panels, the Pavilion looked wonderful.

We held the first function in the New Pavilion being our Show Ball and 800 people attended - what a great success.

In 1997, and again in 2002, Gympie was granted the Australian Show Jumping Championships, a first for a Country Town in Australia and in 1997 even though it poured rain throughout the final event the patrons remained on the Grounds to watch this spectacle and a Queenslander, Guy Creighton won the event which we felt was fitting. In 2002 in fine weather conditions and a great crowd, Ron Easey won the event. We were granted this event due to the efforts of Gene Barker who was Ringmaster.