SPRING CARNIVAL

DESERT by SM KING

On the first weekend of September each year, the tiny community of Birdsville,

located over 1600 km west of Brisbane on the edge of the Simpson Desert, plays

host to one of the most isolated events on the Australian racing calendar. Celebrating

its 125th anniversary this year, the Birdsville Races draws around 6,000 visitors from

all over the world to the remote community of around 120 residents.

+ a d 39

The XXXX Birdsville Cup is the

centerpiece event of the town’s

biggest carnival, and the longest

race, a 1600m distance regularly

featuring some of Australia’s top

horses. One of four tracks in Queensland that run

anti-clockwise, the 2000m course is on a claypan

surrounded by sand dunes. What started as an

event for hack and stock horses with a few local

spectators has turned into a flagship outback

experience – a 12-race program over two days,

with prize money in excess of $100,000. There

are usually around ten bookmakers on hand,

accepting bets on all the major race meetings

across Australia, including Birdsville. The recent

addition of a 1300 square metre shed provides

much needed shade to the throng of punters and

busy bookies.

This is the fair dinkum desert, and a viable

contender for the title Middle of Nowhere. All

roads leading to Birdsville are unsealed, and

there’s no mobile phone coverage, making for an

adventurous journey in anyone’s vocabulary.

Visitors come prepared to camp – that’s the only

accommodation on offer. Many arrive by air and

set up camp next to their planes on the tiny

airstrip. Those without a tent pitched next to their

plane vie for a spot at the town’s caravan park or

opt to sleep along the banks of the Diamantina

River at no charge. Rudimentary toilet and

shower facilities are dotted throughout the

camping clusters to keep things civilised.

Supplies can be had at the Birdsville Auto Centre

& General Store, whose weekend takings come

race time must be enough to keep Kentucky’s

thoroughbreds in sugar cubes for a year. So true

the Birdsville hotel, the town’s watering hole and

veritable magnet come race week.

The convergence of such a large visiting

population just lends to the carnival atmosphere,

and plentiful sideshows like the AKUBRA

Fashions of the Field, Fred Brophy’s Boxing

Troupe, and whipcracking demos keep the

captive audience entertained when the horses

are seeking some much needed shade. Birdsville

also has an art gallery and a museum – The

Birdsville Working Museum – boasting an

amazing array of Australian rural ephemera, from

roadside relics like bowsers and signs, to tins and

bottles, and photos of a distant outback past.

The non-horsey activities culminate in a charity

auction on the Saturday night, a big affair with

proceeds going to the Royal Flying Doctors

Service.

1 – 2 September 2006, Birdsville, Queensland

www.birdsvilleraces.com

STYLE