BOOK SIGNING

As a published author I must now undertake book signings at the shops stocking Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. As many of you know I had a life prior to moving to the Granite Belt with Eberhard almost seventeen years ago and the opportunity presented for me to visit the districts of Dalby and Bell again this past weekend.

BOOK CITY Dalby

I was amazed when a man I had known 50 years ago at a time that we were both members of a Rural Youth organization approached me, with an expression of delight, to renew the acquaintance. We chatted about old times for an hour or so before he bought the book.

An important reason why I had chosen to appear at BOOK CITY on Friday was that I wished to attend the Bell camp draft where my 94 year old father, John Mulcahy, was to be honoured.

The Dalby Herald newspaper had published an article about me, saying I was the eldest daughter of John and Jessie Mulcahy and had come with my parents to live on a cattle property near the Bunya Mountains in November 1944 where I had attended the Yamsion primary school before continuing my high school education as a boarder at the Presbyterian Girls College in Warwick. After marrying Stewart McIver I had lived on farms at Bell and later in the town of Dalby where we reared our five children. It noted that I was always active in community affairs, had been a member of the Dalby Forum Club for ten years and served as the first secretary/treasurer of the Dalby Tourist Association.

There were a few more comments about my achievements on the Granite Belt, a photo of me amongst poppies and the information that I was returning to Dalby for the weekend to accompany my 94 year old father, brother and sisters to attend the opening of the new campdraft arena at the Bell show grounds.

For those of you who live overseas or in our cities I am about to illustrate with photographs this uniquely Australian horse sport. The horses used are a breed developed within Australia as Australian stock horses. They are light on their feet, produce great spurts of speed and can turn on sixpence – a five cent coin.

No sooner had our family gathered than we were met by Ray Hopper the local Member for Condamine in the Queensland State Parliament, who is presently the Clerk of the Course for the Bell races. For those who don’t know the role – the Clerk of the Course rides a horse while keeping control of the racing horses and their jockeys prior to and after the race. He leads in the winning horse of each race.

Dad and Ray Hopper

Ray congratulated my father for his many years of service to the Bell show and community. It was a pleasure to hear Ray say the facilities were a credit to the present committee’s fund-raising abilities. The drive to build the new facilities was driven by Ben Wade and his off-sider, Wayne Caldwell, both local Bell men.

John Mulcahy cuts the ribbon

My Dad was asked to cut a ribbon strung across the double gate of the ‘camp’ – a small yard for holding the cattle used in the event. In 1958 the first yards and arena had been constructed with timber supplied from his land. In 2009 these original structures were replaced with steel.

My brother, John Mulcahy, himself a breeder of Australian stock horses and a National Campdraft champion made a speech on our father’s behalf.

Young John speaks

My sisters and I then took it in turns to sit with our  father in a golf buggy beside the gates of the camp where we had a first class view of the competitors.

Fay with her father

This is a view of the camp holding the cattle.

Young steers wait in the camp yard

Men and women competitors wait outside the rails of the camp for their number to be called.

Competitors

As a teenage rider I had asked my father to be allowed to compete in campdrafts, as had my sisters Gwen and Shirley, but he had always refused our requests. At that time women seldom competed, but over the years women have won equality and I was delighted to observe how many of the competitors on Saturday were women and that the judge, wearing a red coat, was a woman.

Woman rider, woman judge

Firstly the rider must choose a beast within the camp and advise the judge of their choice. Then they must draft that beast away from the herd and point it at the gate. The men manning the gate throw it open and the rider must push their chosen beast out into the open arena. Then rider and horse must manouvre the beast to complete a figure 8 around two small trees before going around and through the gate of another two trees placed close together. The course must be completed within an allocated time.

A lively steer

The judge carries a stockwhip which is cracked to disqualify a competitor.  The judge awards points for how cleanly the rider extricated their chosen beast from the camp and then another set of points for how they completed the course. At no time must the beast get too far ahead of the rider or the judge will crack the whip to signify ‘lost beast’. At no time must the horse get ahead of the beast, although it may shoulder the animal around the tree or through the gate.

Recently in Australia our Prime Minister has been trying to speak strine like the populace and is fond of saying “Give us a fair shake of the sauce bottle.” If he were a country man he would be saying, “Give the man a fair crack of the whip!”

And where was my German born husband during these activities? Cracking jokes with my brother.

Eberhard and John

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for summer stone-fruit, autumn apples, winter  Christmas in July dinners and a spring Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies.

Fay has published a book called Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. To obtain a copy directly email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

It is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/

Technorati Tags: Australia, Australian, Australian stock horse, Bell, book, brother, Dalby, Das Helwig Haus B&B, father, German, Glen Aplin, granite belt, poppies, Queensland, sisters, the granite belt, Wildflowers wilderness and wine, Yamsion

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