Good Old Days Festival attracts 10,000 and breaks world record
Wagon drivers in regional Australia set a new world record in an unusual category at a beloved annual farming festival, which now welcomes more than 10,000 visitors from around the country
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Red dust and heat, hundreds of animals, more than a thousand caravans and a record-breaking horse hitch*. Welcome to one of Australia’s most unique outback events that planted its roots in a small outback town street parade 16 years ago.
The Barellan Good Old Days Festival in the Riverina region of New South Wales now draws more than 10,000 visitors from across Australia, who gathered over the weekend to watch an unusual world record being broken.
Helped by fellow teamsters, 36-year-old Aleks Berzins was one of the key drivers behind hitching 62 horses into a single team.
Mr Berzins operates the Marlie Draught Horse Stud at Exeter in southern NSW and brought a 32-horse team to Barellan for the world record attempt.
Although the plan was hatched only a year ago, the attempt was far longer in the making, according to Mr Berzins.
“To get the team here has been a build up over a few years,” he said. “Last year we were sitting on the wagon after doing 35 horses, were really happy and it seemed very doable.”
Mr Berzins has 50 horses at home, with mares* due to foal* soon, plus a few older horses that couldn’t make the cut for this year’s event.
He estimated the value of the horses, harness and wagon of the world record team at $1 million.
Mr Berzins sat in the driver’s seat alongside two of Australia’s greatest horse teamsters, Bruce Bandy of Barellan and Steve Johnson from Lake Cargelligo, also in NSW.
“We are just trying to take it in and enjoy it. The preparatory work had been done so the pressure was not really on,” he said.
“Sitting up with Bruce and Steve, I had the two best blokes in the world next to me so there is a lot of confidence in knowing the horses are good.
“Having done the hard yards before, it’s a nice feeling watching it come together as it should.
“For Steve and Bruce, it has been years upon years and for me too. It can be 10 years in the making to get to this point where we have the horses. This was the year to do it.”
Mr Berzins said the build-up of excitement to the world record had been enormous.
With the distance from the lead horses to drivers stretching 76m, driving the big team around the Barellan showground arena meant turning to the left for most of the time.
It took more than two hours to harness 62 clydesdale*, Australian draught*, Suffolk punch* and shire* horses to an antique Bennett wagon* loaded with six tonnes of wool.
The team was made up of horses from four owners.
The Guinness Book of Records hitch was last set with a 50-horse team in Canada on August 13, 1995.
The Australian record hitch of 48 horses was set in the mid 1980s at Carrara on the Gold Coast.
Barellan Good Old Days Festival spokeswoman Kim Woods said the event was a “real coming together” for country people who love their animals, who came for the spectacle and events, and people from the city who wanted to be part of a unique long weekend.
“Everyone’s up for a chat, people come here and just really connect with each other,” Ms Woods said.
“We have events here that include horses, camels, bullocks*, donkeys, mules and goats, all working in harness.
“It’s not fancy stuff that you’d see at Sydney or Melbourne Royals. It’s real and it’s what your grandfather or great-grandfather would have been out there doing day-after-day in the paddocks.”
Events also included ladies’ whip cracking, wood chopping, butter making demonstrations, sheaf tossing*, horse sledge pulling and bush poetry.
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GLOSSARY
- hitch: to fasten something to another thing by tying it with a rope or using a metal hook, in this case horses to a wagon
- mares: adult female horses
- foal: as a verb, it refers to a female horse or donkey giving birth
- clydesdale: a heavy, powerful breed of carthorse, originally from Clydesdale in Scotland
- Australian draught: working horse bred specifically by settlers for Australia’s harsh climate and conditions by combining four distinct breeds
- Suffolk punch: England’s oldest breed of carthorse, known for its chestnut coat, short legs and strength for farm work and pulling
- shire: a large, heavy breed of carthorse with distinctive long hair on the fetlocks (backs of the leg, above the hoof
- Bennett wagons: a family business started in 1858, Bennett built heavy horse transport wagons of excellent craftsmanship that were used to move goods in both rural and urban areas
- bullock: a young bull that has been castrated (desexed)
- sheaf tossing: a Scottish agricultural sport in which a pitchfork is used to toss a heavy straw bag over a bar
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QUICK QUIZ
- How many horses were hitched to set the new world record?
- At which festival in which state did the world record attempt take place?
- How many visitors flock to the festival each year?
- Which specific horse breeds were gathered together into one team?
- What was the combined estimated value of the horses, harness and wagon?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. 62-horse harness
If you were one of the organisers of the Barellan Good Old Days Festival, what might have been some of the concerns when planning for this world record attempt of number of horses harnessed on one team?
Work with a classmate and list all the possible concerns and possible solutions that made this world record achievable:
Concern
Solution
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
What events would you like to see from this festival added to your local school fair, community event or show that might be of interest to people in your community?
How does good old fashioned farming fun remain interesting to modern day children, teens and adults?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Animal alliterations
With a partner, choose one of the pictures from the article.
Make a list of nouns you could use to name the animal in the picture. For example, instead of a tiger, you could also say cat, or feline.
Pick your favourite noun and identify its initial sound — what sound it starts with, not necessarily what letter.
Now, using the initial sound, make a list of adjectives to describe the animal. Try to be specific. Don’t just look at the animal as a whole, look at their different features as well.
Build on these same sound words, and add any verbs and adverbs you could use to describe the animal and their movements.
Try to put it all together and use as many same sound words in a sentence, to create an alliteration about the animal in the picture. For example: the terrifying tiger, tiptoed through tangled trees chasing his prey.