The Ekka is the annual

agricultural show An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which selective breeding, bree ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Its formal title is the Royal Queensland Show, and it is held at the

Brisbane Showgrounds The Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Queensland, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the larges ...

. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition, but it is more commonly known as the ''Ekka'', short for "exhibition". It is run by The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA). The Ekka is Queensland's largest annual event, which welcomes an average of 400,000 visitors each August. The show welcomes 21,000 competition entries, 10,000 animals, and hours of free family entertainment, including a night program. The Ekka features a

sideshow alley A sideshow alley is an Australian term for the cluster of attractions that may accompany public events such as agricultural shows. It is similar to the American term ' midway'. Australian sideshows typically comprise a variety of amusement rides ...

showbag A showbag is a themed bag of commercial products, novelty items and promotional merchandise, usually made available for purchase. It is a distinctive feature of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a countr ...

pavilion, and nightly

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

displays. The significance of the first exhibition held in 1876 was described by locals as the most important event since the

separation of Queensland The Separation of Queensland was an event in 1859 in which the land that forms the present-day state of Queensland in Australia was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and proclaimed as a separate crown colony. History European settlemen ...

from

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1859. In 2009 as part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia ...

celebrations, the Ekka was announced as one of the

Q150 Icons The Queensland's Q150 Icons list of cultural icons was compiled as part of Q150 celebrations in 2009 by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It represented the people, places and events that were significant to Queensland Queensland ...

of Queensland for its role as an "event and festival".

History

The first show, held between 22 and 26 August 1876, attracted 17,000 visitors. The centrepiece of the grounds was the timber exhibition building which housed 1,700 individual exhibits in total. One of the first popular attractions was a timber bridge built by saw-miller William Pettigrew. All visitors to the show were given a free bag of coal; this is considered the first example of what would become the

. The show was a spin-off from the famous International Exhibitions being held in Britain and worldwide dating from the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Exhibition of 1851. A new

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

designed by Claude William Chambers was open for the 1906 show. It was later named the John Macdonald stand in recognition of a long-serving member of the Royal National Association. In 1920, the show was visited by the Prince of Wales (who later became King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

) who was asked and gave permission for the name of the association to change to the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland. During a time when the Ekka was still young, the main purpose of the agricultural show, as its name suggests, was to show off many agricultural and industrial exhibits. It was a chance for people to show off newly invented agricultural and industrial devices such as ultra modern ploughing, sowing and harvesting artefacts. Cattle and other farm animals were also exhibited during the show, a practice that remains to this day. The Animal Nursery, which has been running since 1964, features around 500 baby farmyard animals for visitors to meet and greet. Every Ekka has been opened by the

Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...

or the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

with vice-regal involvement present throughout the whole event. This is a long tradition, with the first president of the RNA in 1875 being Governor Sir William Cairns. Since its opening, the show has been cancelled four times, first in 1919 throughout the time of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

pandemic, where the grounds were employed as temporary hospital wards for the sick, then in 1942, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

shows were cancelled in 2020 due to health concerns and again in 2021 as South East Queensland was then in

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

. It is also planned to be cancelled in 2032 due to the Brisbane Olympics.

Location

The Ekka is held in Queensland's capital city,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, for 10 days each August at the

in the suburb of

Bowen Hills Bowen Hills is an inner north-eastern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bowen Hills had a population of 4,898 people. Geography Bowen Hills is by road from the Brisbane centr ...

. The Ekka is run by the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA). The Ekka is Brisbane's most popular event of any sort, with around 400,000 visitors attending the show in recent years. The showgrounds covers an area of 22 hectares. During Ekka, the Exhibition railway line is operational with special trains (some of them historic steam trains) carrying passengers to the Exhibition railway station in the middle of the Brisbane Showgrounds.

Attractions

Attractions at the Ekka include fairground rides, a Side Show Alley, animal parades,

woodchopping Woodchopping (also spelled wood-chopping or wood chopping), called woodchop for short, is a sport that has been around for hundreds of years in several cultures. In woodchopping competitions, skilled contestants attempt to be the first to cut or ...

competitions, agricultural displays and

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

events.

Showbag A showbag is a themed bag of commercial products, novelty items and promotional merchandise, usually made available for purchase. It is a distinctive feature of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a countr ...

s are also an integral part of the Ekka experience. Usually containing food items (such as

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

and novelty items), showbags are sold in the Showbag Pavilion. The contents of the showbags are tested to ensure they comply with safety standards. In 2015, there were 362 different showbags available for visitors to spend their money on and enjoy samples of products. Showbags range from $1, $2 (the famous

Bertie Beetle Bertie Beetle is a small chocolate bar manufactured by Nestlé. It consists of a chocolate coated bar containing small pieces of honeycomb that is shaped like an anthropomorphised beetle. It was originally created as a way to use up honeycomb l ...

Bag) and up to $108, providing companies the opportunity to offer their merchandise to the public at discounted prices. Competitions remain at the heart of the Ekka. Since the very first show in 1876, the Ekka has been rewarding and recognising those dedicated to producing the best of the best. The competitions include agricultural products such as livestock, fruit and vegetables, and skills in areas as diverse as

farriery A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horse, horses' horse hoof, hooves and the placing of horseshoe, shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabri ...

and

cake decorating Cake decorating is the art of decorating a cake for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, baby showers, national or religious holidays or as a promotional item. It is a form of sugar sculpture, sugar art that uses materials such as Ici ...

. The Ekka strawberry sundae was introduced in 1950 by Paul's dairy company. In 1989, the sale of the strawberry sundaes became a joint initiative between the RNA and the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation, with sale proceeds going to the latter to fund medical research. The sundae consists of a cup ice cream cone filled with vanilla ice cream, chopped strawberries and strawberry ice cream, topped with whipped cream and a whole strawberry. At Ekka 2014, around 117,000 strawberry sundaes were consumed. The stud beef competition is the largest annual showing of stud

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

in the southern hemisphere.

Impact

The Ekka, due to its large attendance, raises a large amount of revenue. Estimates of this number average around the $100 million mark, yet this amount may fluctuate with weather in Brisbane at the time (a particularly wet August may reduce attendance significantly). Because of the cultural significance of the Ekka, the

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of Greater Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. The LGAs in the other mainland state capitals ...

holds a Wednesday

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

known as "People's Day". The Ekka starts on the first Friday in August, except if the first Friday is before 5 August, in which case it starts on the second Friday of August. People's Day is then the Wednesday after the Ekka commences. To avoid overcrowding, some surrounding regions have the public holiday on alternative days.

Ekka Winds

Frequently, in the week leading up to the Ekka, the chilly Ekka winds descend on

. These are westerly winds caused by high pressure systems in the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight (geography), bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern Coast, coastline of mainland Australia. There are two definitions for its extent—one by the Internation ...

References

External links

*
Brisbane Show Photograph Album 1912

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

Royal Queensland Show Photographs 2009
State Library of Queensland
Royal National Show 2022 photographs
State Library of Queensland * {{Agricultural shows in Australia Recurring events established in 1876 Winter in Australia Culture of Brisbane Royal shows in Australia 1876 establishments in Australia History of Brisbane Agriculture in Queensland