A 5000km round trip with a B double load of camels paid off for Northern Territory cameleer Chris Hill when he was announced as the winner of the most prestigious trophy in the nation at Barellan on October 6.
Chris, of Uluru Camel Tours, travelled to Barellan in southern NSW with 20 camels born and bred in the central Australian desert to spend several weeks handling and training them the traditional way to voice command to take out the Teamsters Perpetual Trophy at the 2024 Good Old Days Festival.
The festival is the largest gathering of horse, bullock, camel, donkey, mule and goat teamsters in the world.
Noted horsemen Tim Peel, Borombola, NSW, and Brian Fish, Oatlands, Tasmania, judged the camel teams for the trophy.
The Perpetual Teamsters Trophy is awarded on a rotational basis to a different species of draught animal each year and acknowledges the contribution all the species have made to building the nation.
The animals, harness, vehicles/implements are to be historically correct and judged as a traditional authentic Australia style working team, portraying the business or work the teamster is engaged in.
The ability of the teamster to control the team and the response of the animals to commands are part of the general assessment, along with their conduct, presentation, leadership and mentoring abilities across the festival.
Mr Hill said the whole trip to Barellan meant five weeks on the road after catching the camels out of the wild, giving them some basic education at home and then presenting a team of 17 fully trained camels pulling an original wool wagon for judging.
It was a tough decision for the judges with Chris up against Rodney Sansom, Oakfield Ranch, Anna Bay, NSW, with his modern Australia record team of 22 camels in harness.
“I wouldn’t do it any other way – I absolutely love coming here. The characters here is the biggest attraction, the people and stories shared,” Mr Hill said.
“To have two big teams in harness at once – mine with 17 and Rodney Sansom’s with 22 – side by side would not be seen anywhere else in the world.
“This young team of mine shined at the right end of the weekend – a lot of education has gone into them over the last few weeks.”
Mr Hill said his young team had a future with his tourism business at Uluru giving tourists rides.
“They will be used back at the camel farm and hopefully some will be back at Barellan next year.”
Mr Hill paid tribute to Rodney Sansom and his team for putting on such a great display for the Good Old Days Festival visitors.
“It is such a big exercise for them to come all the way down here. I would also like to thank the committee, the crowd, the supporters and the campers – you keep these events happening and it’s important to support this Festival so we can keep the event growing in the future.”
Ends
Caption: Chris Hill, Uluru Camel Farm, NT, and his foreman Bert Held with their team of 17 camels born and bred in the central Australian desert to win the Teamsters Trophy at the Good Old Days Festival. Image Kim Woods
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