Before sideshow alley and fireworks displays became the crowd favourite, it was donkey races that attracted the numbers at the Junee Show.
Back then, the show was also held midweek. Wednesday September 26, 1934 to be exact.
Welcoming the 130th show, Shirley Hart created a exhibition snapshot of all the shows from the past century.
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The exhibition has been four years in the making, beginning when she began volunteering with the Broadway Museum.
“We’ve been building a Junee file ever since I started here,” said the historian and curator.
“I found the original poster from the Wagga paper back when I started working here, and just filed it away.”
Over time, Ms Hart and her helpers have managed to retrieve and archive scores of show history documents.
“Much of it’s come from archives of the Daily Advertiser, and Junee papers, but then there’s a bit that my family has collected along the way too,” Ms Hart said.
Included among the artefacts are photos of the inaugural show society members. Ms Hart’s own bloodline stands within that frame.
Her husband’s two grandfathers – Joseph Bell Hardey and John Luke Hart – gaze back through the glass from 1936.
“You look at the surnames, and you can see, they’re all old families that are still around in the town now.”
Even closer to her personal history is the 1978 centennial cooking competition ribbon, on loan from Ms Hart’s very own mother.
“She used to cook all the time, she won a lot actually. This one was for her plum pudding boiled in cloth,” she said.
Concluding the show season, Ms Hart is readying to replace the exhibition with another that represents Junee’s unique involvement during the first World War.
That showcase will remain in place at the Broadway Museum as the town ushers in the centenary next week.
“It’s all our history. It’s about letting people know where we’ve come from as a town, and where we’re going. I’ve really enjoyed doing it.”
