Rodeo Royalty of Mount Isa
For two weeks each year they owned the town and locals knew it, accepted it and embraced it.
They were the royalty of rodeo; rough riders with names like, McPhee, Young, Crawford, Gough, Seeney and Woods; cowboys that knew it only took 8 seconds to win glory.
And every weekend they would mentally set aside the pain of broken bones and cracked ribs to compete against another equine or bovine contender for yet another shot at rodeo royalty.
When they arrived in town, Cloncurry or Mount Isa, they were feted no less than a movie star or singing sensation would be afforded with requests for their signatures (no autograph book handy, no worries, a shirt or bare chest would suffice!) or a photo for prosperity, to hang on a bedroom wall.
There was no bigger fan base than the North West, such was the adoration and admiration bestowed upon the rodeo riders of yesteryear.
And one of the biggest stars of the Isa rodeo in 1960, was Rose Duggan from South Australia.
As Dick White regaled to Spurs, Hoofs and Horns, “She’s a great little rider and the only lady on the circuit this year.”
Unfortunately for spectators, she was the last of the lady rough riders as the then Australian Rough Riders Association banned women from competing in the bare back and saddle bronc events.
Rodeo in Mount Isa was a community event that brought the town together in spirit, excitement and expectation that this was the year that the feature horse, Blondie, would be ridden.
No one denied that the beautiful grey mare was the queen of rodeo.
And she was not going to let anyone ride her easily, as she sorted out the men from the boys, with a damn good buck, snort or twist sending her rider into the air before a hard fall into the dirt; another rider done and dusted.
She reigned supreme.
Her predecessor, Spinifex, may have been lauded by Slim Dusty in several songs but for the likes of Rob Wiltshire, Ray Cutts, Frank Phillott, John Kelly and Peter Gould the feature horse to keep bucking them off was Thunderbolt.
For Dave Johnson, Grahame Heffernan and Mark Rowe the chanting of their names could be heard from Mt Weigh, as soon as the first sound of the bull bell rang loud and clear denoting their bull ride was clear of the shuts.
Bull riding is not for the faint hearted as it tested riders’ mental agility against the brute force of the one ton (tonne) weight of the beast beneath them.
Regardless of their ranking, they too put forward their name each year for a chance to gain superiority over the big, bad, boy of Mount Isa rodeo – Chainsaw.
Ask anyone in the streets around rodeo time and inevitably the subject of conversation would turn to who would ride Spinifex or Chainsaw that year and would that be the year either animal or both would be conquered.
And it was beers all round at Boydies, the Argent and the Top Pub (the Isa) when Neville McCarthy, Dave Johnson and Les Bell returned from Calgary, in 1981, just in time to compete at the Isa Rodeo.
To talk of rodeo in Mount Isa was to conjure up the community’s beloved Mardi Gras which for many years held a higher brand recognition across the nation than the main weekend event itself.
It was a down-to-earth occasion that enveloped locals, station hands, miners, and visitors alike in the best Hollywood style cowboy film albeit without the gun slingers.
For Rinso, an Aborigine ringer from Top End, rodeo week was his once a year shopping trip to town to meet Honest John of Moloney’s Outfitters and buy a new western style royal blue or red satin shirt, Levi jeans, Akubra hat and RM Williams boots; decked out he was ready to sing Slim at Boydies.
The splendid new outfit would be greatly admired by his relatives and by rodeo weekend, Rinso could be seen walking around Kalkadoon Park sans his beloved new hat and boots.
It was a give and take time - give a cowboy an ear-bashing on his ability to ride and take a jab to the jawline; no messing about with the hard-living, hard-working, hard-partying rodeo riders.
Over the years, the Hilton brothers, Norm and Steve, won several events at Mount Isa rodeo with Steve asserting his stamp on the national rodeo scene as the Manager of the Australian Professional Riders Association, the governing body of rodeo.
From Ron Bostock, Dick White and John Scott of the 1960s rodeo fame to Ray Herman (Captain Kangaroo), Bernie Symth, Garry and Robert McPhee, Tom Kenny and Darry Kong in the seventies and later years, their rides and tumbles were always under the watchful eye of the Meryl Pang (local miner and weekend cowboy, Pangie) and his Pick-Up team.
Mount Isa was fast gaining a reputation nationwide for its idolatry of rodeo riders and in turn the cowboys and cowgirls were the town’s best kept secret arsenal, in the public relations stakes, in promoting the rodeo.
And in turn the town turned on its best hospitality with Cowboy Breakfasts, Golf and Cabarets all the while acknowledging that the riders were the stars of the Isa rodeo.
We knew the names of the rodeo riders, we knew the names of the feature horse and feature bull for any one year, and we knew who the men were in the pick-up teams; we knew these names and more because we became urban cowboys and cowgirls for one week each year – rodeo week.
Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton www.kimmareeburton.com
Photographs courtesy of MIMAG, ‘Spurs, Hoofs and Horns’, North West Star
Information sourced from Mt Isa Mail, Courier Mail, MIMAG, ‘Spurs, Hoofs and Horns’, ‘Buckles’, ARRA Newsletters and APRA Newsletters and the North West Star.
The history column by Mount Isa’s Kim-Maree Burton can also be read online at northweststar.com.au
