As the northern run of the Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) kicks off in Taroom this weekend, the Charters Towers Rodeo Association is gearing up for their biggest event of the year.
The Heart of the Goldfields Rodeo returns on July 23 for an action packed day and night of favourited bull bucking and bronc riding rodeo action.
The North Queensland Register spoke with Charters Towers Rodeo Association president Tate van Wel to get the rundown on what rodeo enthusiasts and the local community can expect from the upcoming event.
Mr van Wel, who took over as president in 2020, said the rodeo had a rich history within the local community.
"I believe the rodeo has been going for over 70-years here in Charters Towers," he said.
"It is an important event for both local competitors and the wider rural community who look forward to connecting socially."
In 2021, the Charters Towers Rodeo Association became affiliated with APRA for the first time, which Mr van Wel said resulted in unprecedented numbers of competitors and spectators.
"We changed associations from ABCRA to APRA," he said.
"It just made a lot of sense as a lot of our committee are competitors and we are all competing in the APRA.
"Bushies up here are sort of dying off fairly badly, and we thought in Queensland, we're almost the most northern show, so it made sense to open that gateway to the north and we were the next step.
"There were a lot of numbers competitor wise and we got some good stock.
"We had huge numbers through the gate, which we were happy with. We're looking at those numbers again for this year."
Held at the Dalrymple Equestrian Centre, Mr van Wel said the rodeo would include both the signature roughstock and timed events.
"At present we have 16 bull riders, 26 bronc riders, six bareback, 50 breakaway ropers and 16 steer wrestlers.
"I'm sure a couple more will come in.
"I'm really happy with that. We'll be able to run a good show."
Mr van Wel said the Taroom event kicked off the northern run with an incentive cash prize on offer for Towers competitors.
"In terms of prize money, it is $1500 posted and on all open events there is $100 addback," he said.
"With each competitor out of their entry fee, $100 of that goes back into the prize pool.
"It's just a bit of an incentive for people to enter.
"It also starts what we call the 'golden run' in Taroom, which picks up people from the south.
"They come to us, then they go to Richmond, Cloncurry, Mount Isa and back to Elite in Townsville.
"It's a huge run. We see people come from as far as New South Wales and Victoria."
The event kicks off at 9am at the centre with the main performance from 6pm.
Tickets are available to purchase online at the Charters Towers Rodeo Association website. Mr van Wel said tickets will be available at the gate on the day unless sold out prior.
Rodeo entries close July 14. Entertainment will continue into the night after the main event with live music scheduled until midnight from local musicians.
"It has always been a family event, which we'll try and keep that going," Mr van Wel said.
"We've got stallholders, vendors and all that business happening throughout the day."
In 2022, the rodeo event was recognised as the 'Community Event of the Year' at the Charters Towers Regional Council's Australia Day Awards with executive committee members secretary Bridie Davison, treasurer Paul Weston and president Tate van Wel accepting the award.
Moving forward Mr van Wel said the committee hoped to continue growing the event.
"We're not far off making it two days and we will probably try and run a Friday night deal," he said.
"We want people not to roll their eyes and say Towers rodeo is here again, we're going to see what we've always seen
"We want to change things up a bit."
Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
