Rodeo Returns: Junee Show saddles up to revive iconic event

ONE of Junee’s most iconic events is making a long-awaited comeback, with the Junee Rodeo set to roar back to life after more than two decades.

In a major coup for this year’s Junee Show, the Junee Show Society has revealed rodeo action will return to town in October, reviving a much-loved local tradition that once drew huge crowds and some of the country’s toughest riders and livestock.

The announcement, made earlier this month, promises to transform the 2026 Show into one of its biggest in years, with the rodeo included in the price of a standard Show ticket and action continuing well into the night.

The first riders will burst into the arena at the Junee Showgrounds from 3pm, with rodeo action continuing until 8pm.

An extended bar licence and entertainment will keep the festivities rolling after the final ride, before the Show’s traditional fireworks grand finale lights up the sky at the later time of 9pm.

Organisers are billing the rodeo as the beginning of a “brand-new tradition” for the Show, with patrons free to move between the traditional attractions and the rodeo arena throughout the afternoon.

But for generations of Junee residents, the sight and sound of a rodeo in town will be anything but new.

The Junee Professional Rodeo, circa early 1990s | Image: John Harris/Junee Remembers

A Junee tradition returns

Rodeos were a fixture of life in Junee for decades, traditionally staged on land off Harefield Road, now Byrnes Road, between Wrights Oval and the Junee abattoirs.

The grounds are believed to have hosted the event for more than 40 years, initially on property owned by Herb Edwards and later acquired by the Taylor family.

The rodeo’s colourful beginnings can be traced back to a challenge reportedly issued at Edwards’ Locomotive Hotel over who could ride one of his bulls.

What began as a picnic day, complete with a wheelbarrow race from the pub to Edwards’ property on Harefield Road, grew into a major regional attraction and an enduring fixture on the town’s calendar.

Records indicate the last of “Herb’s rodeos” was held in 1969, but Junee’s association with the sport was far from over, with annual rodeos continuing on the land well after it was acquired by the Taylor family.

The town’s first professional rodeo, the Junee Professional Rodeo, was staged at the site on May 13, 1989, ushering in another chapter in the event’s history.

Old news coverage of the Junee rodeo days | Source: Junee and District Historical Society

Beginning at 11am, the program featured bull riding, calf roping, bareback riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronc, team roping, a local steer ride, ladies barrel racing and wild cow milking.

Wood chopping and a chainsaw race were among the other attractions, while proceeds from the day supported the Junee aged people’s hostel appeal.

The professional rodeo became a popular fixture and raised thousands of dollars for community organisations during its run.

Even the livestock became local celebrities, with famous rodeo stock including a notorious bull named Chainsaw remembered from the arena.

The Junee Professional Rodeo, circa early 1990s | Image: John Harris/Junee Remembers

The rodeo nobody forgot

Few editions remain etched into local folklore quite like the 1998 Junee Pro Rodeo, which was disrupted when a ferocious storm swept across the town on Saturday, February 7.

A dark, ominous storm cloud and wall of dust sent spectators scrambling from the rodeo grounds in scenes still vividly remembered almost three decades later.

Junee Shire resident Maria Turner recalled the extraordinary afternoon during a Facebook discussion about the rodeo in 2020.

“It was raining mud my little kids told me on the day,” she said.

With four children to get to safety, the family raced for their car, only to discover in the chaos that their four-year-old son was missing.

“It was like a scene out of a twister movie with people running every which way and I’m going against the tide of people trying to get to my little lost boy,” Mrs Turner recalled.

“Found him exactly where we were sitting, patiently waiting our return, he was four years old!”

They then faced another frightening moment while trying to locate their vehicle amid the storm.

“We then nearly got zapped by lightning as we tried to find the car in the mayhem.”

The Junee Professional Rodeo, circa early 1990s | Image: John Harris/Junee Remembers

Jennifer Woo Lawson, whose then-husband Mick Woo was among a group of locals involved in establishing the rodeo committee, remembers watching the storm bearing down while working in the drinks van.

“I got out of van to see why and remembered seeing a line of red dust with black cloud on top of it rolling in on us very quickly,” she recalled.

“Exactly like a scene out of Twister when it hit, the worst storm I have ever witnessed right in the middle of the rodeo!”

The disruption prompted organisers to stage another rodeo that May.

A record 160 entries were received for the 1998 event.

The rodeo returned the following yea,  attracting 110 entries for an evening program beginning at 5.30pm and continuing under lights at the Harefield Road grounds.

The 1999 rodeo was among the last to be staged at the site.

After decades of competition, escalating insurance and operational costs eventually made the event increasingly difficult to sustain, bringing an end to a tradition which had entertained generations of locals.

The Junee Professional Rodeo, circa early 1990s | Image: John Harris/Junee Remembers

‘Big news’ gets big reaction

More than two decades later, its return has struck a chord, with locals reminiscing about rodeos gone by.

This time, however, the bulls and riders won’t be heading back to the old Harefield Road grounds.

They’ll instead take centre stage at the Junee Showgrounds, bringing the spectacle into the heart of the annual Show and introducing the tradition to a new generation.

For those old enough to remember dusty afternoons, night rodeos under lights, famous bulls and even that unforgettable 1998 storm, October will offer a hefty dose of nostalgia.

For a new generation, it will be their first chance to experience a spectacle that was once a fixture of life in Junee.

More than two decades after the last riders left the arena, the Junee Rodeo is back.