By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Dandenong Show society’s president John Follett will feel an emptiness in mid-November – the traditional weekend date for the 149-year-old show.
A week in the lead-up, he’ll usually be shifting equipment, jump hurdles and caravans from Berwick showgrounds to Greaves Reserve.
And in will chug his tractor for the popular tractor pull in the main arena.
“You get a mixture of children from 5-6 up to adults who try to shift the tractor.
“They seem to enjoy it. It costs nothing to put on. Something so simple…”
Mr Follett has barely missed a show since he was in a pram, when the event was staged in Clow Street, central Dandenong.
The show has gone on – even through the most saturated weather. One year, Mr Follett got a call from security at 3am to tell him a swelling Mile Creek was about to break its banks.
But the show still ploughed on.
This year, Covid-19 stopped Dandenong Show – like many other agricultural shows – in its tracks.
It’s the first time the show has been cancelled for 75 years – since World War II.
It was a hard decision, but a” conscious decision that we had to make”, Mr Follett says.
The impact is felt by visitors, entrants, and most acutely by the sideshow entertainers – thousands of them sitting idle and without income around Australia.
And also the charities, service clubs and schools that raise funds at the show.
The show has been a part of Mr Follett’s family for decades – the surname bestowed on Follett Drive in the showgrounds three years ago. It’s in his blood, he says.
As the show president, Mr Follett follows in the footsteps of his father Alf who headed the Dandenong Agricultural and Pastoral Society in its centenary in 1971.
Mr Follett is looking forward to leading during the show’s 150th year in 2021.
“One-hundred-and-fifty years – it’s been a long time for any organisation to continue and remain.
“In the end, that’s all up to the volunteers. And I’m certain we’ve got a dedicated committee.”
In 1948, his father Alf acquired 11 acres for a market garden in what is now Bloomfield Road in Noble Park.
“It was cleared by a horse team and gelignite.”
Alf had been involved with the Heatherton Carnival and Bazaar – a gymkhana of horses and community dancing.
He joined the Dandenong Show committee from the early 1950s, and was a judge of novelty riding events in Victoria.
One of the events at Dandenong Show was named after him – the keenly-contested Alf Follett flag-and-barrel race.
His son John remembers “all sorts of horse events” in the early days – some involving 1956 Olympian Ernie Barker.
“I can remember Dad coming home with punnets of strawberries. Mum would make up strawberries and jelly for the stewards.”
Now living in Hampton Park with pastoral land in the fastly-urbanising Clyde, Mr Follett yearns for that rural life. Perhaps making home in an expanse of paddocks further towards Gippsland.
Despite enduring support from City of Greater Dandenong, the show society’s sources of income – like facility hire – have dried due to Covid’s lockdown.
The show society executive has been unable to meet since April.
There have been loud calls from Victorian Agricultural Shows (VAS) for $1 million in State grants over two years to help rural shows survive the year’s hiatus.
Mr Follett, the Dandenong Show rep at VAS, is confident the show won’t be a no-show for its sesquicentenary in 2021.
“I know we’ll get a lot of support from Star News Group and the City of Greater Dandenong have supported us completely over a considerable number of years.
“It’s marvellous.”
