By Cam Lucadou-Wells
‘Stalwart’ doesn’t do justice to Jack Rae – who has helped organise Dandenong Show for the past 70 years.
Mr Rae, 88, joined the agricultural show society’s committee as an 18-year-old following in the footsteps of his father, George.
“There’s quite a bit of show blood in us,” Mr Rae said.
“I’ve moved around the show world a bit … it does seem to get in the system.”
The Narre Warren North cattle farmer is a former show president and remains the show’s chief steward. He’s on the committee that spends the best part of a year organising each annual show.
Remarkably Mr Rae’s involvement still spans less than half of the show’s 145-year history.
Mr Rae said the show format has not changed much but there remains no better entertainment for families.
“Why do we still run a show now? It’s an opportunity for people to come now and mingle, but there’s also a value in learning how to look after animals.
“Without the shows, people wouldn’t have the same access to things like the animal nursery or the children exhibiting their schoolwork or the equestrian riding.
“I see it as a community benefit, I might say. That’s the pleasure of being involved.”
Mr Rae can remember times when farmers used to herd their cattle and ride their horses from their pastures to the showgrounds.
As kids, he and his brother Bert and sister Thelma drove their cows to Berwick Showgrounds.
He recalls that 70 years ago, the Dandenong showgrounds were set in the middle of town, at the current Dandenong Market site.
The site was home to the stock market and a football ground ringed by a cycle-racing track.
During World War II, the show moved to the Berwick showgrounds while the Australian Army camped at the Dandenong site.
After “a fair bit of reluctance”, the show made a permanent move to its more spacious 60-acre base at Greaves Reserve.
Mr Rae said the Greaves family – noted pastoralists in Lang Lang and Dandenong – had donated 22 of those acres to the show society in the 1900s.
That land was augmented by a donated parcel from the City of Dandenong to form an offer too good to refuse.
The original showgrounds were exchanged to become part of the council’s former Clow Street offices.
Mr Rae marvels at the foresight of councillors and the Greaves.
“How well does Greaves Reserve serve the community now!”
The future of the show looks assured to Mr Rae, though Dandenong has long since been over-run by suburbia.
Small but growing numbers of new communities are coming through the gates, and the show committee has a healthy injection of young blood.
“At every town and city that has an agricultural show, it is recognised as something of value to the community.
“There are not many agricultural shows that have had to close. And the shows, in the main, have been going 100-plus years.
“It’s about sharing your knowledge – that’s why shows were started.”
