Culture & Camel Racing

Country Queensland never ceases to amaze me.

Yet again, a place I had never previously heard of, Tara Shire (to be precise), on the western Darling Downs with a population of 4000 people spread over 11000 square kilometres has confounded my expectations. Did you know it is famous for its annual Festival of Culture & Camel Racing? The next one will be held 4-5 Aug 2007.

It's not clear to me if there were originally two separate events, the Festival of Culture and the Camel Racing that merged, or whether Culture and Camel Racing are indistinguishable concepts in Tara. As evidence to support the second hypothesis, I note that another town in the shire boasts the Hannaford Gymkhana & Music Festival. Indeed the shire of Tara is awash with events.

I guess it shows that when you are about 300 km from any other form of entertainment, making your own seems a really good idea and presumably it builds community in the way we have lost in the cities.