January 29, 2013
Kingaroy’s official Australia Day celebrations were relocated from the Town Hall forecourt to the inside of Kingaroy Town Hall on Saturday morning as dark rain clouds gathered over the town.
While crowd numbers were slightly down on usual – due in part to rain and in part to the temptations of Saturday morning shopping – the hundred-plus people who did attend appeared to have a very good time.
Kingaroy Lions fed the masses with their barbecue breakfast rolls before emcees Cr Keith Campbell and Cr Damien Tessmann worked through the formalities.
These included congratulating Kingaroy’s Australia Day Award winners: Junior Sportsperson Of The Year Holly Ferling, Community Organisation Of The Year Team Ironpot, Volunteer Of The Year Noel Weller, Young Citizen Of The Year Bernadette Bunker and Local Achievers Pat Hobdell from Kumbia and Wendy Kelly from Kingaroy.
After this attention quickly moved to the day’s principal attractions: the hotly contested lamington and pie-eating competitions.
In the lamington eating contest, eight entrants lined up for a shot at top place. Their challenge? To eat two lamingtons in the shortest possible time without using their hands.
To ensure fairness – since most competitors were aged 10 or less – Cr Campbell handicapped teenage entrants Amos Hicks and Hayden Quirant with an extra lamington each (to the general approval of the audience).
This meant that in the end, the 2013 crown went to pre-teen Jackson Beil, with his brother Tommy coming close behind.
A tingle of excitement ran through the crowd, though, when the competitors in the pie-eating competition took to the stage.
Two-time undefeated South Burnett Pie Eating Champion Matthew Murphy had announced last week that he would be defending his title against all comers.
Seven competitors – including lamington-eaters Amos and Hayden – decided they’d take him on.
Murphy waited patiently while each competitor was given their allotted four pies, seemingly unruffled by the tension.
But once the starter said “Go!” his instincts took hold and he turned in a dazzling display of pie consumption, wolfing down his stack in an astonishing 2 minutes 5 seconds.
It was a display of pie-eating prowess that left several competitors visibly gagging.
Later Cr Campbell said he thought the celebrations had gone “pretty well”, considering the weather.
But he looked forward to a return to sunny skies in 2014.
Apart from the official Australia Day celebrations at the Town Hall, Kingaroy also hosted two unofficial Australia Day functions – Yabby Races at the Kingaroy Hotel and a Beach Party at the Kingaroy Cricket Club.
The annual Australia Day Yabby Races are organised by the South Burnett Thrashers rugby union team, and they’ve become a very popular event over the last five years.
This year they featured two blue-claw races; two red-claw races; and two mud crab races.
A lively crowd of spectators huddled close (but not too close!) to the ring for each race, which were run in the hotel’s covered rear courtyard.
The Kingaroy Cricket Club’s planned Beach Party, meanwhile, suffered an unexpected wash-out from the heavy rain which descended during the afternoon.
This forced the abrupt cancellation of plans to lay a temporary sand beach in the club’s car park, as well as any hopes of the jelly-wrestling competitions.
But South Burnett band The Blues Excuse provided a lively musical background to gumboot tossing and other patriotic competitions.
