June 12, 2019
A student forensic scientist who wants to become a detective and a Blackbutt woman who represented Queensland in 2015 as a cattle judge at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show will upholding the honour of the South Burnett at this year’s Ekka.
Teagan Hall (Murgon Show) was sashed as 2019 Miss South Burnett Showgirl and Leonie Nichols (Blackbutt Show) as Rural Ambassador at the South Burnett Sub-Chamber’s annual dinner held at Kingaroy Showground on Saturday night.
The pair will go on to represent the South Burnett in Brisbane in August where they will compete against entrants from 10 other Sub-Chambers for the honour of representing Queensland in the national competition.
To reach Sub-Chamber level, entrants first had to be selected as Miss Showgirl or Rural Ambassador by their local Show Society.
After this, it was over to the judges.
The entrants spent Saturday visiting SBcare, Bunya Red Caper Farm, Easy 8 Orchard before having lunch at Mulanah Gardens followed by an afternoon of interviews.
As usual, the judges came from other Sub-Chambers: Cooyar Show Society president Matt Ryan and his wife Jacinta; and QCAS delegate Lucy Connolly, from Eidsvold.
The judges assessed each candidate on personality, confidence, ambition and life goals, along with general knowledge, show knowledge, rural knowledge, presentation and speech.
Finalists were also asked to demonstrate knowledge of their local community and current affairs, and their involvement with agricultural shows.
This year’s dinner was hosted by the South Burnett Show Society and was compered by the South Burnett’s 2018 Miss Showgirl, Stacey Sanders, and 2018 Rural Ambassador, Nathan Trace.
Both comperes congratulated all this year’s entrants, and reminded them that even if they went no further in the competition they were still winners in every sense.
Teagan and Leonie were announced as this year’s winners, with runners-up Claire-Marie Pepper (Nanango) and Brigitta Knopke (Kingaroy).
Lorraine Taylor (Murgon Show) was named as this year’s winner of the hotly contested Dark Rich Fruit Cake competition with Dianne Maudsley (Blackbutt Show) runner-up.
Other winners who will be representing the South Burnett at the Ekka this year are:
- Dairy Young Judges – Krystal Wardrop (Murgon Show)
- Dairy Young Handlers – Krystal Wardrop (Murgon Show)
- Stud Beef Young Judges – Georgia Graham (Murgon Show)
- Stud Beef Young Handlers – Brooke Parlane (Blackbutt Show)
- Prime Cattle Young Judges – Chloe Plowman (Proston Show)
Sub-Chamber president Lyle Hasselbach (Goomeri Show) thanked the competition’s sponsors: Ken Mills Toyota, Norco Stockfeeds, South Burnett Regional Council and TopX Murgon.
