20th Annual Show. 20th Annual Show. 20th Annual Show. 20th Annual Show. 20th Annual Show.
Great Southern Herald
22 October 1941
Nyabing Agricultural Society
20th Annual Show
Splendid Sheep and Hall Exhibits
The Nyabing Agricultural Society held Its 20th annual show on its ground at Nyabing on Saturday and achieved a remarkable degree of success. The outstanding features of the show were the sheep exhibits, about which the judge (Mr. P. C. Stone) commented very favourably, and the display in the exhibition hall, which in every section was the best so far staged by the Society.
The show was officially opened by the Hon. E. H. Gray, Assistant Minister for Employment. He was introduced by the President, Mr. E. F. Goodchild, who welcomed the Minister, Mrs. Gray and party to Nyabing, and also the member for the district, Mr. A. F. Watts, M.L.A., and the province member, Hon. H. V. Piesse, M.L..C.
Mr. Goodchild said that although circumstances were adverse, the committee had decided to hold the annual show, believing it was better to carry on than to go into recess, and he was glad to be able to announce that results had justified this determination. Entries had been good, and the exhibits were outstanding in their excellency.
It had been decided to delete the draught stock and cattle sections because of difficulty of transport through both shortage of farm labour and petrol restrictions. He regretted this necessity but looked forward to the time when these sections would again be featured at the Nyabing show. He thanked exhibitors for their support, and the public for their patronage. Particularly he desired to thank members of the committee for their work during the year and the ladies for their splendid catering.
The Minister said he was more than pleased to be present and thanked the Society for having invited him to open the show. He had been a little late in arriving but that was because he was getting acquainted with a gas producer. As a Minister he was pioneering the use of producer gas on his car, and the road of a pioneer was traditionally a hard one.
He congratulated Mr. Goodchild and the Society on its determination to carry on. The Empire was facing a crisis, and it was everyone’s duty to do all possible to help the nation win through to victory. But that did not mean that all usual activities were to cease. The Society was devoting the proceeds of the show to patriotic purposes and in that was assisting the war effort. The outlook was dark at the moment, and the war seemed to be getting closer to Australia, but one had to remember the darkest hour was just before the dawn. He had looked through the exhibits with the president and had been struck by the high standard of the sheep and the display in the hall. He had great pleasure in declaring the Nyabing Show opened.
Agricultural Hall
A vote of thanks to the Minister was moved by Mr. A. F. Watts, M.L.A., and seconded by the Hon. V. Piesse, M.L.C. Mr. Piesse took the opportunity of apologising for the absence of Hons. A. Thomson and H. L, Roche, M’s.L.C., who were attending a similar function at Kojonup, under an arrangement whereby district parliamentary representatives divided forces when possible.
The exhibition hall was none too large for the number of exhibits displayed. Wool occupied practically the whole of one set of benches, the fleeces throughout being well-grown, bright and sound and reflected the wonderful improvement over the years in the standard of wool from the district. The samples of hay were the best seen here for many years, and more numerous, indicative of the favourable crop season. Vegetables, too, were good and the display was easily the best yet shown at Nyabing.
Flowers were greatly in evidence, this notable fact about the display being that practically entirely they were from farm gardens. The cookery display was splendid and quite up to the standard set at a Nyabing show, which, is a high one. There was a more comprehensive display of dairy produce, with a large entry in the farm butter class. The children’s school work shared with needlework pride of place in the hall, and both were excellent. The exhibit of grains and hay, fertilisers, etc., staged by Mr. A. S. Wild, B. Sc., for the Department of Agriculture, was a striking one and attracted much attention.
The poultry exhibit, also, was good, and prizes were well distributed among local fanciers.
Commenting on the sheep exhibits, the judge, Mr. F. C. Stone, said the display was of high standard, with the ewe section ahead of the rams locally bred. This, in his opinion, was due to the fact that the district was rather late, and the young rams were not at their best until in their second year. He suggested that classes for rams should be allocated on an age basis (years) rather than the present, system of making the classes according to showing of teeth.
All locally bred sheep showed the effects of the indifferent season onwards from last shearing into the beginning of the year but had made a good recovery; the ewes seemingly having made a quicker recovery. He suggested that the class for pen of merino lambs should be for ewe lambs only, which would benefit breeding.
Referring to the prize winners, Mr. Stone said H. P. Cronin’s champion strong wool two-tooth ewe was a very good animal, showing all the characteristics of the strong wool breeding type. A. R. Hobart’s full-mouth strong wool ewe was an outstanding breeding ewe and very stylish.
In the medium and fine wool classes, A. R. Hobart’s six-tooth champion ram was a strikingly good type, as was the four-tooth ewe entered by the same breeder, which was of good shape and well covered. Mr. Hobart’s six-tooth merino ewe, which secured champion and grand champion awards was an outstanding sheep, well-proportioned and well balanced.
The judge congratulated S. W. Martyn for his entry in this class, which was very well covered and was beaten by a small margin on character in the wool. The full-mouth merino ewe, shown also by Mr. Martyn, was a splendid exhibit as were the pens of three merino lambs and merino ewe and lamb by the same breeder. He congratulated the Society of the standard of the sheep general.
Click HERE to a full list of trophy winners for the 1941 Nyabing Show.
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