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Horses on show

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When you’re at the Maldon & Baringhup Agricultural Show this Sunday, you’ll see local farmer Bill McKnight quietly going about his business as ringmaster: he’s in charge of the horse events. It’s not an easy job, with 100 to 140 horses competing in a range of events.

At the age of 87, is Bill the oldest ringmaster in Australia? Possibly! He’s also one of the most knowledgeable, with a great love of horses and a lifetime of working with them. The Times caught up with Bill and his wife Margaret out on their Nuggetty farm recently, to talk about horses in general and the Show in particular.

One of Bill’s first experiences with a horse wasn’t good; he was kicked in the head after wandering into a horse paddock when he was two years old. Growing up on a farm where horse teams were used instead of tractors meant that horses were always part of Bill’s life.

As a matter of course, Bill entered the horse events at the Maldon & Baringhup Show and from the age of nine or 10 he and a few other children used to ride their horses to shows in Castlemaine or Daylesford. This might mean an overnight stay, and then riding home the next day. Imagine giving young children that sort of freedom today!

But in those days, children grew up fast. “When I was 13 or 14, Dad was really crook,” Bill said. “I was probably supposed to go to school, but I stayed home to work the ground and sow a crop with a six-horse team.” He worked with a horse team up until the late 1950s. “I still hate driving tractors and trucks,” he said. “Give me horses any time.”

Bill, Margaret and their three daughters were a horse mad family. “I was the only one who didn’t ride,” Margaret said, “but I did more than my fair share of stable cleaning, feeding, grooming and going to horse events.” One of their daughters spent two years riding the show circuit in Europe and was thrilled to be given a tour of the Queen Mother’s stables – by the Queen Mother herself. And grandson Toby Collins is a rodeo rider who is competing on the USA circuit.

Working horses, race horses, ponies, campdraft horses – the McKnights have owned them all. Along the way, they started up the Maldon Campdraft in 1975 and have always been keen supporters of the Maldon & Baringhup Show. “The Show stopped for a bit in the 1980s – it just ran out of puff and there wasn’t enough room for it on the Bill Woodfull Reserve,” Bill said. “Ed Baker and Margaret were instrumental in getting it up and running again. It was shifted out to the old racecourse. We used a circus tent as the main pavilion at that Show. Since then, it hasn’t looked back.”

According to Bill, up until the early 1950s cattle and horses roamed the Nuggettys. “We used to catch horses up in the hills and break them in,” he said. “This happened right up until when the weir started.”

Bill’s horse days aren’t finished yet. When the Times asked how long it had been since he’d ridden a horse, he replied, “About half an hour ago!” And five years ago, he and his mate Morrie Oxley drove a horse team to Jeparit – a trip that took almost a week.

As far as country shows go, Bill believes that the Maldon & District Agricultural Show is one of the best. “It’s a great little Show,” he said. “The sheep show is always very good and the community is really supportive with plenty to see in the pavilion. It’s a wonderful country day out for country people.”

A few words of wisdom from Bill, who has been around for long enough to have seen it all:

On the weather: “We’re in for a lot of rain, because it was wet at the new moon. If it comes in wet on a new moon, you’ve got a wet month. The Chinese at Eaglehawk gully held off planting vegetables until the new moon, to see if there was going to be a wet month. Old Jack Woodlock told me that.”

The fire risk this year: “The grass growth this year has been incredible. If a grass fire is started, say, by a camper at Hamilton’s Crossing, it’ll go from there to Kyneton on a windy day before it stops. It frightens me.”

Make sure you visit the Maldon & Baringhup Agricultural Show this Sunday, with free entry and activities for children. The gate opens at 9am at the Racecourse reserve, just off the Bendigo Road.

Tarrangower Times 14 October 2022

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 14 October 2022.

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