You smell it before you see it. The distinctive aroma of hay and livestock mixed with a smorgasbord of fast food, corn-on-the-cob and beer. The air is filled with piercing screams from sideshow alley and the shrieks of overexcited children who’ve had too much fairy floss and seen animals they never knew existed. There is nothing quite like the Sydney Royal Easter Show. It’s where rural Australia meets the city, and – whether breeding animals for show, displaying their astonishing skill in woodchopping, jam-making and cake decorating, or whipping up 4000 scones in a morning – women have always been here.
The Sydney Royal Easter Show is the largest annual ticketed event in Australia and perhaps also the oldest. The pillars of the colony (Samuel Marsden et al) formed the Agricultural Society of NSW in 1822 and the first show was held in Parramatta the following year. By 1869 it was attracting 37,000 city and country folk annually and Queen Victoria allowed the ‘Royal’ prefix to be added in 1891.
In its early decades women’s contributions were largely confined to the “feminine arts” and the shocking “best servant” category. In 1905 a Women’s Industries section was introduced, which earned its own pavilion two years
