A rural community embraces its diversity with a festival celebrating culture…and camels.
CLOSE YOUR EYES for a moment and listen. There’s the hum of a didgeridoo, splutter of a chainsaw, acoustic twang of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the shrill call of a bagpipe. “They’re quick out of the barriers today,” a race-caller spruiks, and then there’s a low animal sound you can’t quite place. Now take note of the smells – definitely something animal, motorbike fumes, spicy curry, freshly baked bread.
Confused? Now open your eyes. You’re face to face with a woolly-headed camel as it gurgles and groans, a race-caller is chasing yabbies, someone is performing a haka and two mad motorcyclists are preparing to enter a steel-meshed Globe of Death.
You’ve found yourself at the Tara Festival of Culture and Camel Races.
It’s hard to arrive at one word to encapsulate this festival, which is held every two years in the rural town of Tara on the Western Downs of southern Queensland. Madcap springs to mind; eclectic comes close; kaleidoscopic, perhaps. But, while the senses and vocabulary are reeling, it’s fair to say it’s one hell of a show.
Country strong
Tara is renowned for agricultural and pastoral activities, particularly prime hard-wheat production. It has a population of little more than 2000, fewer than half of whom live in town. In the 1980s some of the area’s agricultural land was subdivided into small rural acreages, or lifestyle blocks, leading to an influx of new residents – although it was nothing compared with festival time, when the population soars to 16,000.
この記事は Australian Geographic Magazine の July - August 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Australian Geographic Magazine の July - August 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
SULAWESI SENSATIONS
There are worlds within worlds and marvels untold waiting to be experienced on Indonesia's remote islands.
SEARCHING FOR AUSSIE DINOSAURS
Our understanding of where to find ancient life in Australia has been turned on its head by a new appreciation of the country's geology. Now the world is looking to our vast outback as the latest hotspot to locate fossils.
THE HARDEST NIGHT
The first Australian ascent of Mt Everest in 1984 is one of the great feats of mountaineering. Climbed by a small team semi-alpine style, with no bottled oxygen, via the Great (Norton) Couloir, it remains unrepeated 40 years later.
WEDGE-TAILED WONDER
The chance discovery of an eagle nest leads to an extended vigil observing normally hidden behaviours of one of nature's supreme winged marvels.
BURDENED BY BEAUTY
Northern Australia's Gouldian finch survives in huge numbers in cages around the world, but its wild population continues to struggle.
A TELESCOPE FOR A GOLDEN AGE
After a stellar 50 years as one of the country's major scientific assets, the AAT continues to play a major role in keeping Australian astronomy on the world stage.
COCKY WHISPERING AT COOMALLO CREEK
This patch of remnant bush on the edge of the West Australian wheatbelt is a place loved by one of Australia's rarest bird species and the man who has studied the site for more than 50 years.
A PIONEERING PAIR
Louisa Atkinson and her mother, Charlotte, were among Australia's earliest authors, and pioneers in women's rights.
THE LONGEST WALK
Lucy Barnard is walking from Argentina to Alaska -the length of the Americas - on an extraordinary journey of endurance and adventure.
SECLUDED, BUT NOT ALONE
In an era of heightened social isolation, where many of us lead lonely lives, Dangar Island offers the chance to be part of a supportive, connected community.
