4000 people attended the three day annual Festival and Get Together at Merrijig. The theme for the weekend was 'don’t forget our history and heritage' and the pioneer parade was held on Saturday and was a crowd stopper.
Nonstop entertainment and great company was celebrated by all. The event was attended by twelve Members of Parliament and Andrew Broad, president of the VFF.
During the parade on the main arena President of the MCAV Mark Coleman addressed the large crowd. He was joined by the State Minister for the Environment Ryan Smith and member for McMillan Russell Broadbent. A decision by Federal Minister Tony Burke, regarding Victoria’s application to conduct Alpine Grazing trials is pending. All speakers referred to this issue as there is great concern among the Mountain Cattlemen that the application will be rejected.
Winner of the Cattlemen's Cup on Sunday was Chris Connley from Benambra. Full results from the weekend will be posted shortly.
Chris Connley from Benambra leading the field and eventually winning the 2012 Mountain Cattlemen’s Cup
results - below or downloaded here
CATTLEMENS CUP
1ST – Chris Connley riding Seaspray
2nd – Anthony Gilbert riding Trouble
3rd – Brett Lancaster riding Fatty
4th – Jess Marchinton riding Tonka
JUNIOR CATTLEMENS CUP
1st – Rose Welhesley riding Maz
2nd – Lachie Culican riding Iron bark
3rd – Jye Hodgkin riding Tom
4th – Sophie Clark riding Musical Bree
OPEN RACE
1st – Tom King riding Sunny
2nd – BJ Britton riding Amaroo
3rd – Kane Lovick riding Kip
4th – Ross Hodgkin riding Tom
OPEN BUSHMANS CHALLENGE
1st – John Conroy and Ben Kneebone
2nd – Reiley Murtagh and Tod
3rd – Ducky and Hugh
LADIES BUSHMANS CHALLENGE
1st – Tania and Lauren Seymour
2nd – Jacqueline Davies and Emi East
3rd – Diana Hurley and Kathy Gabriel
JUNIOR PACKHORSE RACE
1st – Kerrie-Anne Forge with Darby and Red
2nd – Tahnee Olsson (Horses not supplied)
3rd – Sophie Clark with Vick and Cougar
4th – Jade Clark with Rossco and Sprit
LADIES PACKHORSE RACE
1st – Ellen Forge with Darby and Big Fella
2nd – Anne-Maree Forge with Merrie and Red
3rd – Sharlee Connley with Cody and Charlie
OPEN PACKHORSE RACE
1st – Graham Forge with Morrie and Sebastian
2nd – David Olsson (Horses not supplied)
3rd – Mitchell Ward (Horses not supplied)
4th – Darren Williams with Indi and Middy
JUNIOR WHIPCRACKING
1st – Katie Faithfull
2nd – Jade Clark
3rd – Sarah Faithfull
JUVENILE WHIPCRACKING
1st – Emi East
2nd – Jacqueline Davies
3rd – Paige Williams
LADIES WHIPCRACKING
1st – Diana Hurley
2nd – Emma Higgins
3rd – Emi East
OPEN WHIPCRACKING
1st – Diana Hurley
2nd – Paige Williams
3rd – Andrea Cook
SPRINT RACE
1st – Jo Stevens riding Doolan Gem
2nd – Tina Eason riding Irish Affection
3rd – Jessica Eason riding Bell
WALKING RACE
1st – Ross Hodgkin riding Hooker
2nd – Don Evendon riding Belgo Boy
3rd – Darren Williams riding Indi
4th – Ethan Ryan riding Apache
RESCUE RACE
Winners – Jo Stevens and Tom King
RELAY RACE
1st – Team Tulla
2nd – Forge Family
3rd – The A Team
DOUBLE TROUBLE
1st – Teagan
2nd – Sophie Clark
MULGA BILL BICYCLE RACE
1st – Nathon Johnson
2nd – John Gramlick
3rd – Joe Bolton
DOG HIGH JUMP
1st – George owned by Hugh Mawhinney
2nd – Barkley owned by Shonnie Malfroy
MENS HAYSTACKING
Winners – John Conroy and Jake Lowe
LADIES HAYSTACKING
Winners – Zan and Kass
OPEN TUG-O-WAR
Winners – Raw Meat
LADIES TUG-O-WAR
Winners – A & A’s
PHOTO COMPETITION
1st – Laura Savige “Rider and packhorse”
2nd – Deb McCormack “Cattle coming down in the snow”
3rd – Howard James “Stockyard Creek”
POETRY COMPETITION
Don Kneebone Howard James $1,000.00
Jack Treasure Nerallie Teese $250.00
Bill Hicks Col Millican $250.00
Peter McCormack Nerallie Teese $150.00
Jim Commins Sally Commins $250.00
Mick Walsh NO Entry $250.00
Laurence Webb Kate Crombie $50.00
RAFFLE RESULTS
1st Prize – Unique MCAV Branded Bar Top -
Donated by Cattlemen
Winner - Penny Wallace
2nd Prize – Weekend Trail Ride for 2 people -
Donated by McCormack Mountain Valley Trail Rides
Winner - Bayden and Jackson Hill
3rd Prize – 2 Nights in Old Cattleman’s hut for 2 people inc half day horse ride -
Donated by Packers high Country Horse Riding
Winner - John Wright
4th Prize – MCAV Number Plate 075MCA -
Donated by MCAV
Winner - Matt V
5th Prize – 2 nights accommodation inc. spa for 2 people - Donated by Golden Age Hotel, Omeo
Winner - L Pettigrew.
POETRY COMPETITION WELL SUPPORTED
At the Merrijig Get Together over three hundred people came to watch the poetry heats where 2 contestants perform on the Mazda stage in the Don Kneebone Mountain Heritage Poetry Competition which carries over $2,000.00 in sponsorship over seven categories.
There were two local contestants - Val Kirley and newcomer, Ellen Hogan, both of Mansfield. The standards were high and the deliberations of the judges, Christine Kneebone, Graeme Hughes and Dennis Carstairs were understandably difficult in deciding the finalists.
During the early evening, the Mazda stage was wheeled onto the main arena for the finals.
Donna Petrovich, MP, as the main sponsor, awarded $1,000.00 to the Don Kneebone winner, Howard James from South Australia. Howard won the Jack Treasure last year. He intends to further his craft by making a CD of his songs which will include this year's and last year’s entries.
Other winners were Nerallie Teese who won this year's Jack Treasure Award of $250.00. The Jack Treasure is the runner up to the Don Kneebone and thanks go to Jim Treasure for his sponsorship. Nerallie also won the Peter McCormack Poet Laureate using the same poem as she recited and collected a further $150.00 in prize money. Col Millican is an established performance poet and he won the Bill Hicks Bush Minstrel sponsored by Jack Hicks for $250.00. This section also had established poet and former Don Kneebone winner, Val Kirley compete along with Kate Crombie.
Young Kate Crombie continues to win us all with her compositions and this year she again won the Laurence Webb Junior award of $50.00. There were two entrants in the new category the Jim Commins Oration sponsored by Chris Commins and the winner was Jim's granddaughter Sally Commins who delivered a political speech. Next year it is hoped there will also be entrants in the other new category, the Mick Walsh Tall Tales for short stories. This is sponsored for $250.00 by Jim Campbell.