It’s a glorious spring day in tiny Ardlethan where almost 1000 people have gathered for the annual show.

That’s about three times the usual population of the village, situated between Temora and Griffith, about three hours drive from Canberra.

If you stumbled into Ardlethan’s 102nd show, you’d find it encompasses every feature – and cliche – that makes this type of bush event so special.

What’s different this year is that all three members of the show committee are women.

In her first term as president, Pauline Beard is excited as cars, utes and four wheel drives, many pulling horse floats, trundle in.

The horses are soon throwing up plumes of fine red dust as team penning gets under way.

You might know it as camp drafting but it is now taking off and is easily the most exciting event on this show’s schedule.

Teams of three riders face a dozen cattle. The cows wear collars, bearing one of four colours.

The team of Phoebe McGregor, Rob McMahon and Jenna King enter the ring and are told blue is their target group.

They must cut out the three cows with blue collars from the main group and push them to the other end of the ring and into a pen within 90 seconds. When the whistle blows, the lead rider – Jenna is the most experienced member in this team – charges at the small herd, which is packed tightly into a corner of the rectangular yard.

Her horse darts left and right, again and again, until one cow with a blue collar is persuaded to head to the other end of the ring.

When all three selected beasts have been cut out, the riders push them into a pen – or not.

The cattle don’t always perform on cue and if too many with the wrong colour collars rush up towards the pen, the team is disqualified.

Today, the two most experienced teams in the competition manage to cut and pen the cattle in about 40 seconds. It’s fast and furious action all day.

Meanwhile, the tractors are blowing smoke and the hacks are being prepared for dressage.

With all the bustling activity, the Ardlethan show is a photographer’s version of the proverbial lolly shop.
Take the American 1904 Buffalo Pitts steam traction engine. Its restoration has been the work of a lifetime for Tim Langley from Leeton.

The intricate machine suddenly clanks into motion, to take part in the ‘‘tractor pull’’, a show of strength against others, some almost as ancient.

The action is more gentle over on the dressage arena, where Galloway hacks are being led out.

Four rings are operating today, split between jumping and dressage.

By noon the crowd in the pavilions is growing, with locals nodding knowingly at the prize-winning entries.

The smocking and quilting is popular and the competition among the cooks is fierce.

‘‘Oh yeah, it’s cutthroat, good old country show, our cooks out here are all competing,’’ Beard says.

‘‘And look at this day – it couldn’t have been any better, it is absolutely beautiful but sometimes on show day it’s freezing and sometimes it’s stinking hot.’’

She says people come to a country show for the atmosphere. ‘‘The show appeals to the older generation because they love to come back and see people,’’ she says.

‘‘For the ones who have moved away, it’s sort of like their annual event, to come home and see what’s happening in the district, and because it’s a farming community, they ask about how the crops are going and whatever.’’

Wheat and sheep are the staples of the billiard table top flat plains out here in regional and rural Australia. The farmers also grow barley and lupins and the broad swathes of yellow signal healthy canola crops.

Ardlethan was established in the 19th century after gold was discovered but the gold mining was short-lived.

The railway line opened in 1908. Passenger services stopped in 1983 but the line remains open for goods trains.

In 1961 tin mining began and continued until 1986 and at one time was the largest operation in NSW. The mine was re-opened in 2001 but closed three years later when the operating company was put into voluntary liquidation.

The village is now a service centre in the heart of the Riverina for the surrounding wheat and lamb properties. It is no surprise that wheat silos are the most prominent landmark.

Ardlethan says it is the birthplace of the Australian kelpie, a claim disputed by Casterton. There’s a bronze memorial of a kelpie in one of Ardlethan’s two parks and a Kelpie Dog Festival is held in March.

Down at the dusty showground, the sun dips low and visitors are leaving, but the outdoor bar is doing a roaring trade.