Winter in Australia
What can you do for entertainment during the winter in Australia? Hundreds of spectators descended on Australian outback town Marree to watch an annual camel race. Camels with “a bit of fire in them” raced in a remote Australian outback town this weekend at an annual event celebrating the desert beasts first imported in the mid-19th century. Hundreds of spectators descended on Marree, which has a population of 65 and lies nearly 370 miles north of the South Australian capital Adelaide, for a 13-race spectacle on Saturday known as the Marree Camel Cup. The Boulia Camel Races are race held annually every July. Sometimes called the Melbourne Cup of camel racing, the event is home to the Boulia Camel Cup, the longest camel race in Australia run over 1500 meters, just about a one mile course. Additional entertainment throughout the event include a camel tagging competitions, yabby races, fireworks, children’s amusements, live entertainment and novelty races including the ‘Great Australian Ride-on Lawnmower Race’.
More than 10,000 camels were imported into Australia from 1840, many of them released into the wild with the development of railways and then the arrival of motor vehicles in the 1920s. Now, estimates of the wild camel population range from 300,000 to a million animals. Trainer Kyrraley Woodhouse, who started camel racing professionally in 2013, said most of her camels had been taken from the wild to run in the Marree event, which drew more than a dozen competitors. Picking the right animal is key. “You would want a little bit of temper, a little bit of fire in them — a sort of splashy look in the eye,” Woodhouse told AFP. “They want to be wary of you a little bit but not, like, aggressive,” she added. “We want something sort of like a racehorse, a little bit high strung, a little bit forward — something that’s got a heart, that’s going to run.” This year’s Marree Camel Cup winner was Young Gun, ridden by Patrick Dennis.
Muslim cameleers, many from Afghanistan and other parts of Central and South Asia, were brought to Australia in the 1860s to harness the animals for transport in the arid interior, and some of their descendants remain in Marree. Wild camels in the outback compete with stock for food, destroy fences, foul waterholes and damage Indigenous cultural sites. Camel numbers are kept in check by mustering, shooting and trapping at water points. Australia also exports a small number of live camels Malaysia and Indonesia.
Camel comedy
I find it strange how everyone suddenly cares about straws harming dolphins,
They’ve been breaking camels’ backs for years.
Did you know that camels aren’t indigenous to Australia? They were shipped there by the British. Oddly enough, so were the Australians.
What do you call a camel with three humps?
Humphrey.
A camel walks into a bar and orders a free drink.
The bartender says, “Another one? That’s the third one this month!”
June 29th Birthdays
1962 – Sharon Lawrence, 1983 – Lilly Rabe, 1990 – Jasmine Richards, 1993 – Angela & Amy Lakeberg
1919 – Slim Pickens, 1994 – George Sampson, 1960 – John Elway, 1991 – Kawhi Leonard