Indigenous rodeo champions are set to be crowned at this week's third Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships, held as part of the annual Mount Isa Mines Rodeo.
Commencing Thursday and spanning four days, the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo - the southern hemisphere's largest rodeo and third largest rodeo in the world - attracts competitors from interstate and overseas to the regional Queensland city for a celebration of skill, competition and generational horsemanship.
First held in 2022, the Indigenous Rodeo Championships - which celebrates the contribution of Australia's Indigenous riders - will be held on Thursday, showcasing some of the nations top First Nations cowboys and cowgirls.
In an exciting addition to previous Indigenous Rodeo Championships programs, the inaugural Ah One x Church Family Trans-Tasman Indigenous Rodeo Challenge will also be held.
The additional competition will see some of the best Māori cowboys and cowgirls from New Zealand take on the Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo champions on Thursday night, a competition paying tribute to the legendary Ah One (Indigenous) and Church (Māori) families.
The same day, Rodeo Rock will see Torres Strait Islands singer-songwriter Christine Anu entertain spectators alongside country artist Kasey Chambers, with a cultural performance by the Sundowners Kalkutungu Dancers also on the event schedule.
The Mount Isa Mines Rodeo recently took out gold in the Festivals and Events Category at the Queensland Tourism Awards and won the recent National Reconciliation Awards (Partnerships), with the Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships determined to have generated $3,138,437 in direct and incremental expenditure, with $1,792,405 attributable to the Mount Isa economy.
Overall, an estimated $11,328,999 was spent in Queensland by overnight visitors to the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo last year.
Isa Rodeo Limited chief executive Natalie Flecker said the figures show the value of the flagship event to the Mount Isa region.
"These latest figures are important because they put real value on the efforts of the whole community to create a world class event," Ms Flecker said.
"It takes community support, hard work, perseverance, an enormous logistics operation, pride, passion, positive energy and a determination to never lose sight of the vision forged by our rodeo forefathers.
"That vision was set in 1959 by a group of people with passion and an intrinsic sense of potential who formed the Mount Isa Rodeo. Their aim was to put the new, remote town of Mount Isa on the map and raise funds for charity organisations in the new city.
"Today, through 65 years of whip-cracking dedication, the Rodeo has evolved into an event of legendary status that this year included the Bell and Moir Toyota Rodeo Arena Ball, the Isa Rodeo Hall of Fame Dinner, Mount Isa City Councils' Isa Street Festival, the third Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships and the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo."
Queensland Minister for Tourism and Sport, Michael Healy, said this year's Mount Isa Mines Rodeo will certainly be one to remember and projected to inject more than $12 million into the region's visitor economy.
"I can't wait to get that famous red dust on my boots and celebrate 65 years of the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo," Mr Healy said.
"Watching champions return to battle it out for the famous buckles, seeing newcomers become legends, and juniors rise up to carry on the important legacy of rodeo in the Outback."
The Mount Isa Mines Indigenous Rodeo Championships is supported by the Queensland government, with the Mount Isa Rodeo Festival supported through Tourism and Events Queensland.
