Hobart Show bringing the country life to the city

There is a “50-50 chance” that the entire Royal Hobart Show will return to its traditional home next year.

Whether it returns to the Hobart Showground in Glenorchy in 2026 or 2027, organisers were keen for the first whole event back there to deliver something that was “new and contemporary”.

Since 2022, the annual event has been held across multiple locations and dates while the Showground has been redeveloped.

While the cattle sections took place at the Showground this year - the bulk of the attractions were at the Regatta Grounds, while the equestrian events were held at Acton Park and Brighton hosted the rabbit competitions.

Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania (RAST) CEO Scott Gadd said that while he hoped the 2026 event would be held entirely at the Showground, that was not guaranteed.

“The buildings will certainly be up, but I’m not 100 per cent certain the fit out and peripheral infrastructure – so the paths, lighting, parking, security and fire stuff inside the buildings – will be at a point where we’ll be able to get an occupancy certificate,” Mr Gadd said.

“It’s a bit hard to know if we’ll have it ready in time for next October.”

Mr Gadd said that even if it did not fully return to the Showground in 2026, more events could still be held at the venue during next year’s edition.

“We’ll be able to run them in a building at the showground, but it would have to be behind closed doors.

“We’ll try to bring back as many of the competitions, but they will still be at different times of the year.

“But that would enable us to test the facilities and work out a few things.

“The only one that might not come back to the Showground would be equestrian because we don’t know if the arena will be ready by then.”

If the event does not fully return to the Showground next year, Mr Gadd said it was likely that the Regatta Grounds would be utilised again.

“We’d prefer to go there but I don’t know what the status of that location would be next October.

“We’d need to look at the impact of the Macquarie Point development and what that means for having a show there.”

Mr Gadd said that there were other options if the Regatta Grounds were not available for the 2026 Royal Hobart Show and the Showground was not ready.

“We looked at quite a few locations when we started this multilocation edition, but none of them were ideal.

“The Regatta Grounds was the better one and it’s not ideal either.

“The problem is you need infrastructure, you need buildings and you need cover for weather, and it's hard to find sites that have facilities that aren’t very well utilised.”

Pembroke Park at Sorell was one of the potential locations flagged for the show.

“We could do a lot of things down there - including horses – but we’d have to work around the cricket, soccer, equestrian and pony clubs,” Mr Gadd said.

“There are other venues we can use, but they all come with their complications and complexities.”

Mr Gadd said he was excited to see the show fully return to the Showground, whether that was in 2026 or 2027.

“We’ve learned a lot on this journey, so we’re going to pack a lot into that first show back on this site.

“It’s our one opportunity to reinvent and reimagine the show, cast off perceptions that it’s old and tired, and deliver something pretty fantastic, new and contemporary - but still a celebration of agriculture.”

With the Royal Hobart Show competing with a raft of other large-scale events around the state, Mr Gadd said public expectations put more pressure on RAST to “deliver something iconic”.

“That means things like Bluey and Paw Patrol where we spend big bucks to get those big-name kids’ acts.

“We want to fill it up full of lots of interesting stuff and different entertainment stages but then drift it into a festival of agriculture - so a celebration of the fine food and products that Tasmania produces, and a celebration of the opportunities that exist.”

Mr Gadd said organisers would try to bring the bush to the city.

“But we’ll do it in a more vibrant and dynamic way, which you need to do to appeal to the next generation - so it’s a mix of the old and new.

“There’s some stuff we do well and that gives us a critical point of difference – like the animal competition, so we still see that as the heart of the show.

“The rest of the show, we need to evolve it and make it more appealing to everyone.”

Neville Fenton ran the beef cattle section at this year’s Hobart Show and said he hoped that entry numbers would pick back up once the whole event returns to the Showground.

“People are a bit hesitant because they are not sure what the facilities are going to be like when they get here.”

Cloverside Murray Greys has taken out the Supreme Exhibit in the beef cattle section of this year’s Royal Hobart Show with a cow that is the niece of the 2023 winner.

With the show split across multiple venues, Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania (RAST) CEO Scott Gadd said more than 50,000 people attended the three-day event.

The Showgrounds in Glenorchy - which is in the midst of a major redevelopment – hosted the cattle, goat, sheep and cat competitions.

Other competition sections took place at the Pontville Memorial Hall at Brighton and the Tasmanian Equestrian Centre at Acton Park.

Cloverside Murray Greys owner Kaitlyn Wilton said she was shocked to win the Supreme Exhibit with Zephr V3, two years after taking out the same gong with Zephr T2.

“Normally, we will try to beat the other Murray Greys without stressing too much about beating the other breeds,” Ms Wilton said.

“But it’s a bonus going out and beating every other breed that was in the show.”

Ms Wilton said she believed Zephr V3 was “the complete package”.

“She’s got the right structure, the right amount of carcass, is not out of proportion, and is quite smooth and feminine through the front.

“She’s everything that I think any breeder would love in their own females, especially for the British breeds.”

Along with the other cows that Cloverside Murray Greys showed, Ms Wilton said it was an opportunity to display its breeding program.

“Showing is basically just advertising.

“We’re showing what we’re trying to do in our stud.

“And hopefully, then we can sell bulls and females of high standard into the commercial and stud industry.”

Three out of the four Cloverside Murray Greys cattle that took part in the Royal Hobart Show were from the Zephr family line.

“It’s showing what the line is doing in our herd and the quality they’re bringing,” Ms Wilton said.

“We will definitely try to keep the Zephr line going.”

Neville Fenton from RAST said more than 50 beef cattle competed at this year’s show.

“Our judge from Queensland commented that even though the numbers were low, the quality was high from what he saw – and he’s judged something like 20 royal shows around the country,” Mr Fenton said.

“The set-up was only a makeshift thing, but it came up really well.

“We also used sawdust instead of straw in the sheds, which is probably a better way of doing it.”

On the first day of the cattle section, there was also a celebration of the Highland breed - complete with a Scottish dance routine and bagpipes.

The sheep section of the Royal Hobart Show took place two weeks earlier, with Campania Suffolk sheep breeder Brett Stokes watching on with pride as one of his Noble-Lee ewes stood out over the rams to take out Supreme Exhibit.

“He was a very good show ram that won at many shows, including Royal Melbourne,” Mr Stokes said.

“I only had three straws left from that ram and I decided to AI three ewes, resulting in three rams from two of the ewes - the quality of his progeny is still evident.”