This long weekend has many events on, and the Barrellan Good Old Days Festival is always a popular annual event attracting thousands to the small hamlet. Australian records are set to be broken with the greatest number of camels pulling a laden wool wagon and a new 21st century Australian record for the largest working bullock team. Organised by the Barellan Working Clydesdales committee, the Good Old Days Festival is the biggest tourism event in the Narrandera Shire contributing over $1 million to the regional economy and this year will be held on October 2-4 at the Barellan showground. The festival drew global attention in 2025 for setting a new Australian record of 62 heavy horses pulling an Australian built Bennett wagon, weighing 10 tonnes, and laden with wool bales. Visitors this year will experience a unique sight not seen in regional Australia for almost a century. Bullockies Phil Thomson, Ron McKinnon, Matt Stanford, Rohan Morris, Darcy Quinn and Joey Reedy will drive a large composite team of bullocks pulling a loaded six-tonne wagon to eclipse their 21st century Australian record of 40 bullocks set in 2025. The bullock team will be accompanied by a large team of camels pulling a loaded wagon and driven by cameleers Rodney Sansom, Oakfield Ranch, Anna Bay, NSW, and Peter Hodge, Shepparton, Victoria. They will be setting out to break the existing Australian record of 22 camels harnessed to a loaded wagon set by Mr Sansom and his team in 2024. The camel teams will be accompanied by an international delegation from the Texas Camel Corps and North American Camel Ranch Owners Association. Visitors will also be able to listen to masterclasses on side saddle equitation with Vanessa Wells, using pack horses with Brad Taylor, see a wheelwrighting display, compete in the gum leaf whistling, beard/moustache competition and Barellan Hobby Horse Championships, or enter the competition for the best damper baked in a caravan across the festival week. Barellan Working Clydesdales secretary Fiona Kibble said the festival had undergone rapid organic growth and reached a point of maturity in 2025 with a new three-day format and global recognition. “It is exciting times not only for the committee but also for Barellan and the Narrandera Shire to have such a unique, pioneering event – the only one of its kind in the world where visitors can see horses, camels, bullocks, donkeys, mules and goats all working in harness on-site,” Ms Kibble said. “Always evolving, our program includes many tangible exciting experiences for all family members where they can see, hear, touch and taste our pioneer heritage. “Our Friday program is quite different to the Saturday and Sunday events but our popular grand parade through the main street of Barellan remains.”
