Clockwise from top left: Les Fraser with the ball at 1981 Qld Polocrosse Championships; BEN, the first ASH stallion registered in the Central Queensland area; Australian Stock Horses in Western Australia; Mick Murphy riding Les Tones’ stallion MASTER JACK.
The Australian Stock Horse Society in Far North Queensland
After the Society had formed in the south of the country, word was slowly filtering through to the north about this new horse registration. The first involvement of North Queensland was when South Queensland classifiers were asked to visit the Charters Towers area, and they classified horses in 1972. The Charters Towers branch formed later that same year, it being the first branch to form in North Queensland. Soon after, classifiers were appointed within the Charters Towers branch, and these early classifiers found themselves very busy, and needed to use aeroplanes to cover the country and keep up with the demand of people wanting their horses classified.
Interest in the Australian Stock Horse Society spread outwards like a wave, and horse people would arrange for classifiers to visit their area to inspect horses. In that manner Branches were formed in Townsville, Hinchinbrook, Carpentaria, Far North Queensland, Mackay, Rockhampton, and Whitsunday. These branches were formed by 1976, and most of them were formed using the help of those original classifiers of Charters Towers Branch. Cape York and Tablelands Branch was later formed in 1989.
In early times in the Society there was no separate area known as North Queensland. The Queensland Division of the Society had its office in Brisbane, with Secretary Arthur Clothier, and Queensland registrations and memberships were processed
through that office in early days. The Board later closed the Queensland office and all correspondence was then processed at Head Office in Scone. Queensland was represented by four directors at that time, and they all lived in South Queensland.
Queensland was found to be a diverse state, with southern horse interests differing from the pursuits of their northern cousins, and both north and south areas needed their own Board representatives. The state was split into North Queensland and South Queensland along the Tropic of Capricorn, with those bordering Branches along the dividing line having the option to belong to either north or south at their discretion. Rockhampton Branch elected to be part of the north, while Central Western Branch opted to belong to the south. As a flow-on of the state being split, each area was allowed their own management council, and the North Queensland Management Council was formed in April, 1984.
President and Secretary of the then Queensland Management Council, Tony Bloodworth and Kelsey Fitzgerald, both travelled north to Charters Towers for the occasion and to offer their assistance in the initial formation of NQMC. Ernest Bassingthwaighte and Margie Rae were elected as the inaugural president and secretary of NQMC. At that time there were 2,595 financial members in North Queensland.
The two areas agreed to have a joint meeting every year at Dalby following the annual ASH Approved Sale, and northern delegates travelled to have a joint meeting with their southern
Australian Stock Horse Society 1971- 2011 13