The sun shone brightly for Quilpie's annual show

The former location of the shire hall was brought into action again as rain delays meant that the renovated Bulloo Park wasn’t ready in time for the deluge of produce displayed by locals near and far.

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis was in town to open the show, making his first visit to Quilpie to explore old family connections.

Not only was his father a jackaroo on Comongin but his wife’s family were the property’s original settlers of the property in 1882.

Together with his son they paid a visit to the grave of the Senator’s great great uncle on the property.

“I’ve always wanted to visit and now here I am,” Senator Brandis said.

He also visited Eromanga and the Natural History Museum and said he understood the importance of building tourism in the Quilpie shire and beyond.

“It’s something I’ll be raising with Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo, and talking about opportunities for outback tourism,” he said.

Whynot and Moble stations were among the winners in the wool section at the Quilpie show.

A fleece weight of over 7kg helped Brian and Kylie Rutledge to the highest commercial fleece ribbon, with a value of $78.35.

The property has received 340mm so far this year, over its yearly average of 300mm and Brian feels that for them, the drought is over.

They are down to 35 per cent of normal numbers but are confident of a 110 per cent lambing from their Mumblebone bloodline ewes.

“We’ve bought in a few but this country breeds very well,” he said. “We’ve tried to look after the few sheep we had.”

Michael and Louise Hall at Whynot, also on Mumblebone blood, showed the grand champion fleece of the show and also received high point and elite wool prizes.