The decision overnight to postpone the Tokyo Olympic Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic may force organisers of the Ekka to make an early call on whether the iconic Queensland show will be cancelled for only the third time in its 144-year history.

With organisers of Queensland’s largest annual event saying they will be tight-lipped on a decision until June, longstanding supporters and suppliers contacted by InQueensland said they weren’t expecting the show to go ahead in August.

Established in 1876 and run by the RNA, the Royal Queensland Show, or Ekka as it is more affectionately called by locals, has run every year except for 1919 due to the Spanish flu pandemic and in 1942 when the Brisbane Showgrounds were used as a World War II depot.

As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, closing state borders within Australia, shutting down travel, restricting movement of people and sending the economy spiralling, few experts are expecting the disruption or the threat of infections lifting by the time of the Ekka’s start date on August 7.

Faced with its own dismal set of factors and deteriorating forecasts, the International Olympic Committee bowed to overwhelming pressure last night to set the Games back to summer in 2021, originally scheduled for July 24-August 9.

That’s near the time when Ekka organisers would be expecting to see more than 400,000 visitors begin to stream through the Bowen Hills showgrounds over the ten-day event.

Agricultural shows large and small, including Australia’s biggest, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, have been early casualties as coronavirus infections accelerate and physical distancing restrictions are tightened.

One of the Ekka’s biggest rural stakeholders, the Rural Press Club of Queensland, which hosts an annual breakfast at the show of more than 700 people, is continuing to press ahead until further notice.

“The Rural Press Club is well into negotiations with our proposed Ekka speaker but we understand the COVID-19 situation is changing quickly and that, at this stage, it is extremely difficult to predict how the rest of the year will unfold,” club president Stacey Wordsworth said.

“We’ll continue to work closely with our friends at the Ekka through this process so that the best outcome for public health and our community is achieved.”

One Ekka supplier, who would normally have multiple installations across the grounds each year, said the advice from the RNA a week ago indicated the show would proceed.

“But a lot has changed in a week,” the supplier, who asked not to be named, said.

“It’s anything but business as usual. Normally we would have our quotations submitted by late January or early February and then we’d start seeing jobs booked and operational site meetings held at this stage of the year. All of that activity is currently on hold.”

On pause also is the Australian Charolais Society’s plans for a major international congress coinciding with the Ekka stud beef cattle competition.

A significant beef breed used extensively throughout Queensland and the world, the Charolais brand was expected to feature prominently at this year’s Ekka helping to attract nearly 200 delegates from across Australia and overseas to an event last held here in 1992.

The society’s general manager Colin Rex said a decision on the event’s future would be announced on Thursday (March 26) and taken independently of the RNA’s plans.

“There was enormous interest from around the Charolais world in this conference and we were all looking forward to it, but without pre-empting the board’s decision, it’s all looking very shaky,” Rex said.

Stud cattle in doubt

While Brisbane show-goers know the Ekka for its showbags, fireworks and rides, it’s still an agricultural show at heart. Its line-up of stud beef breeding cattle is considered one of the finest examples of genetic depth and quality to be found anywhere in the world.

One of Australia’s best-known stud cattle breeders, Andrew Bassingthwaighte, has made the call not to take stud cattle to Brisbane this year.

He said his decision was in anticipation of the event being cancelled but also protecting his staff from potential exposure to the virus if the event was to carry on against the odds.

A well-known face on the stud cattle circuit, Andrew Bassingthwaighte (left) won’t be in the Ekka’s main arena this year. Photo: Rodney Green.

If the Ekka does go ahead, it will be the first time in nearly 50 years that stud cattle from the Bassingthwaighte family’s Yarrawonga Santa Gertrudis stud at Wallumbilla, near Roma, will not be appearing in the main arena.

He believes stud breeders all over Queensland and interstate are now making similar decisions.

“There’s no way in the world I think it’s going to be on,” Bassingthwaighte said.

“We have some commercial cattle going forward on feed in preparation for the carcase competitions but we’ll have no stud team.”

RNA chief executive Brendan Christou said his organisation was taking the advice and guidance of health authorities and government agencies before coming to a firm decision in mid-June.

“Deferring a decision until closer to the timing of the Ekka is due to the ever-changing nature of the novel coronavirus pandemic recommendations and mandates advised by the Federal and State Governments on a daily and sometimes hourly basis,” he said.

“Considering this, planning is continuing for the show, we are working very closely with government and monitoring the situation daily.”