Australian Rodeo - Riders

Riders

The early buckjumper riders were known as roughriders. Australian cowboys at that time were the youths or old men that handled the milking cows on stations and did general duties around the homestead.

Some of the top roughriders of the 1920s included Alan McPhee, Colin McLeod, Dan Edwards, Hilton McTaggart and Jack Stanton. In 1964 Queenslander, Doug Flanagan, became the first Australian to win a major competition when he won the bareback ride at the Calgary Stampede.

The Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft & Rodeo Association (ABCRA) members who are winners and placegetters in recognised events are awarded points that are used to determine inductees into the annual National Champions Hall of Fame. John Caban, Glenn Morgan, Ron Raynor and Kevin Cooper are among the most successful inductees with at least ten awards each. Top riders from the APRA include Bernie Smythe jnr., Bonnie Young, Vic Gough, Ray Crawford, John Duncombe, Doug Flannagan, Shane Kenny, Darren Clarke, Brad Pierce, Scott Fraser and Jim McGuire who was All-Round Champion Cowboy five times (1967, 1969, 1970, 1975 and 1976).

In 1988 Dave Appleton from Clermont, Queensland won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around Rodeo Championship in America. Bernie Smythe won Australian titles before gaining international successes during 1990 and 1992, in Canada, where he now lives. In 1997 and 1998 Australian, Troy Dunn became the top bull rider of the world. Glenn O'Neill from NSW, moved to the United States and dramatically increased his earnings there, before becoming the world champion bronco rider in 2002 and a runner-up the following year.

Carl Green from Walcha, New South Wales was a winner of the 2009 National High School Finals Rodeo “All Around Rookie Cowboy” at Farmington, New Mexico.

Violet Skuthorpe was an outstanding lady roughrider, who in 1938, was invited to join the McCoy’s Wild West Show in America and she (then 15) toured there along with her mother and brother Lance, 19. Also travelling with the show were three other Australians, Art Creasy, Jack Watson and Ron McPhee. Violet was billed as the “World’s Champion Lady Buckjump Rider” after the American tour. Kitty Gill, Gladys Gill and Beryl Riley were other notable lady roughriders. In 1947 the ARRA decided that women competitors should have their stirrups tied. It is estimated that there were about 20 to 25 women who regularly competing in about 1944 to 1951. Later more there were more women competing as rodeos became more popular. Nowadays the women's events consist of barrel racing, breakaway roping and steer undecorating. Marie Edwards won the ABCRA All-Round Cowgirl a record five times from 1988 to 1994.