The team of six beautiful bay draught horses arrived at the Kyabram Showgrounds in their own $280,000 pantechnicon from Melbourne. On arrival, the horses were unloaded and hitched up at the showgrounds.
From there the team of Clydesdales paraded down Allan St, through the shopping centre, and pulling up alongside the three hotels — the Kyabram Hotel, Albion Hotel and Commercial Hotel.
The horses were based in the Melbourne suburb of Ascot Vale and spent 30 to 35 weeks on the road in Australia.
Driver Mike Thill was a team member in 1989, and said they visited shows and festivals and went to pubs free of charge to create publicity with a large support crew.
This Clydesdale team was headed by a 19-year-old male, and the youngest horse was a fresh-faced six-year-old.
It was an elite group where all horses had to have a top temperament, stand 17 hands tall, be bay in colour and display four white socks with a white blaze.
The dray with the kegs on it also attracted a lot of interest. The dray was built in 1935 and restored in 1982.
In 1989 there were two teams of Clydesdales in Australia — the other was based in a $1.5 million showpiece pavilion at the Sydney Showground.
● Compiled by Eileen Sullivan, Kyabram Historical Society voluntary librarian.
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