XTREME BULLS PRO TOUR FINALS.

 THE Xtreme Bulls Pro Tour finals will be held at the K Ranch arena at Mt Hunter, New South Wales, this weekend.

Regular Xtreme Bulls events have been held around the nation in the past year.

The title buckles will be presented to the rider with the highest average over the two days of the finals.

Junior steer rides are from 4.30pm AEDT Saturday and noon AEDT Sunday.

The open bull rides will be at 6pm AEDT Saturday and 2pm AEDT Sunday.

All stock have been provided by Eddie and Malcolm Gill from Gill Brothers Rodeo at Upper Horton in New South Wales.

After this weekend, the next Australian Professional Rodeo Association rodeo will be a championship points rodeo at Wynyard, Tasmania, on November 24.

Hall of Fame Inductions

FOUR cowboys and three rodeo associations were inducted into the Australian Rodeo Heritage Centre Hall of Fame during the Warwick Rodeo.

The heritage centre is open on weekdays and has a display on each of the events in the APRA. The head office of APRA is part of the heritage centre.

Bob Holder from Cootamundra, New South Wales, was inducted into the hall of fame after a career than continues  on and on.

He still competes at the Mt Isa Rodeo in team roping at age 87.

Holder travelled to America to compete with Ray Crawford, Chilla Seeney and Robin Yates in 1959 and all impressed in the rodeo ring and were popular with the American crowds.

Kalbar (Qld) competitor Pat Speedy is one of the best bullfighters of all time and was a worthy inductee.

He had a combination of comedy and brilliant footwork that the crowds loved.

Speedy saved many cowboys from a charging bull and also contracted bucking bulls.

Wally Woods was a past president of the Australian Rough Riders Association, now APRA, and won state, national and world championships.

He is a hall of fame inductee for his success as a rider and work as an administrator.

His record of winning all three rough stock event titles, saddle bronc, bull ride and bareback bronc rides showed how good he was on the back of a bucking horse or bull.

He competed in the era before soft arenas, a trotting track was part of some arenas in the early days.

Tom Willoughby came from Crookwell in New South Wales and was one of five brothers who all competed in rodeo.

In 1947 and 1951, he became the only cowboy to win all major events and the all-around championships in the same year.

All the inductees were at the hall of fame function except Tom Willoughby who has passed away. He was represented by a large contingent of family members from South Australia.

Three rodeo committee, Mt Isa, Carrieton and Kyneton were inducted into the hall of fame.

The Mt Isa Rodeo started with a meeting in the announcing box at the 1959 Cloncurry Rodeo.

The first Mt Isa Rodeo was a sellout and it is now the richest rodeo on the circuit and a major tourist attraction.

The 50^th performance of the Carrieton Rodeo in South Australia was held in 2002.

Then president Wayne Willliams spoke of being involved for all 50 years.

The population of Carrieton explodes during the annual rodeo. Many donations from rodeo proceeds have been made to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Kyabram in Victoria was the venue for the Australian Championship Rodeo in 1947. The Kyabram Rodeo Committee was the first to run a bareback bronc ride, now one of the eight championship events in the APRA.

Many Victorian state championships have been held at Kyabram.

Information or requests for new photos, please call APRA head office 07 4661 8183

Photo of Bob Holder by Purple Fairy Photography