This weekend was the 2018 Australian Taxidermy Championships held at Mount Evelyn, Victoria. Those of you who have followed previous blog entries may recall that Jess and I came to the 2017 Championships in Lilydale last year which can be found at this link >> 2017 Australian Taxidermy Championships Again, they were held at York on Lilydale Resort on the outskirts of Lilydale, at Mount Evelyn, a pretty outer suburb of Melbourne. We attended both days, leaving Jess there to enjoy the event with her likeminded friends and contacts that she had |
One thing that really impresses me with the Australian Taxidermy Championships, which I wrote of in the 2017 Championships tab (link can be found above) is that it is not a show solely focused on competition against your fellow . Whist there were awards and recognition given to the best over all in the various categories most of the categories were multi ribbon divisions, that is, all mounts scoring 90 to 100 receive a blue ribbon, those scoring between 80 and 89 a red ribbon and those between 70 and 79 a yellow ribbon. I thought that was excellent and recognition for where your skill level is at, rather than competing to try to beat the next exhibitor.
For more information check out the Australian Association of Wildlife Artists Inc. website Competition page. We also had a chance to meet up with a Taxidermist from Cairns and more about that in the next stage of our Australian trip - stay tuned!
Whilst Jess was attending the Championships, Mr Roo, Ryan and I took a chance to check out some local sites which included the Ringwood Clock Tower and also Eastland Shopping Centre. Those of you who have followed my blog previously may recall that the clock itself of the Ringwood Clock Tower was made by my Grandfather who was a clockmaker in his day and was also a returned soldier from WW1. The story as I understand it was that my Grandfather did not quite have the clock operating in time for the official opening so he climbed up inside the tower to manually move the clock hands during the ceremony without the crowd realising!
Prior to the dropping Jess at the Show on the second day, we took the chance to check out the Anique Store Hunted Antiques in Kylsyth that Jess was keen to see as it was mentioned at the Taxidermy Show and was located near Lilydale. It was no surprise that Jess did not leave empty handed - with a racoon pelt! Jess thoroughly enjoyed the show and meeting up with those who share her interest and inspiring her to consider putting in an entry for the 2019 Show!