Rodney Stevens

The Lower Clarence will be well represented at the Sydney Royal Easter Show this month with 19 Maclean High School students exhibiting cattle and Shannon Moran vying for the NSW Young Woman 2023 title.

Last week the coffers of the high achieving Maclean High School Cattle Team were boosted by a $1700 donation from the Maclean Show Society just days before they compete on the nation’s biggest agricultural stage.

Maclean Show Society secretary Pru Ensby said the donation was presented to the Maclean High School Cattle Team on Wednesday, March 29, as they finalised preparations for the trip to Sydney.

“Some of the kids from the cattle team were there and we asked them what they were doing in the show, how excited they were and how they were getting down to Sydney,” she said.

“They were so excited; it was really good to see their enthusiasm.”

This latest donation builds on a 2022 donation by the Show Society to the Cattle Team.

Just before last Christmas, Ms Ensby said the Show Society donated $1000 to the cattle team, so this brings the total to $2700 in less than 12 months.

The money for the donations was raised by the Show Society from last year’s show, Ms Ensby said, plus a share of the $15 per night caravan owners pay to stay at the Maclean Showground.

Following their Sydney Royal performance, Ms Ensby said the Cattle Team will compete at the Maclean Show.

“Thanks to all the great work that Chris Kirkland has put in with the Maclean High Cattle Team, we will also be having two other high schools competing at this year’s Maclean show,” she said.

The Cattle Team aren’t the only locals competing at the prestigious Sydney Royal Easter Show, with Brushgrove’s Shannon Moran a finalist in the Sydney Royal AgShows NSW Young Woman 2023.

Since the 20-year-old was crowned 2022 Young Woman of the Land at the Maclean Show, she has gone onto achieve success in the zone final where she was selected as one of 14 finalists from around the state to compete for the NSW Young Woman 2023 title.

“Being the 2022 Young Woman of the Land, I’ve learned so much about myself, I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and I’ve gained so much more knowledge that I want to share with other young rural women,” Ms Moran told the Independent in February.

Pru Ensby said the Maclean Show first participated in what was then the ‘Showgirl’ competition in 1975, and there have only been two girls who represented Maclean at the Sydney Royal Easter Show previously, Melissa Cameron in 1987 and Melinda Farlow in 1990.

At the Sydney Royal final of the NSW Young Woman 2023, Miss Moran will be judged on her volunteer and community involvement, personal presentation, rural knowledge, general knowledge, personality, and confidence, plus an onstage interview which accounts for 10 percent of her final score.

A veterinary nurse, Miss Moran is a keen horse rider and a wildlife carer with WIRES, who is studying a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing.

The finalists of the NSW Young Woman 2023 will be announced on April 9 at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, which runs from April 6 till April 17.