The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA for short) originally formed in 1875, and back then was called the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland. The first ever show was the Intercolonial Exhibition in 1876, and was a massive success with crowds so huge vendors ran out of food. Afterwards it was known as the National Agricultural and Industrial Association Exhibition, sometimes shortened to the Exhibition or simply called the Show. Our acronym options got a bit easier after 1921 when King George V issued a royal warrant of approval to give the Show and the Association the ‘royal’ prefix. The mouthful of the Royal Queensland Exhibition didn’t last for long before Queenslanders lovingly added the Ekka to our local lexicon.(1)
Royal Queensland Show August 2004 photographic record, 2004, unidentified, 28652 Professional and Business Archive of Allom Lovell Architects, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 28652-1474-0212.
When the RNA first formed, Queensland had been its own state for just 15 years. In these early days of the colony there was a lot of enthusiasm to bolster the growing agricultural industry, and dozens of organisations sprang into life, eager to do their part for the colony. While many of these groups were short-lived and disappeared just a few years after getting started, the RNA thoroughly bucked this trend; the Ekka is one of the longest running agricultural shows in Australia.
It was in this landscape of enthusiasm without a clear purpose that the RNA set itself apart from associations that had come before them. Newspapers of February 1875 gleefully published the two lofty goals of the brand new Association: to collect and share information about agricultural, pastoral and industrial interests of the colony, and to host an annual exhibition of stock, produce, machinery and arts. The benefits of such an exhibition were “so obvious” that any explanation was "”scarcely necessary”, but fortunately for us, some explanation was offered: the proposed exhibition would be “neutral ground” for stock breeders to demonstrate their wares for market, and would inspire competition amongst participants to be the best in the very grand setting of the Intercolonial Exhibition.(2) The circulars of the time didn’t linger too much on that first goal of information sharing, likely customising their message to the world-fair-hungry audiences.
View of grand parade, grandstands and crowd at the Jubilee Royal Queensland Show, 1925, F. W. Thiel, 33831 Royal National Agricultural & Industrial Association of Queensland photograph album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 33831-0001-0047.
World fairs were grand exhibitions and displays of a nation’s achievements delivered with pomp and ceremony. They were hugely popular in the 1860s and 1870s, and each exhibition generated lots of interest around the world. Australian colonies were not immune to this craze, with Victoria and New South Wales putting on their own exhibitions before 1875. It was in this environment of patriotic bragging that the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland organised the first Exhibition in 1876 to show off the success and riches of the colony.
Photograph from page 12 of George P. Wright Intercolonial Exhibition Photograph Album, 1876, George P. Wright, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
To the Show and beyond
The work of the Association extends beyond the beloved week-long Show and has done right from the start. Part of the Association’s long success can be attributed in part to the determined efforts of early members in promoting the organisation to people across the entire state, not just focusing on the south-east corner as many failed associations before them had done.(3) It was this dedication to the idea of a statewide group that progressed the Association’s goal to share knowledge for the benefit of agriculturalists across the colony. A growing number of specialist agricultural and horticultural bodies formed and, recognising the opportunities afforded by such a large and well-organised association, committed to working with the RNA, creating a strong network of information sharing and professional relationships that could reach beyond the south-east.
Crowds gathered inside the main entrance at the Jubilee Royal Queensland Show, 1925, F. W. Thiel, 33831 Royal National Agricultural & Industrial Association of Queensland photograph album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 33831-0001-0030.
RNA organisers were always looking to expand the offerings for audiences, quickly adding more entertainment opportunities at the Ekka. Displays of horse-riding and woodchopping have been crowd favourites for decades, and carnival rides and Sideshow Alley hold many fond memories for Queenslanders. The beloved Ferris wheel has been a regular fixture of the Bowen Hills skyline in August, from the humblest of beginnings to the glittering scenes we’re more familiar with today. Sideshow Alley was a main attraction of the Show by the late 1920s and remained popular with families and teens for decades, with live music and arcade games drawing the crowds.(4) The Ekka enjoyed prime position as the best entertainment in town right up until the 1980s when theme parks started opening on the Gold Coast.
Ferris wheel at the Ekka, Brisbane, c. 1918, unidentified, APO-30 Marr Family Photograph Album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. APO-030-0001-0020.
Sideshow alley featuring the Ferris wheel Ekka, 2009, Reina Irmer, 10188 Ekka Photographs, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 10188-0001-0129.
No visit to the Ekka is complete without a showbag, but the beginnings of this iconic Ekka purchase might come as a bit of a surprise. The earliest bags of goodies handed out at the Show were sample bags, typically handed out for free! For vendors looking to attract more customers, spruiking their wares during the busiest week of the year was a surefire strategy. Before television advertising, and long before internet ads, sample bags were a powerful way for companies to reach customers. ‘Word of mouth’ was (and still is) a strong marketing tactic; handing out sample bags meant customers could take things home to try and then tell all their friends about the latest great thing they picked up at the Ekka.
John Davidson, Anthony Jeffery and David Jeffery at the Brisbane Exhibition, 1949, Truth [newspaper], 28118 Sunday Truth and Sunday Sun Newspaper Photographic Negatives, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 28118-0001-0293.
Exhibition samples, 13 August 1927, Daily Standard (Brisbane).
Empty sample bag pavilion at the Ekka, 2022, Morgan Roberts, 33662 Morgan Roberts Royal National Show 2022 Photographs, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 33662-0001-0003.
The Ekka may have started out as a dedicated agricultural show, but it rapidly became so much more. As a consistent and centralised event, the Show easily established itself as gathering place for people from all across the state. More than the agricultural competitions and machinery displays, coming to town for the Show was the social event of the year for many. Dozens of organisations and associations timed their business to align with Show Week and capitalise on the influx of people to Brisbane. As personal car ownership boomed in Queensland, newspapers published maps on how to avoid traffic around the show. People remember the parties every night, the luncheons, the dances, the non-stop entertainment throughout the whole town that came alive for Show Week.
Exhibition traffic guide, 3 August 1951, The Courier-Mail.
As time went on, priorities shifted, and the landscape of the Show changed accordingly. Before the convenience of supermarkets, the Ekka served as a marketplace for vendors to reach audiences, filling halls with the latest whitegoods and gadgets for sale. This space is now given over to expanding agricultural and commercial ventures. The Industrial Pavilion, once home to demonstrations of cutting-edge technology, has become the Showbag Pavilion. Sideshow Alley is now part of a thriving entertainment landscape in the southeast, no longer the only funfair attraction in town.
Despite these changes over the last 150 years, the Ekka continues to celebrate rural Queensland and remains a powerful symbol of community connection and nostalgia.
Crowds at the Brisbane Exhibition with the chairlift in the background, Brisbane, Queensland, 1978, Clare Sheldon, 30963 Clare Sheldon Photographs, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no. 30963-0034-0001.
References
1 Ekka: Royal Queensland Show. (n.d.) ‘Why is the Queensland Show called Ekka’, Ekka: Royal Queensland Show, accessed 17 April 2026.
2 The Brisbane Courier (13 February 1875) ‘The National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland’, The Brisbane Courier, accessed 17 April 2026.
3 Schlencker P (1975) The Exhibition: a history of the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland 1875-1974 [master’s thesis], University of Queensland.
4 Scott J and Laurie R (2008) Showtime: a history of the Brisbane Exhibition, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
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