Three Weekends in May

By Ron Hunt, Australia

Originally published in Budgerigar World, September 1983

The Australian Budgerigar Championship is best explained to fanciers in other countries as a show that really takes in three weekends. This show is unlike others in Australia, as it is a team competition between all the States.

To help fanciers understand the process, this article follows the lead-up, branch selection, team preparation, travel arrangements and the National Championship itself.

Selecting the Team

The Championship is staged on the last weekend in May each year and is only open to young birds owned and bred by the exhibitor. In New South Wales, many fanciers would spend weeks catching all the previous season’s young birds and selecting their best birds to take to branch selection.

The author notes that his method was to simulate show conditions by placing birds in show cages and leaving them for a short time before making decisions. This allowed the birds to settle and gave a better indication of how they might perform on the bench.

Branch selections were generally held on the Friday before the Inter-Branch Challenge. In New South Wales, the Inter-Branch Challenge was the show where the New South Wales Champion Branch was selected and where the NSW team for the Australian Championship was chosen.

The Inter-Branch Challenge

Each branch or associate society competing on invitation from the Budgerigar Society of Australia was allowed two birds in each of the following classes:

Normal Green, Normal Blue, Black-eyed Self, Red-eyed Self, Clearwing, Greywing, Cinnamonwing, Fallow, Opaline, Yellow-faced Blue, Spangle, Australian Dominant Pied and Danish Recessive Pied.

Each branch selected members to choose the team on the majority rule basis. Birds were placed on staging, committee members graded them and, when a choice was not definite, a vote was taken for the final selection.

Once the team was selected to represent the branch, the birds were taken in a van to a safe place for the night.

Rounding Up a Team

On the Saturday morning, the birds were taken to the Inter-Branch venue and staged. Teams were selected by a judging system where branch or associate society representatives called in members who specialised in different varieties.

The Inter-Branch Challenge was held at the Rose Bay R.S.L. Club, one of the best-known show venues in New South Wales. The article notes that many interstate fanciers enjoyed the excitement and atmosphere when they entered the venue.

Flying to the Venue

The week prior to the Championship, the team was housed in an aviary where every type of seed was provided, along with a close watch to ensure the team arrived fit and safe at the venue.

In 1983, the venue was in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria. The New South Wales team, together with the Australian Capital Territory team, was flown from Sydney to Melbourne, where they were met by a representative and transported to the venue at Kew.

The article describes the show as a national gathering of teams from around Australia, with staging, feeding, team care and judging all playing an important role in the final outcome.

Team Effort

One point that emerges clearly from this type of competition is that it is truly a team effort. All members who specialise in particular varieties place their state representation ahead of personal gain.

No one exhibitor won more than one class at the Championship, yet the Victorians won seven classes out of fourteen, a very good indication of team depth and strength.

The Championship was also a great social occasion, with the host state arranging dinners, dances, aviary tours and sightseeing tours for interstate visitors and their partners.

A Great Breakthrough

The article concludes by noting that the Australian Championship had made great inroads into establishing a National standard for the show, and that much credit belonged to those willing to compromise in order to build a truly national event.

The author hoped that the year’s results, from both the New South Wales Inter-Branch and the Australian Championship, would encourage English fanciers to consider how exciting an inter-county style competition could be.

Historical Note from the Scan

The handwritten notes included with the scan explain that the original article appeared in Budgerigar World in 1983 and that some comments were written in reflection on that year’s show.

The notes mention the value of the article in raising overseas interest and include possible photo captions from a later Interclub event in New South Wales.

1. The week before club selection day, fanciers should have a mini show selecting their team in show cages, not from the aviary.
2. Macarthur had their selection day on the Friday before the Interclub Challenge. The photo notes mention club president Steve Gaul transporting the team on Saturday morning.
3. Staging before birds were benched, with each class benched in a “U” shape area ready for judging.
4. Teams arriving at the venue.
5. “U” shape staging, with a class on the left and right side, and the centre of the “U” ready to receive the entries selected by the judge.
6. Craig Buckingham, the chief judge, and assistant ready to start.
7. Kathy Manton, BSNSW President and senior judge, working the Red Eye Lutino class.
8. All winners on display for a short time before being taken to a venue before flying to the ANBC Championship Show.