Months after financial collapse, Mount Isa Rodeo rising from dust

Months after collapsing with debts of almost $2m million, the famed Mount Isa Rodeo is executing the comeback of the year, with a record prize purse and a huge partnership deal with an iconic Aussie brand.

This year’s Mount Isa Rodeo will be held from August 8-10.

Forget the Phoenix rising from the ashes – this is the story of how a Queensland Outback icon literally rose from the dust.

Months after collapsing in a heap with debts of almost $2m million, the Mount Isa Rodeo has just announced a record prize purse for this year’s event, along with a six-figure partnership deal with the famous Akubra brand in a remarkable story shaping as the comeback of the year.

Last year’s rodeo, the 65th in its storied history, was followed by extraordinary revelations the event had been plunged into administration with massive debts that left hundreds of creditors in the lurch and an angry outback town on the warpath.

In Mount Isa, where the looming closure of the mine that serves as the region’s largest employer hangs like a cloud as grey as the smoke stack emissions, the rodeo had remained one of the town’s biggest money earners, injecting more than $10m into the Queensland economy.

The Mount Isa Rodeo has been on the Queensland events calendar for more than 60 years. File picture

But that love affair had turned sour, after a host of changes – such as increased ticket prices and a focus on expensive entertainment separate from the core rodeo event, raising ire and alarm bells in equal measure.

Some small one-or-two person operations were owed up to $10,000, while bigger outfits were owed as much as $100,000 as the true extent of the rodeo’s failure was laid bare by administrators SV Partners.

Just last week, the first payments to creditors started to trickle through, with unsecured creditors receiving 43 cents in the dollar, while work continues to sell the few remaining assets which could deliver further relief to those stung by the rodeo’s collapse.

Controversially, only half of a $2m rescue package from the state government to the local council has been allocated to the rodeo, with the remainder going into a war chest to help the region prepare for life after the looming closure of the Glencore copper mine and the nearby Lady Loretta zinc mine.

However, reimbursing the hardworking people burnt by the rodeo’s collapse was one thing – ensuring the rodeo’s very survival was another matter entirely.

Mick Tully is on the new Mount Isa Rodeo committee.

A committee comprising Mark Thompson, Marcus Curr, Jonathan Eden, Hannah Hacon, Chris Kuhne, Mick Tully, his brother John Tully, Tonka Toholke and Peter Gogsch were tasked with the high-stakes role of restoring the rodeo.

Mick Tully – Bedourie born but an Isa local for more than 40 years – had never been connected to the previous rodeo, other than as a competitor in his younger years and as an enthusiastic spectator in the grandstands.

He says he has only missed a handful of rodeos over the past 42 years, but wasn’t surprised when it collapsed.

When the committee met for the first time late last year, they knew they had a task ahead of them.

“We knew we needed to do something or we could lose it,” he said. “But the mood was very positive right from that first meeting.

“What we had was a good group of people who were very passionate about the rodeo and very passionate about the town of Mount Isa.”

He said the philosophy to keep the rodeo alive was simple.

The entertainment program was the subject of some criticism in recent years. File picture: Luke Marsden.

“Regardless of what you are doing, you need to make more money than you are spending if you want to be successful,” he says.

He pointed to what he said was “a lot of money to bring big entertainers out to the rodeo”.

“But were they bringing extra people to the rodeo? Probably not.

“There’s only so many people in Mount Isa and only so much accommodation for visitors.”

So big-ticket entertainment was out and repairing relationships with creditors burnt by the previous administration was in. Mr Tully said the new board was grateful for the support of former creditors who were still owed money but placed their trust in the new operators and grateful for sponsors who either returned or joined from scratch.

“The sponsors and the suppliers need to be congratulated,” he said.

The liquidation of the old Mount Isa Rodeo Ltd company remains ongoing but is expected to be finalised later this year.