Police investigate assaults at Gympie Bull n Bronc

Police have urged witnesses to come forward after at least two people were allegedly bashed, spat on and even bitten in separate incidents by a group of youths at a country rodeo.

A photo from an earlier Gympie Bull n Bronc. A teenage girl was bashed in a toilet and at least one other young man attacked and chased by a group of teenagers drinking alcohol at the Gympie Bull n Bronc Rodeo on Saturday night, 2025. Picture: Shane Zahner

A teenage girl was bashed and reportedly bitten in a toilet and at least one other young man attacked, spat on and chased by a group of teenagers some have described as ‘eshays’ who were drinking alcohol at the Gympie Bull n Bronc Rodeo on Saturday night.

Hundreds if not thousands of people attended the Showgrounds on the Southside of Gympie from about 4pm to watch the annual rodeo on a hot and sultry night.

One woman who helped man the gate said she and a 19-year-old man were walking back to their car about 8pm when they saw a teenage girl come “racing” out of a toilet block at the Showgrounds followed by “a horde of teenagers” aged between 15 and 17.

There were about 10 of them and they appeared to be drinking alcohol out of glass bottles, she said.

When the 19-year-old man said something like “what’s going on? I hope that girl’s ok”, one of the group started walking towards them.

“We went to leave,” she said.

“We were about 10 steps away from our car when they came back and were harassing us - they were going after ‘John’ (not his real name).”

One of the group threw a punch and knocked ‘John’ out.

A photo from an earlier Gympie Bull n Bronc. A teenage girl was bashed in a toilet and at least one other young man attacked and chased by a group of teenagers drinking alcohol at the Gympie Bull n Bronc Rodeo on Saturday night, 2025. Picture: Shane Zahner

“They were trying to separate us. They were smashing him in the head, then they had him up against the toilets and were trying to take his shoes off.

“A lot of them had their phones out and were laughing and filming what was happening. They were also spitting big globs of phlegm on ‘John’.

“In the end I had ‘John’ in a kind of headlock to try to protect his head.

“It was horrific. There was no security, no lights and no cameras.”

It was then that someone the woman knew pulled into the car park.

“I just started yelling at him to please help us. I was crying. ‘John’ was bleeding.”

All three immediately got into the woman’s cousin’s car.

Another friend eventually drove the couple to hospital.

“I still just don’t know why they did it,” the woman said.

A QPS spokesperson said on Monday police were investigating “reports of an assault in Southside on February 15”.

“Investigations indicate a teenage girl was assaulted by another teenage girl in a toilet block on Exhibition Road around 8.10pm and received non-life-threatening injuries,” they said.

“Investigations are ongoing.

“Anyone who witnessed the reported incident or has information that may assist investigations is urged to contact police.”

Gallery of photos from an earlier Gympie Bull n Bronc

Originally published as Police investigate assaults at Gympie Bull n Bronc