{"id":918775,"date":"2026-10-07T00:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T00:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918775\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T00:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T00:14:14","slug":"australian-camel-record-set-before-american-ranchers-at-good-old-days-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918775\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian camel record set before American ranchers at Good Old Days Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty-two camels in harness pulling a loaded wagon at a heritage festival in southern New South Wales have set an Australian record.<\/p>\n

The record-breaking feat at the Good Old Days Festival in Barellan on Saturday was set by a group of cameleers from NSW, Queensland and Victoria.<\/p>\n

The team broke the previous record of 22 camels set at the same event in 2024.<\/p>\n

The camels were harnessed to an antique wagon loaded with wool bales, which they pulled for multiple laps around the arena as the crowd cheered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rodney Sansom and Thirsty the camel led the team. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

Cameleer Rodney Sansom, whose camel Thirsty led the team, said one of the biggest challenges was bringing together the animals from four different owners.<\/p>\n

“They’ve got to get used to all the other camels and they’ve got to get used to all the drivers,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve spent years training camels. There’s the leaders and the wheelers and we’ve got young camels in here that we’ve being getting ready for just this job.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The team practised on stock routes before the festival. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

Mr Sansom said key to training the camels was learning to communicate with each other.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to teach him English \u2026 be kind to the camel, show him what you want to do and he will love doing it for you,” he said.<\/p>\n

US camel ranchers impressed\u00a0<\/p>\n

The record attempt attracted international attention with a delegation from the North American Camel Ranch Owners Association attending the festival.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Doug Baum has combined his love of history and camels with travel. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

The association’s education officer Doug Baum said their visit was about sharing international “camel culture”.<\/p>\n

“The Australian cameleers of modern times \u2026 have a love and a respect for this country’s history and you are seeing it kept alive at the festival,” he said.<\/p>\n

Another member of the delegation, Valeri Crenshaw, was impressed by the skill and training of the Australian cameleers.<\/p>\n

“These guys are starting with feral camels that have been out running in the bush and we start with camels that were born and bred on farms,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a different level in how you have to build patience and build the relationship with the animal.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Valeri Crenshaw says camels stole her heart. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

Ms Crenshaw said she enjoyed spending time with the camel teams, camping on the stock routes in the Riverina and learning to drive the wagon.<\/p>\n

“Australia does a very good job of embracing its history and bringing to life how camels started in this country and what they were used for,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Crenshaw grew up riding horses on a cattle ranch in Kansas but camels stole her heart.<\/p>\n

“When I got introduced to camels, it knocked me off my feet with joy,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’re so smart and they’re so intuitive \u2026 they want to interact and they want to please you.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Valeri Crenshaw said it was a thrill to be able to drive the wagon during practice. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

Camel history on show<\/p>\n

Mr Baum said camels were a novelty in his home state of Texas, but he enjoyed sharing their role in history, such as how the United States Camel Corps transported military supplies in the 1850s.<\/p>\n

“The camel is a curiosity \u2026 like a keyhole into greater discovery,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If I show up on a school campus or at a national park or library with my camels, people are at least intrigued and maybe they’ll even learn some history.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The camels waiting to be harnessed to pull the wagon. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

Mr Sansom said he was pleased to have been part of the team to make its own Australian camel history.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always said I wish I was around 100 years ago [when camels were used to haul freight], but I’m here now,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re making memories as we go.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rodney Sansom says while he should not have a favourite camel, Thirsty is special. (ABC News: Emily Doak)<\/p>\n

A second Australian record fell at the festival with a team of 56 bullocks.<\/p>\n

In 2025, a heavy horse record<\/a> was set at the festival by 62 Clydesdale, Australian draught, Suffolk Punch and Shire horses pulling an antique wagon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty-two camels in harness pulling a loaded wagon at a heritage festival in southern New South Wales have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,223055,486879,30868,120891,486878,128,338],"class_list":["post-918775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australiana","tag-barellan","tag-camel","tag-good-old-days-festival","tag-north-american-camel-ranch-owners-association","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}