IN its heyday the Gawler Three Day Event was described as 'Australia's Badminton' - a tough four-star horse trial in Britain - that was a pinnacle of the national eventing circuit.
The event was founded by well known horseman - and woolclasser - Graham 'Kanga' Parham in 1959 at a time when the sport of eventing was in its early beginnings in Australia.
More than 50 years after it was first held, Maggie Dawkins, Eden Valley, released a book on the event, titled Horse on Course! The Gawler Three Day Event, at the world-famous Australian International Three Day Event at Adelaide in November last year.
The book recalls that in the early days of the Gawler event, there were only a few one-day competitions in SA - at Houghton in the Adelaide Hills, Penola, and Mount Gambier - of a similar format to a 3DE but only held for one day.
Each eventing competition was a mix of dressage, cross-country and showjumping - a supreme test of a horse's fitness, suppleness, ability and obedience.
Having competed with fellow South Australian Brian Crago at the first Victorian 3DE in 1957 just outside Melbourne, Kanga decided he wanted to hold a similar event in SA.
After chasing-up an area in which to hold the dressage, showjumping and cross-country phases, there came the formation of a committee, fundraising, finding sponsors, and building a course and jumps. The first Gawler 3DE was held two years later.
Several SA identities - including RM Williams and S Kidman & Co's John Ayers - contributed funds to the set-up of the event, along with all committee members donating £5 each.
From humble beginnings, its popularity soared, drawing in many Australian and international riders. Gawler even hosted the Sixth World Three Day Eventing Championships in 1986 - an amazing achievement and a first for an event in the southern hemisphere.
It also became an important 'selector' event - where Australian eventing officials carefully looked at the performance of a horse or rider and potentially selected them as candidates to represent Australia at an Olympic or World Equestrian event.
Maggie, a longtime friend of Kanga's and a performance-horse breeder, took two years to research and write the book, compiling a wonderful account of the event and stories from riders who had competed there during the 37 years it was held.
"The single most amazing fact I discovered during the research for the book was that without the efforts of Graham Fricker, who was chair of the Gawler 3DE committee which secured Gawler to host the Eventing World Championships in 1986, Australia would not have had Buckley's chance of successfully bidding for the Olympics in 2000," Maggie said.
"This was because quarantine restrictions had to change significantly to allow international horses into Australia to compete at Gawler.
"This was achieved at the highest level with Graham Fricker meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who assisted.
"Since publication of the book I have been told that if Australia had retained the previous regulations they would not have won the bid for Sydney in 2000."
When Australia held the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, equestrian events were held at Stockholm due to strict Australian quarantine restrictions which required horses to be quarantined for six months prior to pre-shipment.
These restrictions continued until 1986 - when they changed because of the Gawler event.
"It was the most beautiful event," Maggie said.
"From the start it just continued to grow, and became a 'selector', with people riding there to try and get selected for the Olympic team.
"Olympians including Brian Schrapel, Andrew Hoy and Gillian Rolton all rode there."
* Full report in Stock Journal, February 27, 2014 issue.
