Get cracking at Seymour

Feb 19, 2022

Georgia Pitman came second in the last Australian championships in the women’s section. Photo by Contributed

Some of Australia’s best whip-crackers will show off their skills at the Seymour Alternative Farming Expo.

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The 2022 Australian Whipcrackers and Plaiters Association (AWPA) Victorian Whipcracking and Bullock Whip Championships will be held on the Saturday at this year’s event.

There will be plenty of action in peewees, juveniles, juniors, men’s, women’s and over-45s sections as competitors pit their skills against each other.

Using two whips at a time in the stockwhips sections, the entrants compete firstly in a target competition where they are judged on their accuracy at hitting targets.

Next is a tricks section, where competitors perform up to 10 tricks with their whips.

AWPA secretary Simon Martin said these can be from something as simple as a ‘cattleman’s crack’, which is a traditional stockman’s crack which focuses on the loudness of the crack, to the more difficult ‘Tasmanian twist’ where they crack their whip behind their back, to playing tunes or making their cracks sound like a steam train.

Next is a freestyle routine where competitors show off their skills continuously for one minute in the junior, men’s and women’s competitions, or for 30 seconds in the peewees, juveniles and over-45s competitions.

There is also a bullock whip section where all ages compete in the one section, using the much longer bullock whips.

As well as the expo playing host to the Victorian championships, there will also be whipcracking demonstrations on Sunday.

Simon said the expo provided a great chance for people to see a unique sport in action.

“It’s part of our (Australian) culture and heritage,” he said.

“The stockwhip is a uniquely Australian whip.”

And with the whips cracking at the speed of sound, they create a sonic boom — and that alone is sure to draw a crowd.