Zac Turner from Stanhope with his 2004 V8 XR8 Ford Falcon. Mr Turner is a two-time winner of the circle work comp. "You've just got to do what the judges want. Proper drifting, control, crowd reaction," he said. The Falcon had a mechanical failure on its first turn in the barrel racing and was scratched — showing how hard it is to run cars in these punishing events.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
From Troy Cassar-Daley dedicating a song to his V8 Holden to a stripper’s pole flipping upside down, the highly-anticipated return of the Deniliquin Ute Muster on the weekend lived up to its raucous and much-loved reputation.
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The biggest show-stopper was the ‘Golden Nugget’ — a Ford Falcon AU custom built for the 2022 muster by mates Josh Moschetti and Chris Hansen.
The 27-year-old Yarra Valley rev-heads were the centre of camp gossip on Friday when word got around someone in the ute paddock had turned up with a stripper’s pole attached to their ute tray.
It only got better when the Golden Nugget flipped upside down during the first round of racing on Saturday morning, copping some nasty panel damage, an oil spill and shocking veteran muster-goers who’d never seen a rollover before.
The Golden Nugget rests on its roof.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Punters can breathe a sigh of relief — the pole survived the assault and lives to work another day
The stripper pole. It's nothing fancy, but it was a crowd-pleaser. We can't see any practical use for the addition, except maybe some creative fencing work.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
“We’ve been to the Deni Ute Muster before, but this is the first time we’ve driven in it,” Mr Hansen said after his rollover.
“This whole car was built just for this Deni. It was my first time racing it — can you tell?”
The Golden Nugget got to re-do its barrel race and went on to compete in several other events on the Saturday.
The Golden Nugget lives to burn out another day. Mates Josh Moschetti and Chris Hansen co-built, co-own and co-drive the car.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Darcie Cummins from Cohuna attended the Deni Ute Muster with friends and family.
“I usually camp in the ute paddock but this is my mum’s first Deni and I didn’t want to scare her off,” Ms Cummins said.
“Over here in the family camping area — it’s so bloody quiet.”
By midday Friday, Ms Cummins had already heard about the Golden Nugget.
“Yeah I heard a guy was up there in his jocks. The ute next to it is really good too, it’s got massive speakers on the back,” she said.
The pole was apparently very popular with the men, who didn’t mind performing a dance or two.
Family camping — Alicia Gibbs from Goolgowi, Mick Finn from Deniliquin, Cohuna-based Kylie and Darcie Cummins and Melinda Trigg from Cohuna. "This'll be my 100th Deni," Ms Trigg said. "I've been coming since 2010. I like the atmosphere, people are friendly. There is no animosity — everyone is up for a good time."
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Over in ‘Club Med’ (a special reserved area for workers) the old guard had also heard about the Golden Nugget by Friday lunch.
“I heard there was a stripper’s pole in the back of someone’s ute over in the feral paddock,” surveyor Ken Bates said.
“The best I’ve ever seen was a toilet seat on a ute’s tow-ball. That was it. Just a bag underneath. It was foul.”
Mr Bates’ job is to arrive early and GPS map the area to plan where everything will be set up.
“My job is full-on for three days before the ute muster, then I sit back and cook for the boys,” he said.
“I mark out where the campsites are, paint the lines and that sort of thing.”
Fuel workers ‘Nudge’, ‘Wardy’ and surveyor Ken Bates have been attending Deni for years. They camp in ‘Club Med’ around the Mona Cafe — a camp kitchen named after an old Deni cafe.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Also at Club Med were refuellers ‘Nudge’ and ‘Wardy’.
“The people who camp at Club Med are the one’s who pretty much set everything up — all the buildings, all the diesel,” Nudge said.
“It’s the same 10 blokes every year — we can’t get any other bastards to help.”
The essential workers arrive a week or two before the Deni Ute Muster to begin transforming the plains into a festival ground.
“My job is to keep filling everything with fuel,” Nudge said.
“I can be going 12 hours a day just filling things — we use about 7000 litres in a weekend. The best we’ve ever done was 14,000 litres on the Cold Chisel weekend. That was a big one.”
Diesel generators are the backbone of the Deni Ute Muster, supplying power to everything from the main stage to floodlights over the port-a-loo blocks.
“The festival has access to mains power, but they’ll never be able to get enough out here,” Nudge said.
Deniliquin has a population of 8000.
More than 20,000 people attended the 2022 Deni Ute Muster on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1.
Georgia Smith, 12, from Geelong. "This is like my third or fourth Deni,“ she said. ”It's fun to come — I like the whip-cracking. The first time I came I got someone to teach me how to crack a whip. I go out in the backyard and practice now. There is an amateur competition on this afternoon I want to join."
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Mackenzie Eades, 2, from Adelaide. The toddler was camping with his dad Jake and some mates. "It was a good drive over because he slept the whole way," Mr Eades said. "I left 10.30pm Wednesday night."
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Heath Boswell won the 2022 Ute of the Year award for his complete restoration of a junkyard Ford Falcon. It also won best classic ute. Mr Boswell said when he first got the car, it had no floor, was full of shearer’s combs and never had a radio. When asked why he took on the project, he said the work kept him “out of trouble”.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Lachlan Burgess from Queanbeyan on Fire Cracker. Mr Burgess won the Deni Ute Muster bull ride and its $10,000 prize money for his 82-point ride on the bull.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Logan Williams-Crumpton, 1, spent the John Williamson set in the second row, on his father’s head. The family travelled from Wodonga to attend the Deni Ute Muster.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
