ENTERTAINMENT

BACK OF BEYOND

Outback mailman Tom Kruse was a film star before his Hollywood namesake Tom Cruise was born. The 1954 Australian film classic The Back of Beyond  introduced Tom Kruse and his 1936 Leyland Badger mail truck to a generation of Australians. Most never forgot the extraordinary images of the man and his battered trucks doing battle each fortnight with the sand and isolation along the Birdsville Track - outback Australia's toughest mail run.

Enjoy an introductory screening of Last Mail from Birdsville - The Story of Tom Kruse tracing the recovery of the badly deteroriated Badger from the desert near Birdsville in 1986, its painstaking restoration and the final mail re-enactment down the Birdsville Track in 1999.

This double feature will screen on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd September. Entry supports the RFDS Spirit of Queensland entrant.

LIVE MUSIC

Stay tuned for our line up of off-course entertainment. 

FRED BROPHYS BOXING TROUPE

Fred Brophy is the last boxing tent showman in the world and he's become a legend at events around the outback. Fred is a fourth generation showman; his dad was a side-show operator and his mum - a trapeze artist.

The Boxing Troupe has become as much an iconic part of the races as the races is an iconic event in itself.

Brophy is truly one of Australia's greatest entertainers and his nightly shows opposite the Hotel are a must for all visitors.