Wagin stalwart Maurie Becker reflects on 50 years of Woolorama

He’s helped organise every Wagin Woolorama since the beginning, and Maurice “Maurie” Becker wouldn’t miss the event’s 50th anniversary for the world.

A lifelong Wagin local, the 93-year-old is as synonymous with the town as its famous mascot, Baart the giant ram.

But Maurie’s involvement goes back far beyond 1972, when the Wagin Agricultural Show — then in its 71st year — was rebranded as the Woolorama.

Reflecting on the past several decades, Maurie, who has volunteered with the Wagin Agricultural Society for the past 68 years, said he had attended nearly every event since 1929 — assuming his mother took him along as a babe.

He recalled watching the judging of the Clydesdale horse teams in 1946 and 1947, and participating in the first junior farmer section in 1951 at the age of 22.

Maurie began attending society meetings in 1952 as a junior farmer observer, before being invited to join the committee in 1955.

He went on to become sheep section steward before serving two stints as president — in 1963-64 and 1967 — and was named the society’s patron in 2013.

But for Maurie — also a longtime Wagin Historical Society and Wagin Bush Fire Brigade volunteer — the proudest moment was in 1992, when he was awarded his treasured life membership badge by the Wagin Agricultural Society.

Twenty-nine years later, he won the inaugural spirit of volunteering award at the 2021 WA Volunteer of the Year Awards, earning a standing ovation from a packed Grand Ballroom at Crown Perth.

In an interview with Countryman at the time, he described the experience as “overwhelming”.

“You get to the end of a long life, you see the rewards, but it is the people you meet along the way that are your awards,” Maurie said.

“You’ve just got to do things. If you want a golf club, it’s the volunteers that make that happen — same for the bowling club, footy club.

“You’ve got to be out there among it. You are not part of your community if you’re not doing it.

“We sort of lost that when the farms started to grow . . . we have lost some of that nobleness.”

At Woolorama, Maurie is well known for his involvement in the much-loved fashion parade, which began 49 years ago when he would help set up the venues.

He recalled that first parade back in 1974, when the models had to change in a stock crate and paraded on top of trestle tables.

A local dress shop supplied the clothes and the proprietor, Daphne Keamy, did the commentary.

But Maurie’s volunteering days began well before his involvement with the Wagin Agricultural Show and the Rotary Club of Wagin.

He said he fell into volunteering accidentally when he began helping fellow students get to and from school.

“I was one of the big kids at our country school and there were a bit over half-a-dozen younger students that drove four miles in a horse and cart, so I would harness it up when they went home,” he said.

“Our neighbours were dependent on one another, we were all small farmers, so instead of paying someone to do something, you just helped one another.

“I left school in 1944 and we didn’t have a tractor for six years, so I drove a horse team for six years, working the ground to plant a crop.”

Maurie said it was wonderful to see Woolorama grow from a small local agricultural show with an attendance of about 4000 to a major event that consistently attracted about 20,000 people over two days.

“It’s been inspiring to see the support we have received from the Wagin and wider community in staging this huge event,” he said.

Maurie is also well known for his contribution to Wagin Bulldogs Football Club, where he was affectionately nicknamed Uncle Maurie during his 30 years as match-day timekeeper.

The name stuck, and he is now known by the same moniker to the many volunteers who lend a hand before, during and after Woolorama every year.

Wagin Woolorama will be held March 10 and 11.