Running of the sheep stops traffic in Baaarmera streets
Hundreds of ewes took to Riverland streets over the weekend as the state’s best sheep dogs were put through their paces.
Barmera’s Bob Clark has spent the last 44 years coordinating one of Australia’s favourite sheep dog trials in the Riverland.
The annual event in the town attracts breeders, farmers, and their prized working dogs from across SA and interstate to demonstrate their skills and compete in a top-level competition.
This year, 20 participants took part in Barmera’s SA Sheep Dog trials from June 3 until June 7 coinciding with the Cobby Riverland Country Music Festival.
The feature of the competition each is year is ‘The Running of The Sheep’, which on Saturday, June 6 drew a crowd of 2000 people, both locals and tourists who lined both sides of Barmera’s main street.
The ewes made their way down Barwell Avenue through to the Barmera Memorial Oval and into their pen and were a hit with the spectators that included many families with children.
Clark first began running sheep dog trials in Adelaide when he was an agriculture teacher at Smithfield Plains High School and Northfield High School in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He then established the iconic Riverland competition in 1993 when he took up a post teaching agriculture at the former Glossop High School.
Being a teacher at the school enabled Clark to involve students in the event each year, until he retired in 2016, enabling the youngsters to develop a range of valuable skills.
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“We would have 25 of them involved and they would be doing everything, and we invented all sorts of things,” he said.
Following his retirement, Clark has continued to run the iconic sheep dog trials as a not-for-profit event and donates his time to coordinate it.
“We have an excellent committee, and we never have any arguments and that is because I am it,” he said.
Clark is grateful for the support he does receive each year from sponsors across the Riverland and the Berri Barmera Council who this year provided a $1000 grant towards the iconic event.
He also had assistance this year from several competitors taking part in the event and the Renmark Lions Club’s catered for the event, raising funds for their organisation.
It was Anthony Ireland who won the 2026 Barmera Sheep Dog Trials Trans-Tasman category with his dog Oakdowns Banjo from Clements Gap near Port Broughton.
Berri Barmera Mayor Ella Winnall was watching the running of the sheep on Saturday morning and she acknowledged Clark’s dedication prior to the event starting.
“I’d like to say a massive thanks to you Bob, this has been many, many, years and a lot of hours put into this event for our community,” she said.
“This is the highlight of our June long weekend, and you and all of the other volunteers do such a remarkable job.”
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Mantung farmer and former Loxton Waikerie Mayor Leon Stasinowsky has been providing sheep from his family’s properties for the Barmera Sheep Dog Trials for five years.
He said despite the drought conditions, which has fortunately started to ease since some rain arrived in March, they were able to supply 520 young ewes.
The former Mayor enjoys supporting the annual sheep dog trial because of the promotion it provides for the region.
“It’s certainly a talking point, advertising the Riverland with these sheep dogs,” Stasinowsky said.
“These farming people can come from all over SA, Victoria, and some from NSW, and they bring family, friends and other people for the long weekend,” he said.
Among this year’s competitors in the Barmera Sheep Dog Trials was Stefan Cross from Strathalbyn on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The 55-year-old cereal and sheep farmer entered his first Barmera and Sheep Dog Trials about 30 years ago and trained his first dog at the age of 14 to work on the family farm.
He said his Dad always had good farm dogs but had never entered them in sheep dog trials.
Cross decided to start training sheep dogs professionally when he was in his mid-twenties.
Bazza, Cross’s ten-year border collie who competed at Barmera over the long weekend is a former SA Sheep Dog of the Year.
The dog breeder has won the SA Sheep Dog State Championship four times and has also won a national championship with Bazza’s sister.
Cross said Barmera is a perfect destination for sheep dogs to run through their paces, with the oval at the end of the main street and the Lake Bonney foreshore.
“You can let the dogs out for a run and a swim and it’s a great place and I think that’s what keeps bringing us all back”, he said.
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