By Paul Dobbyn
TRAFFIC chaos nearly derailed Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge’s Blessing of the Plough held during the opening ceremony of this year’s Ekka.
“The Anglican and Catholic archbishops of Brisbane take it in turns to do the blessing,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“I got stuck in traffic on the way and nearly missed my big moment.
“An Anglican bishop had been recruited as 12th man just in case I didn’t make it.
“But I arrived just in time and on to the arena we went.
“The new Governor Paul de Jersey arrived in his big blue Rolls with a cavalry escort to officially open the Ekka.
“Then on to the arena came two enormous draught horses dragging an ancient-looking plough.”
Archbishop Coleridge said the ceremony of blessing the plough reached back into European history and was a way of calling down God’s blessing on all that farmers did and used.
“It might seem a bit antiquated in a secular society like ours, but I think it’s a simple and effective way of remembering that everything is gift – the land and all it produces,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
This year’s Blessing of the Plough ceremony was held on the Ekka’s opening night, on Friday, August 8.
After the opening, Archbishop Coleridge watched some Ekka entertainment from the grandstand.
He described the event as most enjoyable and both “official but relaxed”.
“It’s also a fine way of celebrating the marriage of city and country,” the archbishop said.
“Other cities have Shows, but there is nothing quite like the Ekka – perhaps because the interaction of city and country is different in Queensland where the presence of the country looms over all in a way not found elsewhere,” he said.
