On the eve of the 2022 event, which is on Friday night at the Kyabram Showgrounds, it was the determination of the Kyabram historian — and the Free Press’s Looking Back columnist EiIeen Sullivan — that allowed us to speak with the former Haslem St student.
Speaking from Melbourne yesterday the cowboy cum racehorse trainer said he clearly remembered picking up the paper and looking at the photo in absolute horror.
“I remember Jo (Lyon) took the photo. When I saw her I told her she could have taken one with me on the bull,” he said.
“She knew me, my dad used to help Peter with his trotters.”
As for the photographer, who went on to become a respected figure in Goulburn Valley newspapers, she explained it away as “just one of those one-in-one-million moments”.
“I was a very young journo and Alec Griffin was the man who used to develop our negatives,” she said.
“He gave me the camera before the rodeo and I said, ‘how do I do this?’
“He talked to me about lighting and said ‘just have a crack’.
“When I showed it to Gus Underwood he said ‘good job’.
“As for Alec, he never got too excited about too much, so the feedback wasn’t strong there.
“But the photo ended up on the front page.”
As the rodeo prepares for its 76th staging it was Eileen who managed to find the photograph — now 35 years old — of a 20-year-old Dean Boal.
But there is no fairytale finish to Dean’s rodeo career; in fact, only a few years later he decided to give away the bull riding after an accident at a Moama event.
His decision to become a bull rider was made simply from a financial standpoint — the more costly horse-riding events forcing him to the bull yard.
“The reason I got into the bulls was that back then a bronc saddle was worth a lot of money, seven or eight hundred dollars,” Dean said.
“I am only a small bloke and getting the right size saddle was tough for a start. Most of those blokes had bigger bums than me and smaller saddles were hard to come by.
“And I didn’t have the money anyway.”
At a Kyabram rodeo event he came across a bull rope, along with a bell the only two items required — along with courage and balance — for a successful start in bull riding.
He competed at rodeos in Echuca, Moama, Deniliquin — even Mooroopna — before hanging up his bull rope.
That was in between working as a forklift driver at Tongala’s Nestlé factory, where he spent more than a decade.
“I picked up a bull rope for $10 and told my dad that I’ll give it a go until I get hurt,” he said.
Dean said he remembers having another two rides after the famous picture was taken, for better results.
But he certainly didn’t get his hands on the first prize, worth $1500.
At his grandparents’ Wyuna farm, as a boy, he would ride the steers with a piece of string attached as they were yarded for sale.
That was the grounding for his bull-riding experience, but only a few years into his rodeo career an accident brought it all to a crashing end — literally.
“I went to Moama and got thrown near the gates. I went to get up and was having trouble walking,” he said.
“I’d smashed all my teeth and I later found out that the bull, once it had thrown me off, had turned around and rammed me into the gate.
“They took me to the hospital and I ended up with a cracked pelvis. That was it.”
Forced to have six weeks off work, he said he was lucky to keep his job. A passion for horses, however, saw him move first into harness racing and then later into the gallops.
“Gallops was much easier than trotting,” he said
Dean’s horse training career started at Echuca, before re-locating to Tatura, then Wangaratta and eventually finishing at Tocumwal.
He is now a driver with one of Victoria’s leading horse transport companies.
Her explained that he became much more famous, in two instances — horse racing and rodeo — for feats that probably weren’t recognised as great results
Apart from the nosedive photograph he trained a racehorse named Beau Dazzle, who had 109 starts without having a win.
He entered the horse in an event called The Hotham, which was for horses with the “worst” record.
“To get into the Hotham you needed to have had 45 starts and no wins,” Dean said.
“She more than qualified and they eventually made her Australia’s favourite mare for one of those events,” he said.
Beau Dazzle finished with seven seconds and 11 thirds, retiring as an 11-year-old.
“When she first entered she had started 80-odd times for no wins,” he said.
In the initial stages he was quite content with the purchase, having bought the mare for $500.
“I took her to Deni a week later and she ran second, picking up $1000 and I doubled my money,” he said.
Beau Dazzle’s last run was July 2020.
Her former owner/trainer now works from Flemington, driving trucks all over Victoria.
“This time around I have a few fast ones in the truck,” he said.
“But I reckon I got more fame out of having a slow racehorse than I would have gotten for owning Winx and Black Caviar,” he said.
The following was compiled by Eileen Sullivan, Kyabram Historical Society voluntary librarian, from the files of the 1987 Free Press.
Young Kyabram rough-rider Dean Boal had a rather ‘heady’ experience at the Kyabram Rodeo in March 1987. Dean and the big bull named Gimme had just parted company when they were cleverly captured on film. Today’s photograph featured on the front page of the Free Press on March 13, 1987.
Fortunately Dean escaped unscathed and didn’t intend to let the incident stop him pursuing his hobby of rodeo riding.
The daredevil efforts of professional rodeo clowns (Morris Quinn and Rusty Fram) were among the highlights of the centre arena, with their antics in distracting agitated bulls from fallen riders.
The one-day rodeo, held on the Monday of the Labour Day weekend in 1987, was action-packed and accident-free, with no serious casualties.
The gate takings for the day were $7800 — the best for years.
Part of the weekend activities included a Sunday hoedown.
The Kyabram Rodeo will be held this Friday, March 11, at 7pm at the Kyabram Showgrounds. Gates open at 5pm.
