With their arms extended fully and swung waist-high, front and back and their fingers cupped to extend their knuckles parallel to the ground they would heel-march 120 beats to the minute, following a plan based on military precision marching, it was still the length of the skirt that won the boys over.

Marching Girls could always be relied upon to draw large crowds of spectators, be it street parades, rodeo, Mardi Gras, fetes, sporting fixtures or other special events such as the ceremonial changeover from Cloncurry Shire Council to Mount Isa Shire Council. Mount Isa teams including the Grenadiers, Regalaires, Starlets and the Minnettes guaranteed a glamour component when and where ever they performed.

The aim of all marching teams, through discipline and energy, was to move as one either when straight marching or performing patterns. Team members required skill and focus rather than sweat and muscle proving it was challenging and at time tedious rather than strenuous. Teams designed their own uniforms and frequently added a touch of glitz and glamour with fringing, epaulets and lanyards, gauntlets or gloves and the prerequisite long white boots.

Alas, much to the chagrin of the both members and spectators, the length of uniform skirts stayed at the demure height of eight inches from kneeling; not quite what some would call a ‘mini skirt’ today. And in the era before television, video and the internet, Marching Girls attracted schoolgirls and women who were looking for a hobby or sport that would fulfil their need to be competitive while retaining their femininity.

Many quickly learned that dressing up in a glamorous uniform had to be earned through rigorous and repetitious drill, sometimes three times per week, which was no a mean feat. But for those who continued to march to a different beat they were rewarded with public recognition and admiration for their straight back deportment and gliding style of walk, all the while keeping their heads held high. Mount Isa Marching Girls were a major draw card at the first rodeo, the Centenary Celebrations Rodeo.

On the Saturday morning of rodeo weekend in 1959, they marched to the music of both the Municipal Band and Silver’s Brass Band in the Centenary Celebrations Street Parade as it wound its way from the Memorial Hall, up Miles Street, down Marian to West Street and across the Isa Bridge to the Memorial Swimming Pool.

From there they were transported to the rodeo grounds at Kalkadoon Park where they competed in the middle of the arena which tested their marching skills as they paraded on the freshly water-sprayed dirt and unlevelled ground, caused from the imprints of bucking horses and bulls.

Such was their professionalism, the girls continued to hold their heads high, swing their arms straight and marched through the muddy patches to the detriment of their snow white leather, calf high laced up boots. From cowboys to marching girls the Centenary Celebrations Rodeo proved to be an entertainment spectacular. And while little boys may have wanted to grow up to be cowboys following the rodeo, the number of little girls dreaming of wearing a marching girl’s uniform saw the numbers of new recruits escalate in the ensuring weeks. More often than not though, it only took a film showing at the Star Theatre, Tropicaire Drive In or the BSD Outdoor Pictures featuring an American drill team or majorettes quick step marching down the street for any number of new recruits to join the local marching girls.

Regular competitions were held at Kruttschnitt Oval and in 1964 the annual winners of the senior competition were the Grenadiers, lead by Jackie Farlow while the midget’s title was won by little Miss Sommers, leader of the Grenadier Midgets. The Senior Best Leader competition went to Heather Warner of the Regalaires and the Junior Leader was won by Carol Churchyard also of the Regalaires. Heather Warner had in earlier years, lead her team to several competition wins at the North Queensland and State Championships, and was twice named Champion Leader.

However in 1964 there was an unexpected intruder into the local marching girls fraternity when a notice appeared in the Mt Isa Mail with an invitation to all marching girls to join the proposed Mount Isa Drum Majorettes. Mrs Fay Ebb, founder of the Sydney group visited Mount Isa earlier that year to encourage young women to changeover from the Marching Girls format to exciting American quicker paced drum majorettes.

She thought Mount Isa was ready for an upswing in marching and wanted to integrate baton twirling, clowning, strutting, flag swinging and team twirling with unison drill patterns into (her words) somewhat lack lustre regular marching. Her intrusion into the local scene was not welcome and certainly her aspirations that the new drum majorettes would perform with the Municipal Band was denied by the band master, L Morrow, in another public notice in the Mt Isa Mail, saying that the band was not connected with any attempt to form a Mount Isa Drum Majorette Group. He stressed that if the majorettes were formed they would be supported in the same way the band played for the local marching girls. The Mount Isa Marching Girls Association soon gave their marching orders to Mrs Ebb and her Drum Majorettes to return from whence they came – Sydney. One can only wonder then what may have been Mrs Ebb’s reaction to The Australian Women’s Weekly eight-page spread and photo story on the new national sport of marching girls that was featured in their June 1966 edition of the magazine. To be a marching girl was no walk in the park or Kruttschnitt or Wellington Ovals, but it did offer women and young girls confidence and a good posture as they held their heads high knowing they brought pleasure, admiration and entertainment to Mount Isa events over three decades.

Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton. www.kimmareeburton.com. Photographs courtesy of MIMAG, Mt Isa Mail and Face Book posts. Information sourced from MIMAG, Mt Isa Mail, The Australian Women’s Weekly and the North West Star.