This year's event is on September 2-3 and it's bring back memories of great moments from the meet's past.

The first Birdsville Races was held in 1882 when a group of 150 owners, managers and stockmen converged on the South Australian and Queensland border to run the first 'unofficial' Birdsville Races at a straight-lined track marked with posts 200m apart.

The races started with a flag or cable-raise to the applause of a crowd 150 punters and the headline Border Handicap was taken out by the W&W Hood trained Bedouin with a prize pool of 200 pounds, a far cry from the $200,000 purse up for grabs this year.

In late September 1882, after the first Birdsville Races is held, 42 people sit down in the Burt & Co iron store to establish the 'Border Jockey Club'. Stewards are appointed, a working committee is elected, and the next race meeting is fixed for July 1883.

In the 1930s, the Birdsville Racetrack is moved from the western side of town to where it sits today. The track is 2000m in circumference with the longest race, the 1600m Birdsville Cup, starting in the back straight. Birdsville remains one of only four tracks in Queensland that runs anti-clockwise.

Birdsville Race Club president, David Brook, begins his journey with the Races in the 1950s..

"My dad had a horse called Mookadee, which ran third in 1957," Mr Brook said.

"That was my last year at school in Birdsville and, in those days, there were probably only 150-200 people at the Races.

"My uncle Bob was the President of the Birdsville Race Club for many years and, one day, I remember he was leaving town and handed me a leather bag with all the Race Club documents in it. He said, 'you'd better hold onto this" - and that's how I got the job'."

Son Gary Brook, now acting as the Birdsville Race Club Vice President - an instrumental force behind the Races each year.

David's daughter Jenna is also the Birdsville Race Club Treasurer, as well as owner and operator of the Birdsville Roadhouse, Humpy Cafe Birdsville Fuel Service and Post Office and Birdsville's first Recycling Centre opened earlier this year.

In 1962 Indigenous stockman Kevin 'Spinny' Monaghan rode in his first Birdsville Cup, aged 18. This year will mark a 60 year association between Spinny and the carnival.

Spinny rode as an amateur jockey until 1979 when he got his professional licence at the Birdsville track. He never managed to take out a Birdsville Cup win, but he did place second.

When Spinny started riding at Birdsville there were only open fields and a little shed - and only about 400 metres of fencing around the desert track. There were no barriers - horses would line up in starting gates and a one finger rope drop across the front of the horses would signal the race start.

"I didn't ride every year but I've attended the Races nearly every year since I started riding in Birdsville, and I'll be back again this year," said the Diamantina local.

Spinny's granddaughter, model Venessa Harris was a race ambassador in 2018 and 2019. His son, David, has ridden two Birdsville Cup winners; Pensami in 1997 for the Brook family and Amirreb in 1999 for NSW trainer Rodney Robb.

In 1978 - Australia's PM Malcolm Fraser made the pilgrimage to Birdsville Races - thrusting the remote outback carnival into the national psyche.

In 1982 the Races celebrated their Centenary year with a huge celebration and record crowds of 8000.

In 1993 Australia's now oldest jockey 69 year-old Keith Ballard, from Mount Isa, rode in his first Birdsville Races.

Keith, who has raced for over 50 years, has ridden in more than 15 Birdsville Races and took out the Birdsville Cup in 2009 on Equitant. He is planning to ride again in this year's Birdsville Cup.

Keith's wife, Denise, and son, Dan, also have a strong connection to the Birdsville Races, with Denise having trained many of the Birdsville starters that both Keith and Dan have ridden over the years.

The Ballard family were inducted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame In 2021. After missing the postponed 2021 event held in April 2022, all three will make a grand return to the Birdsville Races in September 2022, with father and son both planning to ride horses that ex-jockey Denise has trained.

The races returned in April 2022 after a three-year hiatus due to COVID, as the makeup event for the postponed 2021 Races.

The September carnival will feature 13 races over two days, plus a bumper program of unique outback entertainment and activities including Fashions on the Field, outdoor film and live music, cocktail parties, pub festivities and Fred Brophy's famous travelling boxing troupe.

Tickets are on sale at www.birdsvilleraces.com.

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