The 147-year-old Dubbo Show Society understood that it had never had a female patron ...until now.
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At its annual general meeting this week, the committee of the show society unanimously endorsed the nomination of Pauline McAllister as one of its three patrons.
The honour is bittersweet after the death of a patron in July, Mrs McAllister's husband of 57 years, Trevor.
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Mr and Mrs McAllister stood side by side in "complete surprise" when they each were made honorary life members of the show society at the 2012 Dubbo Show.
At Monday night's meeting, Mrs McAllister stood alone to thank committee members for another "overwhelming" honour.
She knew her late husband would be "pretty impressed".
"We were always a team, whatever we did," she said.
"He would be very happy and very proud of the fact that I am the first female patron."
The McAllisters came to Dubbo from Deniliquin in the late 1980s after working hard for its show society.
"We were only in Dubbo a matter of weeks when we were invited to go onto the committee," Mrs McAllister said.
"Somebody learned that I had been involved in the showgirl movement down south and asked me to run the showgirl competition here."
Mrs McAllister did so for about 12 years, introducing the Tiny Tots competition and mentoring contestants including Kennedy Tourle who in 2013 took out the Sydney Royal Showgirl title.
"In latter years we've had the showgirl judging at our place," Mrs McAllister said.
Catering and "looking after show sponsors" were other priorities for the McAllisters.
Dubbo Show Society secretary Sue Hood said patrons could be called upon for advice because of their wealth of knowledge of the show movement.
She said Mrs McAllister, who was nominated for the position of patron by Ros Press, had earned her new position.
"She has long experience with show societies..and is a very steady hand," Mrs Hood said.
The show secretary has welcomed the endorsing of a female patron.
"It's good for the show society," Mrs Hood said.
Mrs McAllister and Lyle Dorn have filled the vacancies left by the deaths of Trevor McAllister and Ced Cross.
Earl McManus remains a patron of the show society.
Monday's annual general meeting of the show society saw the election unopposed of new president, Wesley Temessl.
Mr Temessl, 32, is understood to be its youngest president.
A story about the new president will run in the Daily Liberal soon.