By STEVE GRAY
FOLLOWING our series of stories on the Cunningham Rangers, an original member has come forward to tell how the famed group began.
NOW 93 years old, Belle Frizzell has fond memories of the Cunningham Rangers. Belle is the daughter of the Rangers’ founder and boss, David Hutton.
“In 1938 Ned Portley went on a trip to America and observed a troop of horses conducting intricate manoeuvres and as a result he brought back the idea to Australia,” Mrs Frizzell writes.
“On his return he talked to David Hutton of Cunningham and said that this would be a good project for David.
“He also brought 12 coloured sombreros back to Australia and also the plan how the horses conducted the dance.
“These ideas and hats were then used by David Hutton in the first performance of the Cunningham Rangers. We had had coloured shirt made by McWhirters in Brisbane, as no dress manufacturer was available locally,” she said.
“Once we had all the plan in place we then practised the dance on the verandah at David Hutton’s property Bellgarth – without horses.
“David then chose six boys and six girls for the team. Those members rode up to 20 miles to attend training sessions to train the horses and their riders.
“Our uniforms were very colourful wearing coloured hats, white jodhpurs, red white and blue waistcoats made out of show ribbons.”
Mrs Frizzell said the Rangers first performance was at the Warwick Rodeo in 1939.
“The group was very well received and requests for our performances were coming from many places as word was passed around,” she said.
“Over the following years many members of the group changed, however the format and the performance did not.
“Although the group started in Warwick we travelled far and wide to perform for many show societies, some of the places we performed were as far north as Cairns and as far south as Maitland NSW,” Mrs Frizzell said.
