Although undeniably successful, by the late 1800s the Agricultural Society could no longer afford the excessive rent of Prince Alfred Park. In 1880 a suitable and affordable replacement was found at a 40-acre site at Moore Park, which would soon launch the Show into overdrive. The new space allowed the expansion of entertainment and commercial facilities, including an Arts and Craft pavilion, enormous livestock sheds (home to the ever popular petting zoo and animal nursery),and Sideshow Alley, which included the Ferris wheels, dodgem cars, ‘freak shows’, and daredevil stunts. With the installation of full electric lighting around the turn of the century, entertainment could also run well into the evening.

The Easter Show was such a sensation that the Agricultural Society was granted official permission by Queen Victoria in 1901 to use the name ‘Royal Agricultural Society’, officially christening their Show as the ‘Royal Easter Show’. In 1990, after over a hundred years of Shows, the decision was made to move the location and facilities once again to accommodate the ever-growing crowds, now as high as 856 thousands! By 1998, the move was complete, and the fourth and latest iteration of the Royal Easter Show began at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush Bay.

Aside from 2020 cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Royal Easter Show has only been cancelled a handful of times, during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919, and from 1942 through to 1946 during the Second World War, when the exhibitions halls and grounds were converted into hospitals, morgues, and military training grounds. Despite the setbacks, then just as now, the crowds keep coming back, and the show must go on!

Did you know that the beloved Show Bag, filled with all manner of useful and not so useful goodies, actually originated in Australia?

Although the exact date and creator isn’t known, sometime around 1900 companies began to give out free sample bags at the Easter Show as a way to get their already known, not so well known, and upcoming products out for public consumption. These quickly became enormously popular, especially with children, and by 1928 the huge demand for these ‘show bags’ encouraged companies to begin selling them. Soon the familiar branded bags filled with all manner of sweets, biscuits, chips, toys and gadgets became one of the star attractions of the Royal Easter Show. Moore Park’s Royal Hall of Industries opened in 1913 and quickly became known as the ‘Show Bag Pavilion’, filled to the brim with stalls and eager children.

The Curio team’s favourite Bertie Beetle show bag actually began life in 1963 as one of a power trio of chocolate sweets, alongside the still famous Violet Crumble and the lesser-known Polly Waffle. Part of the Hoadley’s Chocolate Showbag, these three favourites soon went their separate ways as the stars of their own individual bags. Despite being created as a way of using the honeycomb debris from the production of Violet Crumbles, Bertie undisputedly came out on top of the breakup and is still among the most famous and popular Showbags available to this day!