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The first show was held at the Dandenong Market site on Thursday 7th March 1872 (in those days the Market site was located in the area bounded by Foster, Thomas, Mason and Walker Streets). The initial show had offered competitions in 54 sections. Top prize was £3 for the best draught horse, as befitted the horse’s importance in the district in those tough early years. Entries totaled 301, including two casks of colonial beer, 42 horses, 40 cattle, 6 sheep, 27 pigs, 16 cheeses, 14 butter, 52 fruit, 8 flowers, 7 honey, 1 egg, 18 poultry, 49 farm produce and a few others classified as ‘special mixed’. £24.19.0 was paid out in prize money with special prizes of bone-dust for the winners of the wheat, oats, barley and potatoes.
As it was too wet to include a ploughing match, this was held off until May 23rd with 16 entries received.The matches were held in Prevot’s Paddock. Sadly that same year, the society lost its foundation president William Keys, drowned whilst trying to rescue cattle in floods at Bangholme.
By 1874 the Show had really ‘caught on’ seeing prize money creep up to £145. The Show acquired new status in 1876 when the Governor, Sir G. Bowen attended, and in November 1877 two half-acre allotments adjoining the Society’s showyards were bought from John Hemmings.
In 1878 the Minister for Railways allowed special trains, with excursion tickets, to run from the suburbs of Melbourne to the Show. 1881 was the year the thriving 10 year old Society ran into its first space problems. The entries were so numerous crowding in the yards led to demands for more space. Something new for 1882 was a horse-showing competition and a trotting track was added to the showgrounds.
There were always improvements being undertaken and in 1888 a new exhibition hall was built. The building was a major event not only for the Society, but for the community, because it provided a larger meeting place than the Mechanics Institute and the Town Hall was not built until 1890.
As befitted such a milestone, the South Bourke and Mornington Journal described the new exhibition building as “substantial commodious and handsome, situated on an elevated site, commanding an excellent view of the surrounding country and midway between the centre of the township and the railway station.A long felt want is now supplied by the beautiful building just completed, which undoubtedly has few equals in the colony. The new structure consists of wood with a galvanized iron roof and contains a total area, for exhibition purposes of 285ft.”
This pavilion housed the refreshments, poultry, farm produce and band (the players to be seated behind a handsome iron balustrade overlooking the front portion of the grounds). A 10 x 10ft water tank was constructed at the rear. The hall was lit with gas, a large chandelier containing about 30 burners being fixed in the centre with a smaller one at each end.
Government subsidies, which were based on 2/3rds of prize monies distributed, were substantially slashed in 1892 which severely affected funds of the society.
