Dowerin Machinery Field Days

Rachel Nash is general manager of the Dowerin Machinery Field Days, the show that Dowerin Events Management puts on in the Wheatbelt town of Dowerin. She started in the role in November 2025, after a long stretch in rural events, and this film finds her out on the grounds. A light rain was coming through when we were there, and the site was still full. Visitors drive up from the city through the canola, and once they are inside what they talk about is the scale of it. Machinery, technology, entertainment and the Wheatbelt itself are gathered in one place for a couple of days, which is why people who only know Dowerin from the highway are surprised by what they walk into.

The people on the stands come back for a reason they will tell you without being asked. It is the day to see clients and the rest of the industry in one place, and to fly the flag for the business. Some of them reckon this is their fourteenth or fifteenth year making the trip. Others came for the first time last year, had a good show, and booked again. They talk about the field days as the biggest event of its kind in Western Australia. What you do not see from the gate is that the two days take most of a year to put together. A volunteer board, all of them working in agriculture and living in the region, holds the plan, and then about 230 volunteers from the community make it happen on the ground. You can walk the site, take a buggy if your legs have had enough, or go up in a helicopter and see the whole grounds at once. The Clipper does a slower loop for anyone who wants the long view without leaving the ground. Food turns up on every corner, and people leave talking about the staff, the volunteers, and a day that stays friendly even when the weather does not.