Gather round cobbers.

Hot on the heels of the "Hang Your Hat" thread, I'm gonna shed some more Ozzie sunshine on a time honoured pastime that's responsible for powerful memories in many of my countrymen (and women!). I'm here to tell you all about circle work - and it's NOT what you think!

It's a tale of utes, B&S's, good times, growing up and falling in love - well for one night anyway.

"Ute" is an abbreviation of "utility truck" - equivalent in style to the US "pickup", though Ozzie utes tend to be much smaller than their behemoth US counterparts. More like station wagons with the back roof cut off. See the pic and get the info at http://communities.ninemsn.com.au/HoldenUteLand

Utes are the instrument of choice for practitioners of traditional outback circle work.

I was reminded of circle work a week ago at a corporate Go Karting day. My boss is a country boy that had a succession of utes (of course) and his wife, Jeannie, is a country girl. In one of Jeannie's races she tried passing another driver on the inside of a turn. She was going too fast and had the wrong line, so wound up spinning off the track. She was facing the wrong way so had to drive a loop to get back onto the track. Haydn looked at me and said drily, "Excellent circle work from Jeannie". This cracked me up and, as you will note from this post, precipitated a lot of memories and word associations. For these reasons, and for its endangered status, I've decided that "circle work" is my all time favourite Aussie term. (A big call!)

The activity traditionally associated with circle work is the good ol' Aussie B&S - Bachelors' and Spinsters' ball. I believe we pinched the idea from the Irish a century or more ago. B&S's are held by country towns once a year, almost always on a Saturday night - with a party, "the recovery", first thing on Sunday morning. It's at the recovery that the serious circle work is undertaken. Historically, the farm boys had to head back home at the crack of dawn, so they'd cut a few circles in their utes as they were leaving - a let rip a few whoops and toots on their vehicle's air horns as they did. In towns fortunate to have a river, irrigation canal or billabong nearby, utes may be called upon in lieu of boats to provide the power for a water skiing session at the recovery.

B&S’s (Bachelor and Spinster Balls) are annual events aimed at single blokes and sheilas and, according to http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/5187/bns.html, are "the ultimate bloke or chick outing!"

B&S's are black tie affairs and the state of one's tux at the recovery is very important. Social standing is determined by what items you are no longer wearing (particularly if an attractive member of the opposite sex is wearing them) - or, failing this, just how obscure the stains are on you.

I attended a few B&S's in the mid 80's, including one of the more famous ones - at Condobolin, in the centre of New South Wales. To put things into perspective, Condo had a population in those days of around 2,000. About 10,000 people attended the town's B&S. 3 or 4 bands played throughout the night (the fact that I don't remember is something I'm proud of), starting with the local band and finishing with a BIG name/national band (FWIW - "The Angels") who played until about 7am.

I think the site mentioned above does a good job of explaining the events, so I've pinched a few excerpts:

"The humble B&S is a strange phenomenon that has been around for decades...no more are the days when they were seen as a country deb (debutante) ball. No Sir, these days they are much more about having as much fun as you can as quickly as you can! Today I think it would be better to describe the B&S more as a social circus."

"You get all types of people –Ag (Agricultural College) students, shearers, Uni students, jackaroos, jillaroos, "try hards", city people bushie wannabes, idiots, mechanics, legends, ute fanatics, pommies, locals, interstate Mexicans (Victorians – the author is from New South Wales), musicians, cowboys, cowgirls, stock hands and many others."

"During a short period of time you can gain more life experiences than someone might discover in a year. They are therefore more that just a redneck get together."

"There is nothing the same as the Aussie B&S anywhere in the world. They an Australian icon, they are part of our truly individual identity as a country and for that reason we should try and keep them going as long as we can. They have been dying out and that’s no joke, and the reason this is happening is that people such as the police and others who don't fully understand the culture are imposing unrealistic restrictions on the organisers of these events."

"It would be much more suitable if the police were allowed to patrol outside the agreed perimeter of a B&S instead of coming ever into a B&S site unless they have been requested to enter by the organisers."

"Circle work is an essential part of a proper B&S - when you go to a B&S with no circle work it is like getting half a present. For this reason, B&S organisers should allocate an area away from buildings where they can have regulated circle work."

"Nowadays however more and more ute shows and musters are on, which will probably soon out number the humble B&S and become its future."

"B&S's also support many small country towns and charities. The money that B&S's raise go to the surrounding communities to help them out."

Ah the memories. Are we alone in the world with this variety of hedonism?