Sydney Royal Easter Show’s oldest and most-prestigious display prize is finally heading west, after a nearly 40-year wait for a selfless team of volunteers who painstakingly put the exhibit together every year.

For display chief, Dubbo’s Stuart Muller, though, the work never really ends, and he starts planning next year’s entry, straight after coming back from the big pack up, only a few weeks after the end of each Easter.

With his official title Manager of the Western District Court, Stuart is already on the look-out for next year’s exhibition.

“I start again this week due to the early start to the show next year, collecting summer crops like corn, maize, sorghum, these are ones I have to get now,” Stuart said.

“Spring is our busiest time, and we have to pick what our display is going to be about August every year,” he added.

The traditional Sydney Royal Easter Show produce exhibits — officially known as “District Courts” — are a fun and light-hearted annual display highlighting each region’s agricultural produce traditionally comprising highly-creative mosaics made from thousands of individual items of local produce with farming figures made out of hay and landscapes featuring fruit, vegetables, and grains.

While the region goes all the way from Sydney all the way out to Broken Hill, the Orana does more than its fair share of the heavy lifting when it comes to the region’s contribution.

“A lot of our staff cost from the Macquarie and Lachlan Valley regions. For this year, we had vegetables from Allan Smith at Wellington, Gilgandra supplied a lot of the grasses and hay, Elders at Trangie helped us secure the cotton,” Stuart said.

The districts produce exhibits competition is one of the oldest, most enduring, and iconic traditions at the Sydney Show with the concept of separate regional produce "courts" or displays beginning in 1876.

This year’s Western District exhibit was the first time our region had won the overall title since 1989, with the display theme inspired by Elioth Gruner's 1916 painting 'Morning Light'. This highlighted the evolution of agriculture from traditional wool and alpaca fleeces to modern technology including drones and solar pumps.

Volunteers and local produce are all part of the Western District exhibition team who put the display together each year for the Sydney Show, with a modified exhibit subsequently touring country shows including Dubbo.

The District Exhibits Perpetual Shield, first awarded in 1911, is recognised as the oldest trophy in continuous use at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and in 2025 celebrated its 125th anniversary.