Ekka (Royal Queensland Show)

The Ekka — formally the Royal Queensland Show — is Brisbane's ten days in August when the bush comes to town, staged by the RNA at the Brisbane Showgrounds in Bowen Hills, the same site it has occupied since 1876. It sits deep enough in Queensland life that the Wednesday of show week is a public holiday in Brisbane, known as People's Day. Strawberry sundaes, woodchop, cattle judging and showbags carry the tradition; the main arena's night program and stage entertainment carry the crowds after dark. The 2026 show marks 150 years.

The first show, the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1876, ran from 22 to 26 August at Bowen Park. A public holiday was declared and an estimated 15,000 to 17,000 people came through on opening day — remarkable given Brisbane's total population was about 20,600.

The show has stayed on its original ground ever since, with the site growing from 12 acres to 22 hectares. The nickname Ekka is simply Brisbane shorthand for Exhibition.

The Ekka has been cancelled only four times in its history: in 1919, when the grounds were used as isolation hospitals during the Spanish flu pandemic; in 1942, when they became a Second World War staging depot; and in 2020 and 2021, when COVID and a south-east Queensland lockdown shut it down two years running.