General News
10 August, 2025
Rookie cowboy elated to win inaugural Eli Donovan Memorial event
Tom Graham was the only rider to achieve a score in the Station Buckjump on Saturday.
Eli Donovan would have loved to be at last night's Mount Isa Mines Rodeo, says his father Ray, who presented the buckle to rookie cowboy Tom Graham after he won the inaugural Eli Donovan Memorial Local Station Buckjump event on Saturday evening.
"Eli loved the sport of rodeo and he would have loved this," he said of his late son, who died in April this year.
"He travelled all around the place chasing rodeos. He was a good rider … he gave it his all.
"Eli would have loved to see some young fella wearing a buckle with his name on it. It's a big thing (for our family).
Ray, who no longer lives in Mount Isa, but was born and bred in the rodeo capital of Australia, said he hoped to return each year in honour of his son.
"I'll turn up every year to watch … just to hear someone in the crowd call his name," he said.
"I'm proud that the rodeo committee has done this for him. Hopefully it continues year-on-year."
For 19-year-old Tom Graham, it was a surreal moment.
The Taroom product said he grew up around horses, but didn't come from a rodeo family.
It wasn't until he moved to the North West, working as a contract musterer at Thorntonia Station, that he caught the rodeo bug.
"I just started this year," he said, having won a buckjump at Camooweal, while also competing at places like Yelvertoft and Normanton.
"I'm loving it. It's very special to win the first (Eli Donovan Memorial Local Station Buckjump) and I'd like to thank the Donovan family for their support."
It was also Graham's first Mount Isa Mines Rodeo, and he said he was still buzzing to have picked up a buckle and a $2000 cheque after he was the only competitor out of 14 to stay on for eight seconds, scoring 60 points.
"I didn't know whether I actually made time when I fell off," he admitted, acknowledging the loud crowd that packed into Buchanan Park on Saturday.