of commercial agriculture in Queensland, introducing or trialling crops and plants such as mango trees, ginger plants, sugar cane, olive trees and choko vines. The history of the Ekka on the site of the Brisbane Showgrounds dates back to August 1876, with the staging of the Queensland Intercolonial Exhibition. None of the buildings from 1876 have survived, but the grounds have increased from an original to and contain a variety of structures and facilities associated with the annual August Ekka. The site has been the venue for Queensland's principal agricultural exhibition for 139 years. It remains the home of the annual Royal Queensland Show and is Queensland's premier showground. Since 1876, four annual Royal Queensland Shows on this site have been cancelled: the 1919 Exhibition due to the influenza epidemic, in 1942 during World War II when the grounds were occupied by military personnel and the 2020 and 2021 shows due to COVID-19. Queensland's 1876 Intercolonial Exhibition was not the first competitive demonstration of agricultural and industrial progress in the colony. In 1854, squatters from the Darling Downs and Moreton Bay districts of New South Wales established the Northern Districts' Agricultural and Pastoral Association, modelled on the Scottish Highland Agricultural Societies. They planned to hold exhibitions (mainly of pastoral produce) at Brisbane, Ipswich, Warwick, Drayton and Gayndah, in rotation, and some shows were held before the Association became immersed in more political activities. Nurseryman Albert John Hockings was instrumental in holding horticultural shows in Brisbane from 1855. In the 1860s other regional agricultural and pastoral associations were formed, among the earliest being the Darling Downs Agricultural Society (based at Toowoomba) in 1860, the Drayton and Toowoomba Agricultural and Horticultural Society in 1864, the East Moreton Farmers Association (based at Ipswich) in 1866 and the Eastern Downs Horticultural and Agricultural Association (based at Warwick) in 1867. These Associations conducted annual exhibitions of agricultural, horticultural, and pastoral produce and farm machinery. Prizes were awarded for best exhibits. The object was to encourage the exchange of knowledge and to foster better farm practice. Associations such as these proliferated in Queensland during the second half of the 19th century and each held an annual "show". In 1874 moves were initiated by Queensland's Chief Inspector of Stock, Patrick Robertson Gordon, to form a national agricultural society, to plan Brisbane's first intercolonial exhibition. He was supported by Gresley Lukin, editor of the Brisbane Courier and the