It was a night for cowboy hats, riding boots and XXXX beer, ensuring One Nation leader Pauline Hanson felt right at home in far-flung Queensland.
Senator Hanson joined Birdsville races revellers out on the town on Thursday night after flying into the remote township just before sunset.
The Queensland senator is in Birdsville to lend her support to the two days of racing and the festivities that go with it.
She has no official duties to perform, with a Birdsville Race Club spokesperson saying Senator Hanson had made her way west to be part of an expected 7000 who will attend the races.
However it didn't take Senator Hanson long to soak up the atmosphere, support and adulation of race-fever partygoers.
She even got her wish when showman Fred Brophy asked her to be a card-carrying ring girl for one of his bouts in an old-style boxing tent.
"We love you in the outback. You are a fair dinkum Australian," ringmaster Brophy declared.
After missing last year's event because of parliamentary commitments, Senator Hanson wasted no time getting into the spirit of the occasion.
She went straight to work, helping construct a small campsite at Birdsville Airport.
"You'll have people drive out in their 4x4s to their private jets but the one thing everyone has in common is they all sleep in a tent, me included," Senator Hanson said.
The highlight of the racing carnival will be the $35,000 Birdsville Cup, a race celebrating its 135th anniversary.
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