Pauline Hanson has made a cameo appearance as a ring-card girl during race-eve festivities for the Birdsville Cup.
The Queensland senator was ringside when Fred Brophy's Boxing Troupe opened its first night in the far-west Queensland town that will host 7000 racegoers on Friday and Saturday.
Amid cheers of "Pauline, Pauline, Pauline", the One Nation leader took centrestage before one of the major bouts of the night.
"We love you in the outback. You are a fair dinkum Australian," ringmaster Fred Brophy declared.
Brophy is one of Australia's best-known showmen with his troupe of journeyman boxers matched over three rounds against would-be pugilists from the audience.
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After missing last year's event because of parliamentary commitments, Senator Hanson landed in Birdsville in far-west Queensland late on Thursday afternoon
She went straight to work, helping construct a small campsite at Birdville 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.
In true Queensland style, her mode of transport for the five-hour flight west was in a Bundaberg-manufactured four-seater Jabiru aircraft.
After pitching her tent for the night, Senator Hanson made a beeline for the iconic Birdsville Hotel, where she was mobbed by patrons keen to share a beer and take a selfie.
A Birdsville Race Club spokesperson said Senator Hanson had made her way to Birdsville, almost 1600km west of Brisbane, of her own accord.
"Whatever Pauline decides to do while she is here is up to her," they said.
The highlight of the racing carnival will be the Birdsville Cup, a race celebrating its 135th anniversary.
Blue skies and warm spring weather are expected, drawing racegoers from around the country to one of the remotest racetracks in Australia.
