No figures for attendance were available. Last year, it was about 5,000 people but the theme then was Ireland and that invariably draws a bigger crowd because of the links with Australia.

This year’s theme was Asturias, Galicia and Brittany but the Spanish and French regions do not have the same diaspora which looks back to a land of ancestors.

What seemed clear, though, was that this year’s event attracted people in their thousands from far and wide.

One of the most attractive competitions, the fashion design, was won by a woman who, as a day job, packs meat in Woolworth's in Byron Bay. Sometimes she works in the bakery section.

Molly Armstrong said: “ I’m usually in the meat department, sometimes in the bakery.”

Why does she do that rather than designing striking outfits like the one that won?

“I’m making a living so I can design great clothes”, she said.