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Every year Mount Isa, the remote Queensland mining town, hosts Australia’s richest and biggest rodeo.
It’s a world away from southern Iraq. But seven years after moving to Australia with his family, up-and-coming bull rider Haider Al Hasnawi feels right at home at the rodeo.
“It’s just an adrenalin rush, the atmosphere, there’s no better feeling than being on the back of a bull,” says Haider.
The 17-year-old fencing worker from Katherine in the Northern Territory first jumped on a bull two years ago. Now, he’s hooked.
Haider was the only Iraqi-born bull rider at the rodeo. He says if that helps change negative stereotypes of Muslims, that’s an added bonus.
(With inputs from AP/Caters News)
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj