"I lead the four camels in a train down to the water's edge where the stage is," Mr Sansom said.

"We take the lead actor in and drop him off at the stage at the end of the first half."

And how do you get such a job?

"Through our agent, Animal House," he explained.

While an opera was the first for Mr Sansom, who owns and runs Oakfield Ranch with partner Diane Gooley, his camels have had many starring roles.

One of the most recent was the Ned Kelly stage coach segment in the Australia Day lamb television ad.

Mr Sansom owns more than 50 camels.

Each camel was suited to a different job be it cultural festivals, roles in Christmas shows, racing or for beach tours in Anna Bay.

Mr Sansom said you had to know your camels to be able to pick which was suited to a role as each was different and had its own personality.

Syd, a 20-year-old camel, Ginger and Baldy, both 25, were selected for the opera because of their impressive size and placid nature.

Emily, at six months, was chosen because the opera producers wanted a baby camel in the show.

Before the opera showed, the audience have the chance to pat the camels.

Mr Sansom said he received many questions during the pre-show meet and greet, the most common including "are they real?" and "do you drug them?" because the animals were so placid.