Travellers from across the country continue to pour into Broken Hill and NSW’s far west for the Mundi Mundi Bash music festival, with local businesses excited about the crowds.
Key points:
- A crowd of 10,000 is expected to attend the three-day Mundi Mundi Bash, with about 3,500 visitors anticipated at Broken Hill racecourse between Saturday and Wednesday
- Festival attendees have come from far and wide, including Brisbane, Warrnambool and Newcastle
- Broken Hill boutique owner Rosie Siemer says her business has experienced pre-Christmas levels of trade over the Easter long weekend and lead-up to the festival
The inaugural three-day music festival gets underway just north of Silverton on Thursday, with more than 10,000 people expected to attend.
Produced by the organisers of the annual Big Red Bash festival in Birdsville, in far western Queensland, the festival is set to be headlined by Paul Kelly and also features artists including John Williamson, Ian Moss, Russell Morris and Kate Ceberano.
Broken Hill’s Regional Events Centre operators said campers had been rolling into the city’s racecourse since Saturday morning.
The centre’s chair Cheryl Krutli said 1,800 vehicles, or about 3,500 people, were expected to have visited the site by the time the Bash kicked off on Thursday.
Two of those visitors are Warrnambool residents Linda and Phillip O’Neill, who travelled to the region as part of a group of 10.
Mrs O’Neill said she was looking forward to catching some of the acts, as well as soaking up the atmosphere.
“I’m a bit of a Kate Ceberano fan, I like [Abba tribute band] Bjorn Again … there are quite a few artists that I’m looking forward to,” she said.
“We’re from an ocean town so it was nice to come to the bush,” she said.
Adelaide resident Susan Wheaton said her sister Maxine Moutin had travelled all the way from Newcastle to pick her up and take her to the festival.
Ondine Freedman said it had taken her three days to get to the region from the Central Coast and she was looking forward to volunteering at the Bash.
She said a visit to the far west appealed for a variety of reasons.
“It’s the combination of the uniqueness of the festival and being completely off-grid in the outback in an awesome environment and a beautiful part of the world.”
Brisbane resident Kathy Parlane travelled out with her dog Charlie and said a combination of the music and the region drew her out to the far west.
“My girlfriend said to me as soon as I got the caravan, ‘right, you’re coming to the Bash?'”
‘The most amazing weekend I’ve seen’
Rosie Siemer, who owns Broken Hill clothing boutique Sitting Bull, said business had been booming over the Easter long weekend and in the lead-up to the festival.
She said she had experienced pre-Christmas levels of trade over the past six days.
“There’s a few trickling in from Mundi Mundi already but honestly I just feel we haven’t seen the Mundi Mundi crowd yet and that’s a little bit concerning but exciting.
“I think they’re going to hit the town in droves over the next couple of days.”
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