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Back Roads: July 13

Heather Ewart visits Girgarre, a town transformed by the power of music, in Victoria’s north.

On Monday’s Back Roads, Heather Ewart visits Girgarre, a town transformed by the power of music, in Victoria’s north.

In many ways, Girgarre is a typical 21st century country town story. The Millennium Drought took its toll. The dairy industry was hit hard. The shops shut. The population dwindled.

But it’s what they did next that made the difference. Lead by local teacher and dairy farmer’s wife Jan Smith, the old dairy farmers decided to learn some new tricks to get the community back together. Few could imagine how far it would take them.

Their first step was to start a weekend market. And the ideas snowballed from there.

They invited a few musicians, and before they knew it, the town had its very own music festival! The now annual ‘Girgarre Moosic Muster’ is a music festival for people learning to play, and it’s a popular event. In 2019 they filled nearly 2500 places in the free workshops.

Heather meets the locals driving this music revolution in Girgarre including town dynamo Jan Smith who organises the festival and came up with the next big idea – to bring in artists to help the town build its new musical identity. Jan found Graeme Leak, renowned for his innovative musical installations and invited him to Girgarre to start planning a musical sculpture trail.

8pm Monday on ABC.

One Response

  1. Would be great for Heather to come out and visit the Aussie Sheila’s Weekend Away held out in Charleville! Held annually. Sep 4-6 this year.

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