In celebrating the release of Waratah Sessions, there are a number of songs across the summer in lutruwita/Tasmania:
December 27th: In the Hanging Garden
December 29th: Mona Museum
February 1st: Republic Bar & Cafe
February 2nd: Brewlab Cafe
February 3rd: Dover Cray Bake
February 4th: Welcome Swallow Brewery
February 10th: Party in the Paddock
February 12th: Blockade Fest
February 15th: Mona Foma
February 16th: Supporting Moontide at Altar
Party in the Paddock
Party in the Paddock is a festival of arts and music held in Carrick, lutruwita/Tasmania from February 8th-11th 2024. The multi-day festival aims to be eco-conscious with a reusable cup system, BYO water bottles, waste sorting and ticket purchases supporting tree planting across lutruwita and Australia. The festival acknowledges the fundamental connection to site that guides the event’s meaning and ethos. A Welcome to Country will open the festival to acknowledge the history and culture of the traditional custodians of lutruwita/Tasmania.
Mona Foma
Mona Foma is Mona’s summer festival of art, music, and other stuff. This year it’s happening in nipaluna/Hobart and Launceston. The sunny counterpart to the Apple Isle’s moody winter fest has locked in its return from Thursday, February 15–Sunday, February 25, 2024 in Hobart, and from Thursday, February 29–Sunday, March 3, 2024 in Launceston.
Mona Foma has no permanent physical home. The festival functions as a site-specific enterprise across the island, clustered around its biggest cities in summer but tied to no single place. In this sense, like its seasonal cycle, the festival is ephemeral: a passing celebration of art, music and so forth. But held on land already steeped in thousands of years of Aboriginal culture.
No matter the sites used for the festival in nipaluna (Hobart) and Launceston, or along the Midlands, our presence here is founded on a colonial structure, a system built on invasion of this place and dispossession of its people. It is clearly a contradiction to acknowledge that the land we hold our festival on was never ceded while continuing to use it, rent it from non-traditional owners, and invite festival-goers to meet us there.
This has to mean something, beyond mere lip-service on a website. Which is why, notwithstanding our contradictions, it is important we work to uncover the truth of our past to make sense of the world we live in now. And the truth is:
lutruwita (Tasmania) was taken from the traditional owners of the land through brutal force and invasion. This Country was never ceded; palawa pakana are the continuing custodians of lutruwita (Tasmania). Their Ancestors, Elders, and ongoing connection to Country deserve our respect.
This will always be a work in progress. And hopefully bring Mona Foma a real connection to this spectacular place, where laykila (North Esk River), plipatumila (South Esk River) and kanamaluka (River Tamar) meet as three rivers in the north; and to the south, where timtumili minanya (River Derwent) laps beneath proud kunanyi (Mount Wellington).
February 12: Blockade Fest
Blockade Fest is hosted by the Bob Brown Foundation raising awareness of swift parrot and wedge-tailed eagle breeding habitat that is under threat. Come out to the frontline blockade camp 1.5 hours south of nipaluna for a day of music, films, food and climbing. Better yet stay for a few days and join the blockade which is defending critical habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot.
Samora Squid
Crusty Fox & The Deadman’s Undies
Tasha Zappala
Dan Rawlins
Lou Bradley & Phil
We Don’t Have To Ask Permission
February 16th: Moontide Ensemble
Moontide Ensemble perform at Altar, making their debut in lutruwita/Tasmania. The show merges the worlds of electronica and psychedelia within the conceptual works of Moontide, bridging the gaps of cultures and genres from all over the world. The ensemble has sold out shows across Australia and continues to build a strong local audience whilst maintaining strong followings in Central America and Europe.
