Another year nearly done & dusted-how the years fly by! Looking forward to a lovely home Christmas- spent with family & Grandkids & everyone we love! I hope you all enjoy qaulity family time-and have a safe & happy Xmas week. Then it will be all steam ahead to the New Year- 2019- excited about the prospect of completing and releasing my new Celtic album- (volume three). doing it all with (Pixie) who is an absolute Master! and feeling very grateful! It has been a pretty tough year- this bloody drought-big dry has done so much damage & some out West and beyond are still in a life or death struggle trying to survive- hang on to their land- their cattle- their way of life? And to top all that off now these bush fires- some losing their homes - it makes me feel very humble-very thankful for what we have! you think you have problems! well look around-always so many worse off! Sadly this big country we all love so much can be a very cruel Master- Mother nature always has the last say? So roll on Santa- we should all let the joy of Xmas lift us up & share a special time with the ones we love! 

Happy Xmas & Prosperous New Year to us all Luv Norma XXX  

Our feature artists!  HILL BILLY GOATS- STRING LOADED- OPEN ROAD- JIM WILLIAMS- UKULELE SCHOOL-COFFEE CUPS- BLUE VIOLETS- WARWICK PIPE THISTLE BAND- CAPE BYRON CELTIC DANCERS- PIXIE JENKINS- NORMA O'HARA MURPHY- LAURA DOWNING- GARRY FOGARTY- MANFRED VIJARS- ERROL GRAY- MICK ENGELES- JOHN SMITH- BALLADEERS- DOGGIE PARADE- PIRATE CAVE- FAIRY CAVE- MARKET STALLS- A MAGICAL- FAMILY FESTIVAL- GREAT FOOD- GREAT STEAKS- HOT CHIPS- CAMP OVEN DINNER - BIG COOK UP ON SUNDAY NIGHT! WALK UPS- FROM TUESDAY-THURSDAY. GATES OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 16TH-  EARLY BIRD SPECIAL DEAL- BOOK EARLY TO GO IN THE DRAW FOR A FREE CAMPING PASS! 

We are featuring three topline Bands- what a feast of fabulous music- HillBilly-Bluegrass-Celtic-Country-Rockabilly- Open Road -an exciting mix of Bluegrass/Roots/Country-six piece- String Loaded- Magical Celtic Blend-with the sweetest fiddle players - and the Fabulous Hill Billy Goats! plus some great Songwriters- Bush Balladeers- Comedy-Ukulele Bands -don't forget our Catering here is a Highlight!    STRING LOADED - (pictured) Australian Celtic Artist of the year-for 2018.  I saw them perform  at the Celtic Awards in May, you will love them too! here they are with their Awards! 

You all loved them-and so many of you requested Pixie return! So both are coming back for our next Festival. Early Birds Draw -this time can win you and your Partner free passes! What a great opportunity- book early -and you go into the draw to win a totally free weekend of Bush Camping-great music- ! So Book now- if you win-you get a refund !  There are going to be six lucky Campers with the chance to win!  SO BOOK EARLY.

Our Ukulele School which ran all week from Tuesday until Sunday. With Mick Angeles- a real talent himself,  & everyone learnt to play so well in that time! All Micks students were onstage on Sunday & did him proud with two encores! they were great! Our doggie parade- wow! where did all the dogs come from! amazing to see so many- prizes were awarded to all our canine competitors! from our Sponsor-Fran from Total Grooming in Warwick! Our beautiful talented Cape Byron Dancers- just get better every year! their costumes are magnificent- they are indeed a world class act -and how lucky are we to have them at Bony Mountain every year! I thank Karen & Molly who put everything into this group! and it shows!  so many beautiful Dances -so much inspiration! All of our artists were amazing - So many people commented they thought it was our best ever- so far! but with our 2019 line up- this coming year will top that I'm sure!  I thank you all for coming in 2018- and hope you can join us again for 2019-

MICK ENGELES  (ukulele Master) Ukulele School runs all week!

For 2018- our fire breathing Dragon/Lizard- very generously loaned from Paul-in Killarney! everyone was fascinated- and we might have more Fire Breathing creatures- next year! Blush Foundation (Cancer Care Nurses) made over $500 selling product- thank you so much for your support! and Sue & I served Mull Wine- in our new Bush Camp Cafe- and we raised $70 for the Blush Foundation! not much ,but we will be better organised next year! we ran out! Our fire restrictions were an annoyance-but great that we could light up our Fire Dragon! & our fire drums at night!

We sincerely thank our wonderful local Fire Brigades- they always attend-they always support our Festival! every year the mascot (Little Squirt) mini fire truck -give free rides- to the kids- and we hope they will all get even more involved again next year! Lets face it-our priority here is to keep you all safe- when you have at least 400 Campers-Caravans-Campers-Motor Homes-Tents- spread out over acres- your safety is our prime concern. Conditions were so very dry-it was an exceptional season-but so proud of our wonderful crowd- who all just took it in their stride! it was annoying having fire restrictions-but everyone accepted that & totally understood, it was a long hard year- all so lush & green now hard to imagine just how dry we were. We do love our Camp Fires and our outdoor cooking here! & look forward to more of that in 2019. 

We are supporting Young Care this coming year! and we will be supporting them 100% for 2019- .Daphne -one of our most dedicated Volunteers-does not do anything by half! she throws herself in boots & all. and so will we for 2019. Young Care supports & provides accommodation for young people who are unable to live at home-or who have nobody to support them! This is a critical situation with thousands of these young people in need of our help. At present there are so many of them housed in Aged Care facilities because they have nowhere else to go? So we must all step up & do what we can- while we can-to make such a difference in these young peoples lives!  So do come along & donate next year- or right now if you google Young Care! 

For 2018 fifteen years since we said Goodbye- I wanted to pay a special tribute to Slim & to highlight what I consider we all think about (Slim) .This bloke from Nulla Nulla Creek-humble beginnings- this young bush kid who became a Legend-a Mentor-to so many - who travelled Australia-out where noone else would go- where he was worshipped by most-  and created his own unique Aussie brand of music! Slim was certainly a one off -and I saw this as our chance to honour him-here on the Darling Downs- here in Queensland. In particular-Slim was like a preacher in so many ways -taking his stories-his message-to the outback- the far corners of Australia who all loved him for it.    His life, his legacy, his music , and of course the most important legacy of all, are his wonderful family. Anne, Joy, Dianne & those who lived & breathed both the man & his music. Mike Kerin (the fettler), Rod Coe. Slims Producer & Bass player who spent a lifetime on the road with Slim. . And to have most of them all here for this occasion ! was very special indeed. We unveiled a huge Sandstone Memorial- on Saturday & Saturday night -as Anne and the Slim Dusty family show took to the stage- our entire grass area was packed- our biggest Sat crowd ever! !  And how exciting to have this here at our little Festival! we are truly honoured ! A bloke called Dudley Monument  from Sunshine Coast- brought his exciting Slim Exhibition- including an original 1935 Caravan that Slim & Joy toured in. So  great to see this wonderful display! big thanks to Dudley for sharing it with us. Pictures of part of the Exhibition shown here & we also featured Slim -in our Gallery this year! with lots of wonderful pieces on loan from Mary Ryan-a very dedicated CM Presenter & historian & Slim fan right here in Warwick!