The Story of Us
The first Culburra Beach Festival was held at the Community Centre in 2011and organised by a group of locals who met at Julia’s Hair Salon in town, now home to the gallery room adjacent to The Common. The idea for a festival came from Chamber of Commerce member Kerry Green who was looking for a way to extend the tourist season. For founding member Lucy Robertson, it was more about the local community. “We wanted to bring people together to celebrate all the good things we have here and our home-grown creative talents.”
Held on the Mother’s Day weekend, the festival was themed over the years with hearts, thongs, bunting and the tracks of Burradise, to name just a few. The colourful mosaics that can be seen in the centre of town are festival-inspired street art that hark back to the early days of the festival. Mosaics such as the seat outside The Common, the council-funded poles and surfboard-shaped benches have become embedded in the character of the local street scape.
In 2013, Culburra Beach Festival became an incorporated entity and was known as Love Culburra Beach Festival Inc. The Committee consisted of: (pictured below) Chris Vider, Marcus Adamson, Les Judge, Karyn Knowles, Belinda Donovan, Gwen Verdun, Anne Marie Wheeler, Monica Willis, Chris Profke and Jacob Kelly.
The outdoor program saw a vibrant thong art trail running through the shopping precinct, an “Urban Art Slash” mural painting competition and a second sound stage in the car park of the local hardware store. A team of sewers ran up kilometres of bunting that now sit in a fabric library and make an iconic appearance at every festival.
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Music promoter Damion Stirling was also a key founding member. Through his extensive band connections and his work onstage and off, Damo stamped his infectious, irrepressible ‘vibe’ on the festival.
The Community Centre was the main festival venue up until 2024. Community program performances in the Waratah Hall featured the Culburra Primary School choir, local dancers, art and photographic exhibitions, kids quilting and craft workshops, an op shop fashion parade, cooking and brewing competitions and a Senior Citizens high tea.
The makers market and food stalls have steadily grown over the years. Karyn Knowles remembers how in 2011, “catering began in a modest way with homemade soup served in the kitchen of the Community Hall. The Balinese Spice Kitchen - a family business - took over the kitchen in subsequent years and their food truck became a festival fixture.” The festival has seen their two kids grow up, with the oldest moving from serving behind the counter to appearing on the main stage. Last year, sixteen year-old Mahuni Mitri took out top honours at the festival’s inaugural Culburra’s Got Talent competition with her sublime rendition of “Sweet Tennessee Whisky’.
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Volunteers from the community have kept the wheels of this whirligig event turning, year after year, as does sponsorship.The 2024 festival saw more new local businesses joining the biggest party in town.
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In 2016, Committee President Alex McNeilly sourced funding to cover artist fees and insurance, and for special arts projects such as the Young Coasties youth music workshop and the Jerrinja Women’s Photographic Exhibition. The festival was rebranded as ‘Burradise’ and featured a surf bash run by the Culburra Boardriders as well as a skatepark jam. The committee also received a NSW creative arts grant to run an Indigenous photography and language project led by international photographer Hugh Hartshorne for Jerrinja community young creatives.
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The Culburra Photographic Group became involved in 2020, contributing a clever fundraising idea that has become a pillar of the festival. Administrator of the facebook photographic group Merrilyn Helliwell explains: “There were some pretty good photos coming through that year and I made a comment in the group under one of the photos: ‘Looks like there needs to be a calendar.’ Alex came back and said: ‘Lets do it.’” The calendar attracts more and more photographers every year and competition for the twelve slots - one photo for each month - is fierce. Proceeds from the calendar enable the committee to put on the annual Burradise Easter Bash free of charge.
In 2024, Alex McNeilly handed the reigns to a new committee which consists of original members Karyn Knowles and Damion Stirling, and newcomers arts consultant Kingston Anderson (president) writer-director Claire Haywood (secretary) and IT consultant Penny Smith (treasurer). Artist Patrice Wills and photographer Marylou Keating co-ordinate visual arts events. Sally and Mal Brown wrangle our dedicated army of volunteers.
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In 2024, Monica’s Hoorah Events team rose to the challenge of relocating the festival to a bigger site - Crookhaven Park Oval. The festival attracted a crowd of more than two thousand locals and visitors over two days. Initiatives such as the Café Trail pulled people to the local coffee shops to enjoy live music with their lattes, while the Boomers Bash, starring ex-Hush guitarist Les Gock’s band The Sunbakers was a sold-out event at the Waratah Hall.
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The soul of Culburra Beach Festival is the music. Bands who have left us with lasting memories include Genevieve Chadwick, Benji & The Saltwater Sound System, DOS ENOS, Horse Drawn Cadillac, Six Pack Radio, Frank Sultana and Sticky Fingers. While some artists have gone onto bigger gigs, many have returned to Burradise.
“A highlight for me was seeing ‘Hirst and Greene’ - local musician Paul Greene who lived in Culburra at the time, and Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst - play in the Waratah Hall that first year, “recalls Lucy Robertson. “Hirst was particularly captivating and spoke about his career writing songs that came out of grassroots movements like ours, about issues that mattered… The beating heart of our town was on show that night and it was just a beautiful poignant moment of celebration for great people in a beautiful place.”
Written by Claire Haywood for the "Burra Buzz"April Edition 2025.
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