The Furneaux Islands Festival is an opportunity to come together and celebrate where we live, the strength of our shared culture and community, and in so doing, sharing Australian’s multicultural heritage. The Furneaux Islands Festival started in 2014 as a Flinders Council initiative and is a small but growing festival held over 3 days at various locations on Flinders Island with a number of discrete events held around Australia Day. Over the years 2012 – 2013, a number of Flinders Council workshops were held to discuss options for an inclusive Australia Day celebration as it was recognised by Elected Members that celebrating on the 26th of January created a divisive nature to a large proportion of the Islands’ community and the date evoked strong negative feelings on a day that is intended to be a celebration of our National Day. In response to this, in November 2013 Council supported a motion put forward by the Mayor and the first Furneaux Islands Festival was created. There were no activities on Australia Day the 26th January – however, the day was kept free for community members to chose how they would like to spend it. Mayor at the time, Carol Cox in the Flinders Council Media Release on the 2014 Festival events stated:
“Flinders Council recognises the diverse backgrounds of islanders, Aboriginal and European, and has chosen to support a community initiated event on Saturday the 25th January to celebrate being Australian and to celebrate living in the Furneaux Group, a place of unique beauty and fertile land and sea.”
In 2015, to help build upon the successes of an inclusive Australia Day event, the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association Incorporated (FIAAI) partnered with the Council to present the 2016 Furneaux Islands Festival. A highlight of the Festival program is the Community Concert & BBQ as an opportunity for the community to come together and enjoy music from the Furneaux Region and beyond, celebrating the greatness of the place in which we live and acknowledging the history that makes these Island communities what they are today: diverse, strong, resourceful and caring.
