Some farmers diversify by planting new crops. This goat producer hosts a giant outback music festival

In short:

Farmers are diversifying their revenue across the country, with one grazier in far west NSW hosting a music festival at his station.

The bash is growing in importance to the economy in Broken Hill.

What’s next?

With its fourth instalment beginning on Thursday, 14,000 people are expected to head out to Belmont Station.

The last thing you might expect to see on the dusty red plains of Far West New South Wales is a music festival.

But in August each year Belmont Station hosts revellers looking to experience some of Australia’s top musicians at the Mundi Mundi Bash.

Grazier John Blore has lived at the property for 44 years and did not expect his outback station, just past Silverton, would one day see the likes of Paul Kelly and Daryl Braithwaite performing in his goat paddock.

“It was a bit surreal, the whole thing, and it still is,” Mr Blore said.

From goats to guitars

The Big Red Bash was succeeding, but organisers were looking for a location closer to capital cities than their original site in Birdsville in south-west Queensland.

They first approached Mr Blore in 2020 with a particular interest in one of his goat paddocks.

The flat claypan had previously been used in TV commercials and had piqued the organisers’ interest.

“Organiser Greg Donovan [asked] whether we had any possible sites, and this was a good one,” he said.

At the time the claypans was home to a thousand of Mr Blore’s goats.

Plus, in the times of social distancing and closed borders, the idea of a music festival felt outlandish.

But Mr Blore was eager to give it a go.

“We weren’t really sure how it was going to go. We were a bit hesitant to start with,” he said.

The first Mundi Mundi Bash was a success in 2021.

But the threat was always there that big live music events would face the same brunt of rising costs and dwindling ticket sales affecting other major music festivals across the board.

Diversification to tourism

A music festival is just one way graziers are diversifying their revenue through agricultural tourism — sometimes labelled agritourism.

Giovanna Lever, the managing director at a business consultancy firm, said more farmers were thinking outside the box when it came to diversification.

“The motivation for farmers who diversify varies,” she said.

“Sometimes it will be because agriculture has good years and bad years, so sometimes that might help with offsetting some of the farming costs. Sometimes it might help with education for their children.”

Ms Lever has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector, and tours the country mentoring graziers and helping them make their agritourism dreams come true. 

For those looking for a starting point, Ms Lever’s tactic is to start with the smaller details and what unique qualities your station has to offer visitors.

“[Tourists are] looking for an experience that connects them with nature and the land and educates them,” she said.

“I always say ‘start small, learn, iterate, and refine’.”

Boost for economy

With its fourth instalment beginning on Thursday, the Mundi Mundi Bash now comes together like a well-oiled machine.

“The biggest complaint with the site is that there’s a few copper burr prickles, so hopefully they help clean some of them up,” Mr Blore said. 

The Mundi Mundi Bash has also been well received by the community, bringing an economic boost along with the over 10,000 festival-goers. 

The Broken Hill City Council estimates the 2023 festival saw visitors spend $12.3 million in the region, a 9.5 per cent increase on the previous year. 

Mr Blore said diversification was key in a place where drought is a constant threat.

“I think a lot of farmers in the area already do diversify into a lot of things — station stays, off-farm work, to even out income and cope with droughts,” he said.

“It’s good to see other people wowing at the sights that we just see all the time.”