2024 Fish River Festival

December 12, 2024

The day before the Fish River Festival was to happen things were not looking good. The field at the back of the O'Connell Hotel was a lake and the rain didn't want to stop. Optimists said that it can't rain every day, and it turned out that they were right. Sunday, December 8, dawned bright and sunny.

With a bit (actually a lot) of work by hotel staff, volunteers and sponsor Select Events the stage was dismantled and moved from the swamp (the rain might have stopped but it left reminders) to in front of the hotel. As it turned out, this pleased everyone anyway. It had been very hot at the 2023 festival and the locations of the stage and shade meant that the audience were separated from the performers by too many metres. Having the stage in front of the pub meant that the audience was right up close.

Speaking of the audience, the crowd was big and nobody wanted to leave all day. Oberon Matters can report that the place was still packed two hours after the last performers left the stage.

Look at that crowd! Click for 19 photos showing the enthusiasm (1:35).

But lets get on to the performers, because that's what the day was all about.

The Occa Rockers from O'Connell Public School (with Sandra Gibney as responsible adult).

The Marmots

You can listen to some songs by The Marmots here.

Elliott with a guitar almost as big as he is.

Regular performer Lucy accompanied by Emily Butler.

Oconic giving it everything.

Charlotte Bertwistle straight from the Conservatorium of Music.

Charlotte is training as a professional at the Conservatorium. Her Facebook page is here.

Newcomer Dan Hawke.

Regular performers Revolving Doors (and yes, that's Sandra Gibney again. Busy!)

"Revolving Doors" is an appropriate name as it is an ensemble that has a fluid membership. It’s just a bunch of friends who get together to make music and the lineup on any day is who is available and who turns up.

Casey McFarlane.

You can find out where Casey is playing at his Facebook page.

Everyone's go-to man for strings Jon Wilby and Andy Nelson

And while we're at it, here's a song from Andy's first record.

Man on the Mountain

Andy is well known in the local music world, and Jon is the go-to man when performers need someone to play some (any?) sort of stringed instrument, from mandolin to upright bass. He played on instruments with five, six and eight strings on this occasion. You can find out about Andy's music here.

Emily Butler back for a solo performance.

Matt Boylan-Smith.

Check out Matt's Facebook page to see where he's performing near you.

Liquid Culture. You will see more of them in the future.

Liquid Culture have a Facebook page which is an excellent place to find out where they are performing. If they are near you, it's something worth going to.

The Safety of Life at Sea wound up the show.

Find out all you need to know about The Safety of Life at A Sea here. Their music is recorded at a studio right here in O'Connell.

One of the features of the Fish River Festival is the way that even very young performers are given the chance to get up in front of a crowd and sing some songs. The confidence (and talent) shown by these youngsters highlights the depth of talent in the area and that music out this way has a very bright future.

The organising team  for the event have to be congratulated for putting on an excellent show and for overcoming the disastrous weather on the day before the event. Special thanks must go to Mark Bradbury for his tireless work keeping the sound system sounding as good as it did, and to Sandra Gibney who not only appeared on the stage three times but was the MC for the day making everyone sure about who was performing.

Things like this don't happen without the support of sponsors, and thanks have to go to Select Events, Bowyer & Livermore, Elders Emms Mooney, Johnston Bros Hospitality (they own the O'Connell Hotel), Dr Tim White, Workcontrol and Valley View Flower Farm. A very special thanks goes to Arts OutWest who provided a grant to allow the performers to be paid a few dollars.

Bring on December 15, 2025.

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