Big Red – restricted access for Big Red Bash, 2-day music festival

A music festival ! Now that's important! Michael

No links to your site please. We will moderate this to remove the link then the rest is ok as a public service notice of the road closure.

Looks like a terrific show, too. Darryl Braithwaite/Joe Cammilleri/Ross Wilson and James Reyne in one band. I could almost even tolerate 30 minutes of John Williamson patronising me to see that band.

And of course, a good cause.

Jack

Hi Luke.
You are correct about diabetes. My dad had it and it led to his death from related complications, so it is always something I will try and support. I keep an eye on my weight and diet for those reasons.

And the concert should be terrific, apart from the Supergroup :), Kasey Chambers and (I think) her dad Bill will also be there. I must make an effort.

Glad you liked the signature :)

Jack

Closing Big Red in the middle of the SA school holidays.... Not happy with that. I've been looking forward to a Simpson crossing for a long time and the plan WAS to leave Mt. Dare on July 4th but then we end up at a "closed" Big Red.

I support the fund raising but closing an icon like Big Red goes too far and will affect lots of (SA) travelers who don't care about the music and / or don't want to fork out $265 to sit on Big Red.

Gidday BuickM,
we've worked pretty hard to keep disruption to a minimum. It's only the afternoons where we need to close it off because it's a bit crazy with 4WDs flying over the top with people moving around when the festival is on in the afternoon. And we hope that by letting people know with plenty of time you might be able to time your arrival.
What we found people did last year was that if they came from the west and arrived when it was closed (for one day last year) they'd go to Birdsville via Little Red then come back out the next day to have a play on Big Red (it's about 35km from Birdsville). But most people managed to time it so they weren't inconvenienced.
I realise this isn't perfect and does need visitors to help us by being a bit flexible and we thank you for your understanding. We are 4WDers ourselves and we like nothing better than a play on Big Red!
But on the other side of the coin - the community of Birdsville and the whole Diamantina Shire is right behind the event - it's going to bring a heap more people to town which will help out in lots of ways – and the businesses get a bit of an extra boost and the social club gets behind us with sausage sizzles. The local police and Queensland Tourism are supportive. And we’ve kept it away from the Birdsville Races because that’s already a crazy time of year.
Yes, you are right, July is a busy time of year - but the town is looking for ways to build events in the small window they have when travellers pass through and the community and council has been very welcoming of the music festival at this time of year.
Big Red is actually on a pastoral property and for years the Brook family have generously allowed 4WDers free rein on the iconic dune so when we wanted to plan the Big Red Bash our first job was to see if they were okay about the festival and the access restrications – they also welcomed the festival with open arms.
So we hope that visting 4Wders are able to help us out a little by staying flexible. It’s a great cause and we’ve got the community and businesses behind us for what should be a great event.
Thanks for reading this far!