A ground-breaking community crowdfund is underway to revive a forgotten piece of Queensland’s cultural history – The Augathella Spiegeltent – in just two weeks an epic 800km journey will begin.
An initiative of Wynnum Fringe – Queensland’s trailblazing bayside arts festival – the campaign seeks to raise $500,000 to relocate and restore a run-down Spiegeltent from the regional town of Augathella to provide a new semi-permanent performance venue for the Brisbane region and other parts of Australia.
Wynnum Fringe Festival founder Tom Oliver said the crowdfunding campaign was an urgent response to the national live entertainment crisis which has seen several major festival cancellations and high-profile venue closures over the past 12 months.
“This project will provide a much-needed platform to nurture emerging talent, bring communities together, increase capacity-building across the sector and create year-round jobs for creative workers,” said Mr Oliver.
“It not only revitalises a forgotten gem in Queensland’s cultural history but gives the Brisbane region a new live performance venue of similar capacity to the recently shuttered The Zoo.”
“We’ve raised a whopping $89,000 in about two weeks and are on track to achieve our first milestone of $100k which is the amount needed to pack it up and bring it to Wynnum,” said Mr Oliver.
Tom and his team start the 800km journey from Augathella to Brisbane on Wednesday 3 July, after an official Presentation of the Keys at 5.00pm. It will take the team of five people, five days to deconstruct the Spiegeltent in Augathella, before the actual trip east on two semis, and its reconstruction.
Designed by world famous fourth-generation Belgian tent-building family The Klessens, The Augathella Spiegeltent was originally commissioned in 2008 by the Queensland Government as part of Queensland’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
It toured across the state before settling in Augathella, nine-hours’ drive West of Brisbane. The venue was a community function and entertainment centre until it fell into disrepair many years ago and now deemed not useable by The Murweh Shire Council.
With its uniquely Queensland design, blending traditional 19th century Belgian construction techniques with a quintessential Australian shearing shed aesthetic, The Augathella Spiegeltent is regarded as Australia’s first Spiegeltent of its kind.
Cr Shaun Radnedge, Mayor of Murweh Shire Council, enthusiastically endorsed the ambitious crowdfunding project. “We are extremely proud to partner with Wynnum Fringe to revitalise and restore this great asset, to honour Queensland’s history and immortalise one of our great regional towns,” said Cr Radnedge.
Since its inception in 2020, Wynnum Fringe has grown to become one of Australia’s most vital annual festivals, employing more than 2,500 creative workers, championing local artists, welcoming over 100,000 visitors and injecting more than $3 million into the local economy.
“Wynnum Fringe has been creating shows and experiences in similar Spiegeltents for the past three years and now we have an opportunity to create an engine room of our own for Queensland-made product to get up and ready to tour the world,” said Mr Oliver.
“I remember thinking in 2021 ‘gosh we need a professional venue of our own out here (in Wynnum). Imagine if Wynnum became the ‘off-broadway’ of Brisbane, and a Spiegeltent in suburbia created shows that then toured to London or New York. It could happen.”
In early 2023, Tom’s parents were on a regional driving trip and stopped for lunch in Augathella, some 748 km’s west of Brisbane. There sat a seemingly abandoned Spiegeltent. It was the start of an idea.
In late 2023, Mayor Zorro, of Murweh Shire Council and Tom agreed that Wynnum Fringe would acquire this piece of history from the town, rename it ‘The Augathella’, and celebrate the regional QLD town wherever it plays in the world.
“We invite crowdfund donors to come on this epic journey with us and be part of this history-making creative venture. Donations over $1,000 secure a name on the floorboards of The Augathella Spiegeltent, the literal foundation of the venue,” said Mr Oliver.
For more information about The Augathella Spiegeltent and how you can support it, visit: www.augathellaspiegeltent.com for details. All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible and both corporations and community members are invited to support this vital initiative.
Image: The Augathella Spiegeltent in its current state (supplied)