WALLANGRA made a difference last weekend, and they did it off their own backs. Behind them was the generous support of residents, strangers, friends, family and funding from a private foundation that saw the vision in an event designed to reinvigorate a struggling rural community.
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Those who attended the events, and more than 100 children at rural and remote schools art and music workshops likely walked away from the experience feeling that they had been part of something valuable.
The Friday talks harnessed the minds of many. It was an uncritical atmosphere for sharing and discussion, sowing seeds for the future of the land; their children’s inheritance.
The past was revisited on Saturday night, evoking a time when country halls were the respite from a week of hard work. In today’s demanding world, few have the luxury of downing tools and responsibility to come together in enjoyment on a weekend.
Hundreds turned out for the Saturday concert, and the hall resounded with the cheers well into the night.
Several times, it was reiterated that the event was built on community effort and not reliance upon the government. The Wallangra Festival fulfilled its own ambition; to inspire communities to turn to each other and enact change instead of waiting for the state or federal budget to include their needs.
Our regional families have become experts in waiting.
Many in the audience would have battled hard through droughts, and some might have been a bit battered when they took their seats for the festival. It was there for them.
Much of the event was driven by creativity, with the intent that culture or inspiration can raise the roof for a person in need or inject a sense of self-confidence in a child struggling in school. Those emotions alone might help to lift a family wallowing in the trouble of the farm or their home.
As Inverell’s own Meg Perceval reminded people they are valuable, so might the festival (all offered for free) have engendered a sense of new life and evoked feelings that reminded us all we are alive, and we do matter.
And Wallangra has reminded us, as a community, we can move mountains.