32nd Annual Festival
23 - 31 August 2008

• 

Busy start to Festival
Shearing Olympics at Jondaryan Woolshed
Turn your clocks back 100 years this weekend
Queensland's Best Shearers at Australia's Oldest Woolshed
Timeless entertainment at the Woolshed
Woolshed gears up for Festival
Australian Heritage Festival celebrates 50 years of Massey Ferguson
Food fit for a Festival
Heritage Festival has music fans spoilt for choice
Making history at the Jondaryan Woolshed
One month to go

The Australian Heritage Festival is a re-enactment and a celebration of the pioneering lifestyles and skills of our rural forbears. From the sheep, bullocks and horses that accompanied the first settlers on the Darling Downs, through to the steam engines and tractors and trucks that transformed pasture into farmland - it is all there for you to see. Visitors can taste the food that sustained the early settlers, cooked as it was then on the open fire, experience the hardships of life on the land a century ago. You can see the wool come off the sheep’s back and be transformed into yarn, cloth and clothing. You can feel what it was like for the pioneering women to make a home in the harsh outback.
The Australian Heritage Festival started as a fundraiser for the fledgling museum back in 1976, and the immediate success of the community-run and volunteer-supported event has resulted in it becoming an annual event!

2008 Heritage Festival Brochure

2008 Daily Program

The huge old woolshed, and 20 ha (50 acres) of land surrounding it, explodes into life for nine full days in late August with such things as :

Shearing demonstrations and displays,
Spinning, Weaving, Wool Crafts and Products,
Bullock Teams,
Whipmaking, Harness making, leatherwork,
Horse teams, Horse-drawn ploughing, Horse-drawn rides,
Steam Engines, Steam Rollers,
Sawmilling, Shingle splitting, Timberworking,
Old Tractors, Hot-air engines, Stationary Engines, Vintage Trucks and Cars,
Blacksmithing,
Sheep Dog Trials,
Swaggies, Bush characters,
Arts, Crafts, displays of old crafts
Cheese-making, Beekeeping,
Billy Tea and Damper,
Entertainment, Bush Poetry,

and much much more

A full daily program starts at 9am on each of the nine days of the Festival, focusing around the Grand Parade at 12.30 pm that showcases all aspects of the Festival, and concludes at 4pm. Click here for a brochure.

On the weekends there are extra activities such as Vintage Car Club Displays, Bands, Bush Poetry and Country Music.

Who runs the festival?

The Australian Heritage Festival only occurs because of the dedication and enthusiasm of hundreds of volunteers from all over Australia, and the local area. These people give their time, skill, and often bringing their own horses, bullocks, machinery, collections and crafts, and give their time to contribute to the event. Over the years a broad network of enthusiasts from all walks of life has developed and keeps growing. If you are interested to participate in the Festival as an exhibitor or volunteer, click here for an expression of interest, or email us for more information.

What does it cost?

Festival admission prices:

Group Discounts apply

How do I get there?

The Jondaryan Woolshed is 15 kilometres west of Oakey, 45 kilometres west of Toowoomba, in the heart of Queensland's rich Darling Downs. The sheep have long gone further west, now replaced by strip farming and cattle feedlots.

Greyhound Coaches connect to Jondaryan a number of times every day. Phone 13 14 19 for times and bookings. Phone the Woolshed on 07 4692 2229 to arrange for a courtesy car or bus to collect you from the Greyhound stop in Jondaryan and take you to the Woolshed.

Many charter companies conduct tours to the Festival. Arrange for your social group to come for a great day out. Discounts apply for groups.

• Go to the location maps for directions on how to get there.

Sponsors

Jondaryan Woolshed Historical Museum and Park and the Jondaryan Shire Council acknowledge the support of the Queensland Events Regional Development Program; Heritage Building Society; Petro Fuels and Lubricants and many other sponsors and supporters.