Special thanks to Cobden & Districts Community Bank Branch and Camperdown Branch for being our MAJOR SPONSOR for RBCF2025.
The Camperdown Robert Burns Celtic Festival Committee are pleased to announce that the festival Program is nearing completion and promises our Festival for the community will see new elements adding to a number of favourite events returning.
The Festival Chairperson Dr John Menzies OAM said “the committee is pleased to announce that Early Bird tickets are now available via the festival website through TryBooking until 30th April and the Early Bird tickets are $90.00 which will allow patrons to go to all the performances at the designated venues over the weekend.” Please note that this price excludes the Friday night Gala Dinner. “Purchasing an Early Bird Ticket offers a great discount of 50% and Patrons who purchase their tickets will enjoy the benefits of this amazing offer,” said Festival Coordinator Catherine O’Flynn.
Adult EARLY BIRD Weekend Ticket – *$90.00 will be available until 30th April.
A weekend ticket includes Friday night music, Lecture Series, all musical performances at festival venues and activities. *Excludes Gala Dinner.
Weekend Tickets from 1st May – 14th June *$120.00
Weekend Tickets from 15 June – 27th June *$180.00
Gala Dinner $85.00 per person, bookings are essential.
Dr Menzies said “Festival musicians have now been booked and the performers coming to Camperdown include The Melbourne Male Welsh Choir who are returning as our Headline Act in 2025. A great combination of Australia’s best known Scottish and Celtic musicians are now confirmed to perform at the festival include Luke Plumb and Peter Daffy, Fiona Ross, The Raglins, MacCrimmin, Elonera, Peter Daffy & Friends Celtic Band, Janet & Hugh Gordon, The Reformers, Harpistry, Merran and Peter Moir, The Twa Bards, Kym Dillon, The Corby Family Celtic Band, Tuniversal Music Group, Warrnambool Pipes and Drums, the Lakes and Craters Concert Band, The Australian Irish Dance Company and Geelong Scottish Highland Dancers.”
Friday night Gala Dinner – $85.00 Limited numbers Bookings close on 26th June or when sold out. Music events will be held on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night ceilidhs, and Sunday morning and afternoon.
Single Entry Tickets $25.00 per entry into various venues.
Festival Lectures at Killara Centre on Saturday (10.30-3.45) with five eminent, entertaining guest speakers for $25.00.
2025 will see the Choir Concert being performed at the Theatre Royal on Saturday. This event proved to be a festival favourite last year with seven (7) visiting regional choirs coming to participate. The festivals own choir will be singing finishing off, with choir mistress Kym Dillon conducting the 8 choirs at the end of the concert. Entry is just $10.00 for this event.
Sunday 19th June Festival Finale Concert $30.00 pre purchased or $35.00 at the Door.
All Festival events, excluding the Gala Dinner, are FREE ENTRY for Under 18 years: (under 13 years must
be accompanied by a parent or guardian).
Robert Burns Celtic Festival committee’s Schools program will take place in June at Camperdown Mercy
Regional College and Terang Schools. Poetry and Art competitions, storytelling at the local kinder all prepare us in readiness for the festival.
The popular Gala Dinner will be held on Friday evening, the 27th of June. This is a separate charge but offers value for Patrons who will enjoy a three course dinner, a festival showcase performance from the headline festival musicians and promises to be a fun night with the traditional Addressing of the Haggis, fine food, good company, Scottish Country Dancing, a Burns poem and more.
Saturday and Sunday will have free entertainment in the Town Square, Piping, Highland Dancing, Kids Activities, Market Stalls, Storytelling at the Library, Short Bread judging at the Court house, The Ambrose Cup at the picturesque Camperdown Golf Club. Come and try Scottish Country Dancing, Tours of the Historic Masonic Lodge, and visit the Camperdown Heritage Centre and see the Camperdown & District Exhibition. Visit the Burns Statue on Saturday and Sunday at the Corangamite Shire Office. A whisky tasting will take place at the Hampden Hotel on Saturday afternoon.
Early Bird Tickets are on sale NOW to purchase online at TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/CXRJT
camperdownburnsfestival.com or at Laffs in Camperdown.
For further information please contact Festival Co-ordinator Catherine on 0407 056 126
HISTORY TALKS Saturday 28th June, 10.30 am – 3.45 pm, Killara Centre.
Our five guest speakers are both eminent and entertaining. If you have an interest in history, geology, Aboriginal history, local history… this series is not to be missed. Lyle Tune (President of the Camperdown & District Historical Society Inc.) and Bob Lambell (Vice President of the Camperdown & District Historical Society Inc.) have said that they are very excited about this years program, for its depth and caliber.
The Heritage Centre, 241 Manifold Street, will also be open over the festival weekend, with displays that resonate with the festivals focus, featuring Aboriginal and local history along with our regions Celtic connections. You can visit the: https://camperdownhistory.org.au/ for a preview of Camperdown and District’s story. Bob Lambell has curated a significant resource that features First Nations. You will also find research documents, and local history books available for sale.
10.30am–11.30am Honorary Associate Professor, John Sherwood: ‘Camperdown’s Explosive Past’ Driving to Camperdown from virtually any direction concludes with a relatively flat traverse of the west Victorian Volcanic Plains. The flatness suggests a rather uninteresting geology -but that is far from true. The flatness was initially a result of a high sea level in the Miocene period roughly 15 million years ago). Camperdown had an off shore location with the coast near Hamilton. Marine fossils from this time can be unearthed in the city. As the sea retreated rivers cut valleys into the now exposed sea floor. About 4 million years ago, and for reasons not fully understood, the region began to experience volcanic activity. Hundreds of volcanic centres have been identified and, on average, a volcano has erupted every 10,000 years across southwest Victoria and southeast South Australia. Camperdown is surrounded by volcanic hills and crater lakes whose origins lie in explosive events over hundreds of thousands of years. Outpouring of lava from numerous volcanic vents created the present plains. The molten rock filled pre-existing valleys and depressions to overflowing, hiding the earlier topography. Aboriginal people witnessed some of the later eruptions. We may yet get the chance – the volcanic field is most likely dormant, not extinct!
Honorary Associate Professor John Sherwood joined Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education as a Lecturer in 1979, moving to Warrnambool from Sydney with his family. Following formation of an expanded Deakin University in 1990, he was promoted to Associate Professor, a position which was made Honorary on his retirement in 2010. John has strong environmental research interests and is actively involved in environmental management. Until July last year he served on the Victorian Marine and Coastal Council and has previously been a member of the Board of Glenelg-Hopkins CMA, the Western Coastal Board, Victoria’s National Parks Advisory Council and Victoria’s Fisheries Comanagement Council. He has also served as National President of the Australian Marine Sciences Association. His work has been recognised by Warrnambool City Council (Australia Day Awards 1988, 2017), Glenelg- Hopkins CMA (Individual in Business Award 2005) and the Victorian Coastal Council(Lifetime Achievement Award 2005).
11.30am–12.30pm Emeritus Professor Richard Broome: ‘”Who’ll Take a Glove”: Aboriginal Tent Fighters’ Part performance, part brutal reality, tent fighting was iconic at agricultural shows from 1900 to the 1970s in Victoria and beyond. Were Aboriginal tent fighters exploited by their managers, or agents shaping their own lives? Richard Broome will answer that question with special reference to the Western District. Richard began researching tent boxing in Warrnambool in the late 1970s, which led to several articles and a book Sideshow Alley (1998). He will share his insights, which will illuminate Australian life and Aboriginal lives in that era.
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM has published many articles in Australian history, 20 books, and another 10 as second to fifth editions. He has written about Indigenous History, and histories of immigration, sport and popular culture, the Mallee, Coburg, and several life stories of Lebanese Australians and Nagaland people. He taught at La Trobe University for thirty years and has been President of the History Institute in the mid-1990s and President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria 2019-2025. He co-edits the Victorian Historical Journal and is currently co-author of The Story of Melbourne’s Lanes, RHSV (2024).
1.30pm–2.45pm Dr Ruth Pullin and Dr Thomas A. Darragh: ‘Camperdown and Kangatong: von Guérard’s Berlin Letters and What They Reveal’ In his correspondence with the Berlin Ethnological Museum, the landscape painter and inveterate collector, Eugene von Guérard (1811-1901), documented and described the 24 Aboriginal cultural belongings that he had collected on sketching expeditions throughout colonial Victoria. His letters record where and from whom the objects were acquired, the circumstances of their acquisition, the prices paid for them and, in some cases, their makers, traditional uses, materials and manufacture. The most detailed information relates to items that were acquired at James Dawson’s property, Kangatong – there von Guérard, Gunditjmara, Kirrae wurrung and Kolorer gunditj people had the opportunity to meet in the atmosphere of mutual trust and respect nurtured by Dawson. And in 1874, on an extended stay with the Dawsons at Wuurong, von Guérard renewed his deep connection with the Camperdown region, its landscape and its people – both the settlers and the Djargurd wurrung from whom he acquired four objects – forged on sketching expeditions in the 1850s. In this paper the authors of recent research on the artist and his Berlin correspondence will discuss – with a focus on Kangatong and Camperdown – the new insights revealed in his letters and the challenges presented by the project.
Dr Ruth Pullin is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne, and the 2025 Ross Steele AM Fellow, State Library of New South Wales. She was the co-curator of the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2011 touring exhibition, Eugene von Guérard: Nature Revealed, curator of the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Eugene von Guérard: Artist-Traveller in 2018, and the author / editor of their accompanying publications. Her research has been published in numerous Australian and international journals and anthologies – most recently 65,000Years: A Short History of Australian Art (eds. Marcia Langton & Judith Ryan), in association with the exhibition of the same name currently showing at the Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne. She and co-author, Thomas A. Darragh, published their research on von Guérard’s correspondence with the Berlin Ethnological Museum in companion papers in Australian Historical Studies, vol. 54, no. 4, and Proceedings of the Royal Society ofVictoria, vol. 135, in 2023.
Dr Thomas A. Darragh is a graduate of the University of Melbourne in invertebrate palaeontology. He worked at Museums Victoria as a Curator and in administration for 36years. As a Curator emeritus at MelbourneMuseum, he continues his research interests in the field of Tertiary marine molluscs and has published many papers on this subject. He has had a long-standing interest in the history of the German scientists and intellectuals in Victoria and has published several papers and two books on this topic, as well as a translation of the Australian diaries of Ludwig Leichhardt. He is able to read the old German handwriting and so serves as an editor on the Ferdinand von MuellerCorrespondence Project. He has published on the history of the natural sciences, especially geology, in Victoria and on the arts of engraving and lithography in nineteenth century Victoria, particularly as regards the personalities involved and the production of geological maps. He is the recipient of the Tom Vallance Medal of the Geological Society of Australia for contributions to the history of geology in Australasia.
2.45pm–3.45pm Robert McLaren: ‘The Rev. Kay: Front Row Seat to a Changing World from 1850 to 1880′ There are great stories on people who lived in our local areas that are out there waiting for someone to turn the first stone to shed light on them. The Rev. Kay and his wife Caroline Hoste who arrived at the Wickliffe Charge in 1863 is one such story. A photo in the State Library of Victoria, a Melbourne University scholarship and a large memorial on a grave in the Dunedin cemetery in New Zealand were the catalysts for me to decide to seriously commence researching this couple. The story in time, was to unearth a naval hero, links to the British Royal Family, a life in rural Scotland, scandals, the birth of Italy, a messy Victorian court case and a legacy that continues today.
Robert McLaren grew up at Mortlake in the Western District of Victoria. Although he moved away from the district he has maintained a strong interest in the area. Robert has written four local history books and numerous articles on the people and places around Mortlake and district. He worked as an Accountant and then asa Humanities Secondary Teacher. He has recently retired from full time work. Robert is the President of the Mortlake and District Historical Society.
The 2024 change to a Celtic festival expands the ability to include other Celtic nations with performers from Ireland, Wales and England while retaining connections to our Scottish performers.
Dr John Menzies OAM, festival Chair said “The 2024 Festival was a wonderful success and planning is already in place with performers booked for our 2025 Robert Burns Celtic Festival and the program will include many festival favourites.”
The Robert Burns Celtic Festival is a winter festival celebrating Scotland’s national Poet and the Celtic culture in poetry, song, music and dance, in and around the historic buildings of Camperdown.
Dr John Menzies OAM is delighted to announce that The Melbourne Welsh Male Choir is returning to Camperdown to perform at the Festival Finale Concert.
Dr Menzies said “Since its inception the choir has grown into one of Australia’s acclaimed male choirs, known for the quality and spirit of its four-part harmonies. The choir is steeped in the choral traditions, but is still proudly Australian and has many members from diverse nationalities. It honours its Welsh roots by singing at least 25% of its repertoire as Welsh songs, with at least half of these in the Welsh language, Europe’s oldest living language. The Choir has travelled and performed internationally including London’s Royal Albert Hall.“
The Gala Dinner and the festival History talks along with multi festival performance spaces will see new performers at the 2025 festival.
Already booked to perform at the 2025 festival are The Melbourne Male Welsh Choir, Luke Plumb & Peter Daffy, and Fiona Ross. New acts include The Raglins, an exciting young band from Melbourne, MacCrimmin, The Corby Family, Elonera and Harpistry.
The Reformers will present a contemporary show; “In the hope of Something better”, celebrating Australian Poet Henry Lawson.
Returning are Peter Daffy’s Celtic Band, Merran and Peter Moir, and The Twa Bards. Tuniversal Music Group and The Camperdown Lakes and Craters Band, The Australian Irish Dance Company, The Geelong Scottish Dance Group, Hugh and Janet Gordon, and the Warrnambool Pipes and Drums.
Also happening in Camperdown at the festival will be the James Blair Memorial Solo Piping Competition at St Patrick’s, this is organised by the Victorian Pipers Association. The popular Robert Burns Golf Ambrose Competition returns to the Camperdown Lakes course.
After the success of the Choir competition, and with the formation of our own Camperdown Celtic Choir, invited Choirs will perform on the Saturday. Dr Menzies, said “It was a great inclusion at this year’s festival with the visiting Choirs performing at the Theatre Royal to a full house.”
At Robert Burns Statue festival favourites The Twa Bards will present Burns, Songs and Poetry, and the Festival Finale Concert on the Sunday will complete a full festival program.
Over the weekend a series of concert performances and music will be at the Theatre Royal, Killara Centre and local businesses.
The Schools Arts project, Street Activation, Market Stalls, Music in the Avenue will also be happening. A Family Ceilidh Dance on Saturday night promises to be a great night.
Catherine O’Flynn, Festival coordinator has been busy booking Musicians for the Festival in June and the line-up of bands and musicians will not disappoint. Watch out for Early Bird Tickets being released in February; https://www.trybooking.com/CXRJT
Here’s a few of our favourite photos from 2024. A weekend full of music, history, dance, choirs, food, fun… celebrating Celtic connections, Burns beyond Scotland… and getting excited about choirs with our first mass choir of 130+ voices led by Kym Dillon and with six visiting regional choirs, as well as headlining The Melbourne Welsh Male Choir. It has to be said that there was also a lot of dancing – with even more ceilidh action making it easy for everyone to join in the fun, along with Irish and Scottish dance concerts. 2025 promises to offer even more.
Support the festival’s Burnsian spirit! “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.”
Please contact our festival coordinator to make a donation.
On Sunday the 19th of January 2025 from 4-6pm we have our annual Burns Birthday Celebration. It will be held under the beautiful natural cathedral canopy of Linden Trees at Camperdown’s Botanic Gardens. BYO Picnic. Entry by donation.
Special thanks to Cobden & Districts Community Bank Branch and Camperdown Branch for being our MAJOR SPONSOR for RBCF2025. The community support that they provide is valued.