South West Multicultural Festival takes over Bunbury with a huge night of diverse cultural celebration

Every good festival is filled with colour, music and good food — and the South West’s annual celebratory festival of culture was no exception. Bunbury’s Graham Bricknell Music Shell was buzzing all afternoon with people exploring the dozens of food trucks and market stalls on offer, while enjoying the fabulous entertainment put on local cultural dancers across two stages. A Flag Parade kicked off the community event, led by the Junkadelic Orchestra and joined by over 50 different cultures walking their flags in pride. The night’s finale saw the Junkadelic Orchestra and Noongar dancer and musician Olman Walley preform Six Seasons, a collection of original songs paying homage to the Noongar seasons — Makuru, Djilba, Kambarang, Birak, Bunuru and Djeran. This year’s the festival highlighted the theme — Goolambidi — the Noongar word for youth, and was celebrated with a 10m wide and 2.5m high mural of a young Indigenous leader Mahlia Bell, created by Papa Giueseppe and Hope Perth. The new mural was complimented by last year’s previous mural, featuring portraits of four women from the festival committee. Chairperson of the Bunbury Multircultal Group, Susanne Hamersley, said the committee was overwhelmed with the turnout for the event. “It went fantastically, we are so happy with how many people turned up and the atmosphere was just magic,” she said. “There was so much on, and while I walked through the festival all the stalls and food trucks, every one I passed looked to be having fun and it was just lovely to see.” Ms Hamersley said cultural celebrations like the festival have been an important connection ground throughout the pandemic. “Events like this are important, especially when people haven’t been able to travel,” she said. “It is not just important for the ones who don’t have family in the South West, but it’s just incredible for everyone to experience cultural diversity in such a relaxed atmosphere.”