Gympie Muster draws 22,000, raises $153K for charity

The 37th Gympie Music Muster rounded off last night with an aggregate 22,000 fans over four days, and over $153,000 raised for charity and community groups.

The festival has over the years raised $15 million.

Early reports suggest around $25,000 raised for this year’s official charity partner Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA).

“Men in regional Australia are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer, so the opportunity to raise awareness in this community has been invaluable,” said Peter Duffy, Queensland president of PCFA.

The funds raised will help PCFA to continue to provide research, awareness and support to the men and families affected by prostate cancer.

The money will allow the organisation to increase its national number of prostate cancer specialist nurses from 47 to 100.

One in five Australian men will get prostate cancer; there are 20,000 new cases every year.

Muster organisers noted a spike in sales of four-day passes and an adoption of some of its new programs.

A bill of Lee Kernaghan, Travis Collins, John Williamson and The Wolfe Brothers brought a record crowd to the Muster hill on Friday night.

The new workshops and panels had strong attendances, as did the newly expanded Blues program.

“With a program that we tried to pack with variety, it’s difficult to pick just a few highlights…” said program director Jeff Chandler.

“However, some were just so outstanding that they were simply the talk of the festival.”

These included the huge turn-out for Kernaghan, the Melbourne Ska Orchestra which “had the audience dancing like never before seen at the Muster” and the Vox Guitar Jam with Albert Lee, Tim Gaze, Ian Moss, Troy Cassar-Daley, Minnie Marks and Lloyd Speigel, “who in my opinion was one of the real ‘finds’ of the festival for many patrons.”

Other highs included Muster ambassador Troy Cassar-Daley and wife Laurel Edwards’ team-up on stage (they met 25 years ago at the Muster; Troy said, “Forget dating apps, talk to someone at the Muster”) and the star-studded finale ‘Songs I Wish I’d Written’, despite the rain.

The Muster was held in the Amamoor Creek State Forest in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, two hours north of Brisbane and 40 minutes from Noosa.

It was generated by 1,700 volunteers working a total of 15,000 hours