Record rain and mud couldn't stop Australia's largest outback music festival
The mud has made the punters barmy. A posse of blokes in sexy bunny leotards and fishnets sloshes through puddles. Buxom seniors parade in racy bras. A human caterpillar weaves through crowds of dinosaurs, muscled men in mankinis, and flesh-flashing floozies. Somewhere among the revellers, two young men in trunks take a full-body-slippery-dip slide through the mud. It matters not that they won’t see a proper shower for another day yet.
Welcome to the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash 2026. An event that, in the words of founder Greg Donovan, will “go down in history” for its sodden success despite the odds. The sell-out annual festival, held on the Mundi Mundi Plains at Belmont Station, quickly descended into the “Muddy Muddy Bash” when record rainfall turned the normally dusty red earth into a quagmire. The day before the Bash officially kicked off, organisers made the “gut-wrenching decision” to close the gates – locking out 5,000 ticketholders, as almost one third of the campground was awash.
For the 10,000 lucky early-entry patrons, artists and crew, it was a case of the show must go on. And on it went, despite the sometimes abysmal conditions. It was wet, it was muddy. Cars were bogged, sites were waterlogged, yet I was hard-pressed to find an unhappy camper.
BASHERS BRAVE THE MUD
Adrian Adams is astride an inflatable blue dinosaur queueing in the drizzle for Big Blue Day on the opening day of Australia’s largest outback music festival. It’s his first Bash and he’s driven from Mildura to be here. “I love it, it’s absolutely tops,” he says, despite the mud cloaking his shoes. “We’ve got a lake view on one side [of our caravan] and we’ve got a swamp on the other. Couldn’t pick a better spot,” he grins.
Perhaps more appropriately dressed for the conditions is Lou Mimmo, who I find waddling across the mud in an inflatable shark costume. Lou and his wife came with four mates from Melbourne and spent the first night camped on the road as organisers scrambled to get arrivals onto soggy sites.
“All three of us got bogged going into camp, so where we got bogged is now where we’re camped,” Lou says. “But hey, you can’t change the weather, so you just enjoy what you’ve got.”
What we’ve got is more than 2,800 revellers dressed in blue to form a giant human map of Australia. Big Blue Day is an annual fixture of the Bash, this year raising more than $218,000 for mental health organisation Beyond Blue. Fundraising is a big part of Mundi Mundi, now in its fifth year. The event started as a spinoff of the Birdsville Big Red Bash – the ‘world’s most remote music festival’, which began as a sideshow to an ultramarathon race in the Simpson Desert.
For today’s ‘bashers’ the off-stage events are almost as entertaining as the headline acts. Over the three-day program there are craft sessions, camel rides, comedy and talent shows, an animal petting zoo, and helicopter joy flights buzzing around the plains. On day two, the sun breaks out and an inaugural Bash Choir sees 2,800 revellers – many in Tina Turner wigs – belt out a spirited rendition of ‘Simply the Best’.
Leathers and armour soon replace big hair and sequins as a motley rabble of post-apocalyptic ‘survivors’ stomp and snarl across the arena in the Mad Max Procession (two of the films in the franchise were shot on the Mundi Mundi Plains). On day three the costumes reach an outrageous crescendo as more than 1,600 bashers brave the morning chill for the Mundi Undi Run. It’s a riotous parade of flesh and flamboyance as revellers – some in undies, others in fun and debaucherous costumes – squelch their way towards the finish line. Anyone with an aversion to bare buttocks, avert your gaze. Together, the run and Bash Choir raise at least $180,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Just before midday the concert gates open and things get serious. Fans, some of whom have parked carts laden with eskies and camp chairs at the gate since early morning, make a mad dash for the front of the stage. The audience is arranged in orderly rows that fan out from a waterlogged ‘dance floor’ up front. It’s initially closed, the patches of visible ground resembling sand bars on a retreating tide. Behind the concert area, the village of ‘Mundiville’ sprawls in a sea of concentric streets lined with RVs.
The official concert lineup is formidable; a who’s who of Australian rock, pop, folk and indie royalty. There’s also a rousing tribute to 60 years of Fleetwood Mac, performed by the ‘house band’, who impressively learnt 80 songs to support many of the 22 artists.
There’s something for the young fans, with Jessica Mauboy bringing sequined sparkle and powerful vocals to the stage. Something for the older crowd (I’m looking at you, Troy Cassar-Daley, Tim Finn and Leo Sayer). And then there’s Furnace and the Fundamentals, who enthral everyone with their high energy, eclectic mashups of iconic hits and disco tunes. When lead singer Elliott Crane prances across the stage on a giant unicorn, and a bunch of inflatable dolls (the band’s signature prop) sail into the audience, the crowd goes wild.
Other highlights are ’90s rockers Baby Animals, John Butler’s chordophone wizardry, and Chocolate Starfish’s high-octane Meat Loaf tribute. Jon Stevens closes the Bash with an explosive medley of INXS and Noiseworks hits. During his set a woman screams from the crowd: “Jon, take your shoes off and put them under my bed!” “I’m a grandfather!” an amused Stevens shoots back. Mundi has cast its spell.
Backstage, Stevens – performing at his third Bash – tells me singing at Mundi is “very, very special”.
“Where else can you go, you know, somewhere iconic like Broken Hill and see the best of Aussie rock?” he says. “It’s a connection… and it’s really quite tribal. Everyone’s sort of been here for a few days, so they’ve been rocking hard.”
Casting a shadow over this year’s event are the absentees: the 5,000 patrons – some of whom travelled great distances – who couldn’t get in. In a goodwill gesture, several of the artists step up, playing free pop-up shows to heaving crowds at nearby Silverton Hotel and the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill. Then, on the final day, the gates reopen, allowing refunded ticketholders free entry as day visitors.
“To see people back on the plains today, singing, dancing and celebrating together, was the perfect way to finish three extraordinary days,” a relieved Greg Donovan says.
MEMBERS ROCKIN’ THE BASH
This year CMCA is a Bash sponsor for the first time, giving members exclusive access to a VIP camping zone close to the concert area. Some 64 members attend, in addition to many more who opt to camp independently with friends. The club has a rolling presence on the main stage screens between acts and in the plaza, where staff, volunteers and board members, including Jan Binskin and Dean McAuley, spread the good word of CMCA and its member benefits.
Among the members rockin’ the plains are Tara Davis and Brad Burnette who travelled from the Gold Coast, giving their newly purchased Jayco campervan one helluva shakedown. They were due to arrive on the first day of the Bash but, thanks to their CMCA membership, were admitted a day early to avoid the gate closure.
“Having the CMCA connection enabled us to come in on the Wednesday, just straight in. So, we’re very thankful for the CMCA,” Brad says.
Also lucky to get in under the CMCA banner were Leah and Steve Arnold, who spent their first night at the Bash camped on the road just inside the gate.
“We eventually got here, we got bogged twice getting in, they pulled us out and it’s been good,” says Leah. “I don’t care about the rain or the mud, I’ve had a good time. You can tell by my boots; I’ve had a great time walking in puddles.”
Judi Hughes travelled solo from Mandurah near Perth, crossing the Nullarbor for the 13th time in seven years to make it to her first Bash. Despite having to scrape the mud off the brakes and wheels of her walker, she’s having a blast.
“It’s absolutely fabulous,” Judi says. “It’s well worth it. The performers are unbelievable. The set-up is unbelievable. The [plaza] food is delicious… you couldn’t fault it in any way.”
And what about the rain and mud, I ask? “Oh, it adds to the fun,” she says. “It makes it a better adventure!”
Judi hopes to return next year as a volunteer. This year there’s an army of 670 volunteers who do everything from cleaning the toilets and marshalling traffic to monitoring the gates, taking photographs and assisting with craft workshops.
Among the crew are CMCA members Marg Bajzath and Dave Meulman who have volunteered at two Bashes previously and were this year invited back as paid ‘Dunny Angels’. They help keep the portable facilities (raised platforms on sawdust wheelie bins), looking and smelling respectable.
“The last few days we’ve been doing 11-hour days, so we are seeing everything,” Marg enthuses. “Two days ago we got to see the plaza area and finished our shift at 8.30 last night, and we got to have a boogie down in the mosh pit to Chocolate Starfish and Furnace and the Fundamentals.”
As we speak, revellers stream past in their undies and all manner of crazy costumes. Not far away there are revellers camped out in a yacht.
“It’s very entertaining,” Marg says of the Mundi atmosphere. “Tractors pulling people out of the bogs, kids on their boogie boards being dragged through these mud-slosh pits – they’re living their best life.”
“Yeah, we see it all,” adds Dave. “The Mundi spirit making the best of the circumstances.”
JOURNEY PLANNER
The 2027 Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash will be held on 19 to 21 August. The event takes place on the Mundi Mundi Plains at Belmont Station, about 40 kilometres west of Broken Hill. Tickets cost $829 for adults (kids from $39), plus $49 vehicle entry, with the option to arrive up to three days early for an extra fee. Get in early because tickets sell out.
Once you arrive at Mundiville, you can’t leave the campground and return unless you park in the day parking area. Bus transfers are available to and from Silverton and Broken Hill for non-campers and day-trippers.
There are excellently maintained composting toilets on site (some accessible) but no water, so you must come prepared. Food trucks serve a range of takeaway meals and snacks, but alcohol is BYO (strictly no glass). Dogs and campfires are permitted, and you can even have wood delivered to your RV.
The writer was a guest of Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash.
