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ABC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Restored spiegeltent back in action for Wynnum Fringe festival
Once abandoned in an outback Queensland town, the Augathella Spiegeltent is set to hold more than 110 live performances for the sixth annual Wynnum Fringe festival. The restored circus tent is breathing new life into the festival scene on Brisbane's Bayside as music and hospitality venues continue to close. The venue is hosting the Wynnum Fringe for the second time and thousands of spectators are expected to attend the festival's three-week run. Event founder Tom Oliver began the renovation project in 2023 to give performers the increasingly rare opportunity to share their craft. "To be able to give hundreds of artists the chance to perform in front of audience members, the chance to get paid, and thousands of audience members to come into a space and experience live art — there's not many words to describe it," he said. Until 2013 the tent was a roaming venue for parties and events in the state before it was left to languish in Augathella, 750 kilometres west of Brisbane. Mr Oliver is hoping to take it back on the road to give other homegrown artists the opportunity to perform under its roof. "We're looking for places interstate to take it next year, but it's always going to be the home of Wynnum Fringe," he said. Relocating and restoring the tent led to an unexpected relationship between Augathella and Wynnum. In May Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Murwey Shire Mayor Shaun Radnedge announced the two were sister suburbs. This year's Wynnum Fringe will celebrate the partnership with the theme of mateship. "This has been a really remarkable journey, where a tiny town in west Queensland and a suburban town in Brisbane … have worked together to relocate a 400-seat live performance venue and bring it back to life," Mr Oliver said. A cherished Queensland tradition is being revived to celebrate this new connection between the bush and the bay. The Wynnum Fringe is throwing its first bachelor and spinster ball, which will be hosted by ABC Radio Brisbane. Festivities will start at 4pm on Saturday, July 5, and will be headlined by country music artist Brooke Schubert. The spiegeltent is open for business but the restoration is only half complete. Mr Oliver has been running a crowdfunding campaign to bring the travelling venue back to life. In the last few months he and his team have replaced the floors, roof, and purchased a new stage just in time for this year's performances.
The Age
21-06-2025
- The Age
How a miraculous outback find changed the fortunes of the Wynnum Fringe
In July 2023, Tom Oliver was looking at the cost of renting a Spiegeltent from Europe and wishing that his Wynnum Fringe festival could own one permanently. At roughly the same time, 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, Oliver's newly retired parents rolled into the town of Augathella, population 328, on an outback road trip. They saw an abandoned Spiegeltent in a field, and sent the disbelieving Oliver a photo. 'So we now, as a festival, own a 400-seat Spiegeltent that was found by my parents in western Queensland,' Oliver says with a laugh. Prized as portable venues for festival shows, Spiegeltents are like small, glammed-up circus tents, often made with wood and stained-glass detailing. The structure in Augathella was designed and built in 2008 by Belgium's Klessens family, fifth generation makers, for Queensland's 150th anniversary celebrations. Called the Q150 Shed, it hybridised a classic European Speigeltent with the Isis Downs Woolshed, a famous outback Queensland shearing shed, and hosted commemorations all over the state in 2009. 'And at the end of the tour, the state government gifted it to the town of Augathella,' Oliver says.
Sydney Morning Herald
21-06-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
How a miraculous outback find changed the fortunes of the Wynnum Fringe
In July 2023, Tom Oliver was looking at the cost of renting a Spiegeltent from Europe and wishing that his Wynnum Fringe festival could own one permanently. At roughly the same time, 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, Oliver's newly retired parents rolled into the town of Augathella, population 328, on an outback road trip. They saw an abandoned Spiegeltent in a field, and sent the disbelieving Oliver a photo. 'So we now, as a festival, own a 400-seat Spiegeltent that was found by my parents in western Queensland,' Oliver says with a laugh. Prized as portable venues for festival shows, Spiegeltents are like small, glammed-up circus tents, often made with wood and stained-glass detailing. The structure in Augathella was designed and built in 2008 by Belgium's Klessens family, fifth generation makers, for Queensland's 150th anniversary celebrations. Called the Q150 Shed, it hybridised a classic European Speigeltent with the Isis Downs Woolshed, a famous outback Queensland shearing shed, and hosted commemorations all over the state in 2009. 'And at the end of the tour, the state government gifted it to the town of Augathella,' Oliver says.
