The Unconformity (formerly the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival) is an arts festival held in
Queenstown, Tasmania
Queenstown is a town in the West Coast region of the island of Tasmania, Australia. It is in a valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen on the West Coast Range.
At the , Queenstown had a population of 1,808 people.
History
Queenstown's hi ...
in
Australia.
Held on the
West Coast, the festival is a biennial event. Elements of the festival capture a change in the fate of
Western Tasmania
The West Coast of Tasmania is mainly isolated rough country, associated with wilderness, mining and tourism. It served as the location of an early convict settlement in the early history of Van Diemen's Land, and contrasts sharply with the mo ...
n communities, where mining ventures and other industries are reduced and population declines, but where the heritage and legacy of the communities remains.
History
The festival commenced in 2010.
2012 event
The 2012 event included events and exhibitions which commemorated the centenary of the
North Mount Lyell disaster, with enactments that echoed the events of 1912.
The
West Coast Wilderness Railway
The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell railway in Western Tasmania between Queenstown and Regatta Point, Strahan. The railway is significant because of its Abt rack s ...
was involved in the 2012 celebrations, with a re-enactment of transporting victims to the Queenstown cemetery.
Tasmanian artists have utilised old buildings and space in Queenstown for working with their artworks.
The Friday forum at the Queenstown RSL "North Lyell Mine Disaster Forum" included
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
. The wide range of sponsors for the festival include local businesses such as the historic
Empire Hotel.
2014 event
The event was held again in 2014.
2016 event
The festival changed its name to ''The Unconformity'' and was held on 14 and 16 October, with a substantial crowd at the opening events.
The grand finale of the festival is a football match on the
Queenstown Oval.
2018 event
The second event with the new name was held in October 2018.
2020 and 2021 event
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
the 2020 event was postponed until 2021. The 2021 event was cancelled the day it was due to start as that day Tasmanias' southern region of 11 LGAs,
went into a 3-day lockdown at 6pm. It was triggered when a man with the
Delta variant
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
escaped from hotel quarantine and was moving about in the community, before police located him the next day.
2020s
In 2022 the regional director in Queenstown is artist
Helena Demczuk.
Records
* Materials at -
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unconformity, The
Queenstown, Tasmania
Festivals in Tasmania
Arts festivals in Australia