Featuring Missy Higgins, Hoodoo Gurus, The Cat Empire, Birds of Tokyo,

The Angels, Kasey Chambers, Kate Ceberano, Leo Sayer and more

Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash – August 21-23, 2025

National Volunteers Week – May 19 – 25, 2025

As National Volunteers Week (May 19-25) kicks off volunteers for the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash – the biggest music event ever staged in Outback Australia – begin the countdown to the event which runs across three days from August 21-23, 2025.

Volunteers are the backbone of the Mundi Mundi Bash with more than 600 positions across marshalling, traffic management, cleaning (the renowned ‘Dunny Angels’), catering and more. Demand for volunteer positions at the 2025 Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash was so significant that a long wait list remains of people wanting to volunteer with all positions filled for 2025.

“We build the festival site virtually from scratch it’s a satellite city of nearly 15,000 and we rely on volunteers to help stage an event of this grand scale in a regional setting,” said Greg Donovan, festival owner and Managing Director of the Outback Music Festival Group.

“It is a massive undertaking, but certainly well worth it when everything comes together for an outback spectacular of iconic live music and family fun. Our volunteers are the heart and soul of the festival and as organisers we work very hard to make the volunteering experience unique, enjoyable and rewarding and we think that’s one of the reasons many volunteers come back year after year, and the volunteer roster fills up so quickly.”

Donovan noted that volunteering for the festival brings added benefit of giving back to the local community through helping support the event’s fundraising efforts for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).

The Mundi Mundi Bash stages Nutbush City Limits dance and Mad Max dress-up World Record attempts, as well as a ‘Mundi Undi’ fun run, to raise funds for the RFDS – a vital outback charity that provides help to remote areas often cut off from medical services and inter-hospital transfer services between metropolitan areas.

Since it began working with the RFDS in 2016, the Outback Music Festival Group has raised more than a million dollars for the RFDS via the Mundi Mundi Bash and Birdsville Big Red Bash.

“The Mundi Mundi Bash has a significant charity element, which is something we find really resonates with festival volunteers. They not only get to be part of the festival community and experience all the behind-the-scenes action and awesome live music, but they also get to contribute to supporting regional communities,” said Greg Donovan.

Mundi Mundi Bash volunteers can experience all the festival action outside of their shift times and will receive free entry to the three-day event, special volunteer camping and a merchandise pack in return for their generous time and effort.

Volunteers can nominate to complete their shift with friends and family, and in line with a particular skill set or area of interest. Depending on the team, volunteer time-commitments start from as little as 16 hours.

The Dunny Angles remain some of the Bash favourites with patrons as they keep the specially designed eco friendly composting toilets in such clean condition that they’re renowned as the best festival toilets in Australia.

“Our toilet system is incredible. We designed it for the Birdsville Big Red Bash where we’re set up on land that is used for organic cattle farming so leaving the earth pristine is vitally important. We’ve invested a lot of money to develop our hygienic, odourless, composting toilets to use instead of chemical port-a-loos.

The compositing toilets eucalyptus sawdust which reduces water usage – a key consideration for our remote events when we don’t have running water on hand. The toilets don’t smell and our ‘Dunny Angel’ vols do an incredible job ensuring they remain squeaky clean,” said Greg Donovan.

At the end of the event, toilet waste that is free from harsh chemicals is taken to a contained, fenced off compost site. Within a year, the dry compost can be used to fertilise the land.

“The Bash volunteers hold a special place in my heart. So many volunteers return each year and we all get the chance to catch up, share stories and come together like a family. Having volunteers come back year after year makes a world of difference, as they know what to do and how to get the job done right. There is something really warm and special about the Bash volunteer community but it always gets tricky each year, having such a high demand for volunteering, that we sadly can’t give everyone a role. But we always try and do our best!”, said Shenelle Host, Volunteer Manager for the Outback Music Festival Group.

Morpeth/Maitland region, NSW – Retired surveyor Paul Bateman and his wife Debbie who is a retired schoolteacher.

Paul and Debbie Bateman are amongst the longest serving Bash event volunteers/workers, starting their association with the events 12 years ago at the Birdsville Big Red Bash.

Paul will soon be heading to Birdsville once again to work on the intimate John Williamson Big Red Sunset concert that is being staged by Bash organisers this year while the Birdsville Big Red Bash takes a one-year breather.

He will then head back to the Hunter to collect Debbie before they make their annual pilgrimage to the Mundi Mundi Bash event, where they will also be joined by their daughter Sarah who takes leave each year from her job as a schoolteacher in Newcastle to volunteer at the event with her parents.

“We love it. The event organisers and Donovan family are friends to us now and we’ve built a great network of friends at the event that we look forward to reconnecting with each year,” said Debbie – who also spends time in her retirement from teaching volunteering at her local hospital.

Paul’s expert surveying skills are put to good use at the event where he works with organisers to map out the renowned arch camping grid – that is often referred to as having an alien colony from the air, as well as marking out the lines for the Nutbush world record attempt grid and Big Blue Day map of Australia outline via GPS as well as the Mundi Undie run route.

While Paul’s impact at the event is significant and highly visual, Debbie is a well known and loved face to many return festival goers. She is the front FAQ’s person for information at the event control tent helping hundreds of people with a variety of event questions, lost and found and more. She also works across the Mundi Masterpieces dunny door painting.

The couple came to be involved in the Bash events when Paul first met festival founder Greg Donovan on a Burke & Wills walk into Birdsville, leading to him working for Greg on surveying for the Big Red Run fundraising events before the Big Red Bash music festival was founded.

Daughter Sarah who has also volunteered at several Mundi Mundi Bash events will this year take on the reigns of managing the busy merchandising marquee. The Batemans have grown their volunteering roles into paid positions with the Outback Music Festival Group.

Gawler SA – Ambulance Officer Les and wife Sharon Drayton who is a Border Patrol Officer – Fourth time Mundi Mundi Bash volunteers.

Les and Sharon Drayton from Gawler South Australia have been to every Mundi Mundi Bash event. They attended the first event as festival patrons and then have since volunteered at every other event.

“This will be our fourth event volunteering. We love it! We’re not very good at sitting around. We need to be busy – and volunteering fills the week up and makes us feel part of such an incredible event and like we have a front row too behind the scenes. We’ve made some awesome friends through volunteering at the event and now catch up with them every year,” said Sharon Drayton, who is a full-time Australian Border Patrol officer.

“My job now doesn’t involve a lot of frontline interaction so it’s so lovely getting out and talking to people at such a positive event. Everyone’s happy and up for a good time.”

Husband Les who is a fulltime Ambulance office of 37 years takes on a volunteer role as a handyman “Jack of all trades” at the event while Sharon considers herself lucky to work with the helicopter operators helping marshal people for joy flights across the event site.

“We both have roles at the Bash we love. I head back to our van dusty after a shift with the helicopter and being near so many take offs and landings, but it’s exciting to see it come and go, and to see the reaction from people who take a joy flight,” adds Sharon.

Wagga Wagga NSW – Disability services car fleet manager Thomas Lawler and wife Meaghan who works in a primary school front office.

Thomas and Meaghan Lawler will soon be heading out to their fifth Mundi Mundi Bash event – and their fourth time as volunteers.

They have made lifelong friends at the event who they camp with every year now.

Thomas volunteers with the sustainability team sorting cans and rubbish at the event while Meaghan works in the kitchen on crew catering.

“The event is such a great, green event. You see the way other festival sites are left piled with rubbish and feel proud to have played a part in ensuring these beautiful outback event sites are left pristine. It’s a credit to the event organisers and festival goers who take most of their rubbish with them that a day after roll in there is virtually no sign that thousands of people we’re camping in the outback on the site,” said Thomas.

“It’s so well run, I can see why there’s still so many people trying to get a gig with the event. They’re well over subscribed for volunteer positions and I think that’s pretty unique and a reflection on how well they look after their team of volunteers. They make it a very easy gig,” added Thomas.

Kilmore, Victoria – Accountant David Atkinson and wife Carolyn who is a nurse.

The Atkinson’s are amongst a group of couples who plan holidays at and around the annual Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash event. They have volunteered at every Mundi Mundi Bash event as well as also volunteering at the 10^th anniversary Big Red Bash in 2023.

Carolyn resigned from her part-time position as a nurse to give her the flexibility to attend the Bash events, now working as a casual district nurse – while accountant David is able to take his work on the road and work from the event and as they travel.

Carolyn works on the Mundi Masterpieces dunny door painting team as a supervisor and loves the interaction with kids (young and old!) at the event.

“We’re a family who likes to give back and volunteer. We’ve both been involved in our kids sporting clubs over the years, Dave was an Apex member and I’ve been volunteering with Girl Guides since I was 9 years old – clocking up 38 years this year as a Girl Guide leader,” said Carolyn.

David helped set up the drainage system for the compost toilets at the Mundi Mundi Bash event and now helps with set up and pack down as well as set up for the Nutbush, Big Blue Day and Mundi Undie run.

“Dave absolutely loves the music so makes sure all his shifts allow him to attend all the music. I love it as well but am happy to watch and listen from my painting spot, while he likes to be right amongst it with our friends,” added Carolyn.

“He’s even helped the stage crew set up the stage which he found very interesting and loved being part of. We love the event so much that we’ve now got a group of 14 friends joining us at the event. Some are travelling with us from Kilmore while others are coming from WA and the ACT. Some are going to volunteer with us while others are buying tickets. We’ll all get to camp together and enjoy being part of this very special event.”

Proudly supported by the NSW Government via Destination NSW, the Mundi Mundi Bash offers up a uniquely Australian destination adventure for music lovers, families, grey nomads, camping and caravanning enthusiasts, and intrepid travellers alike.

The Mundi Mundi Bash can be accessed by road, as well as scheduled and charter flights, bus tours and train transport.

The event does not sell alcohol; however, ticketholders are permitted to bring their own food and alcohol onto the festival site. In addition, there will be a large range of food vendors selling both hot and cold food and beverages at the event

What: 2025 Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash

Where: Belmont Station, on the Mundi Mundi Plains

9km north of Silverton – 35km north of Broken Hill

When: August 21-23, 2025

More info & tickets: www.mundimundibash.com.au

Full Line-Up: Missy Higgins, Hoodoo Gurus, The Cat Empire, Birds of Tokyo, The Angels, Kasey Chambers, Kate Ceberano, Leo Sayer, Chocolate Starfish, Brad Cox, Rose Tattoo, Ross Wilson, Shannon Noll, Pierce Brothers, Thirsty Merc, Dragon, Mi-Sex, Sarah McLeod, Ziggy – 50 Years of David Bowie starring Iota, Jeff Duff, Steve Balbi and Bryden Stace, 19Twenty, Chantoozies, Caitlyn Shadbolt, Mick Thomas, Leroy Johnson and the Waterbag Bag Band and Tha Boiz

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