Thousands flock to outback Queensland for Australian country music legend

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thousands of tourists have travelled to Birdsville in the western corner of outback Queensland to see Australian country music legend John Williamson perform. The concert is in place of the Big Red Bash music festival, which will return next year.

Transcript

00:00The sounds of a classic Australian anthem echo across a stunning outback landscape.

00:12The big red sand dunes 40 kilometres outside Birdsville transformed into an amphitheatre

00:18as legendary singer-songwriter John Williamson performed into the night.

00:23I'm 80 this year and I'm about to retire so it'll very likely be the last one so that's

00:29special for me.

00:30At this time of year the Big Red Bash is normally in full swing but organisers are taking a breather

00:36this year to host two smaller concerts instead.

00:39It's a completely different style of it than the Big Red Bash but you know some people really

00:44love it like this and they say yeah let's just keep it like this.

00:48The event has attracted about 2,000 people from across Australia.

00:52It's very unique because it's on top of Big Red and I love John Williamson.

00:57So attendees were outnumbered by flies.

01:00John last night I think swallowed a few.

01:02I'm sure he's writing lyrics to the moment to go for that one.

01:05Nearby the council is hosting its first camel carnival in a bid to keep tourists in town.

01:11We want them to stay around.

01:13You know they spend another dollar in our local businesses so the longer we can keep them

01:18hopefully the more that they spend.

01:20The start of the Outback Tourism season was hampered by flooding in March and April but

01:25now with the country in full bloom the caravans and the tourists are rolling in.

01:30My old man's been out here about seven times and he's never seen it like this so it's pretty

01:33special to be out here when it's so wet and green completely not what I expected.

01:39We feel great being here and it's almost a privilege really so this beautiful country here and

01:46you know that we've got and yeah great music.

01:49I love it here.

01:50I love it here.

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