Tom Oliver in front of The Augathella Spiegeltent. Photos: Supplied.
FROM WYNNUM FRINGE
The Augathella Spiegeltent, previously located in outback Augathella, has now made the 800km trip to its new home on Bay Terrace, Wynnum.
The relocation is the brainchild of Tom Oliver, founder of the Wynnum Fringe – Queensland’s trailblazing bayside arts festival. He is reviving this forgotten piece of Queensland’s cultural history and giving it new life, and at the same time, giving arts and community organisations in Brisbane a new place to call home!
At the same time, a ground breaking community crowdfund is underway to make this relocation and refurbishment happen. The campaign seeks to raise $500,000 to restore the run-down Spiegeltent from the regional town of Augathella to provide a new semi-permanent performance venue for the Brisbane region and other parts of Australia. The first milestone of $100,000 was raised in just three weeks.
Tom said the crowdfunding campaign was an urgent response to the national live entertainment crisis which has seen several major festival cancellations and high-profile venue closures over the past 12 months.
“This project will provide a much-needed platform to nurture emerging talent, bring communities together, increase capacity-building across the sector and create year-round jobs for creative workers,” Tom said. “It not only revitalises a forgotten gem in Queensland’s cultural history but gives the Brisbane region a new live performance venue of similar capacity to the recently shuttered The Zoo.”
ABOUT THE SPIEGELTENT
Designed by world famous fourth-generation Belgian tent-building family The Klessens, The Augathella Spiegeltent was originally commissioned in 2008 by the Queensland Government as part of Queensland’s 150th anniversary celebrations. It toured across the state before settling in Augathella, nine hours’ drive west of Brisbane. The venue was a community function and entertainment centre until it fell into disrepair many years ago and now deemed not useable by The Murweh Shire Council.
With its uniquely Queensland design, blending traditional 19th century Belgian construction techniques with a quintessential Australian shearing shed aesthetic, The Augathella Spiegeltent is regarded as Australia’s first Spiegeltent of its kind.
WHY BRING A SPIEGELTENT TO WYNNUM?
“I remember thinking in 2021, gosh we need a professional venue of our own out here in Wynnum,” explained Tom. “ Imagine if Wynnum became the ‘off-broadway’ of Brisbane, and a Spiegeltent in suburbia created shows that then toured to London or New York. It could happen.”
In early 2023, Tom’s parents were on a regional driving trip and stopped for lunch in Augathella, some
748 km west of Brisbane. There sat a seemingly abandoned Spiegeltent. It was the start of an idea.
In late 2023, Mayor Zorro (of Murweh Shire Council) and Tom agreed that Wynnum Fringe would acquire this piece of history from the town, rename it ‘The Augathella’, and celebrate the regional Queensland town wherever it plays in the world.
HOW CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE?
Tom says Wynnum Fringe has been creating shows and experiences in similar Spiegeltents for the past three years, and now we have an opportunity to create an engine room of our own for a Queensland-made product to get up and tour the world.
“We invite crowdfund donors to come on this epic journey with us and be part of this history-making creative venture. Donations over $1,000 secure a name on the floorboards of The Augathella Spiegeltent, the literal foundation of the venue,” said Tom.
All donations over $2 are tax deductible and both corporations and community members are invited to support this initiative. For more information, visit www.augathellaspiegeltent.com.
