The Unconformity (formerly the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival) is an arts festival held in

Queenstown, Tasmania Queenstown is a historic mining town in the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast region of the island of Tasmania, Australia. It is in a valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen (Tasmania), Mount Owen on the West Coast Range. At the , Queenstown h ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 one of the Regions of Tasmania, regions of Tasmania in Australia. It is mainly isolated rough country and is associated with wilderness, mining and tourism. It served as the location of an early convict settlement ...

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 The North Mount Lyell disaster (also known as the Mount Lyell disaster and North Mount Lyell fire) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations on the West Coast of Tasmania, killing ...

, 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 ...

was involved in the 2012 celebrations, with a re-enactment of transporting victims to the Queenstown cemetery. The festival partnered with Hobart-based Inflight ARI, to commission five site-specific contemporary artworks around Queenstown and Linda. 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. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including ''The Tyranny of ...

. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 on 5 October 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 202 ...

escaped from hotel quarantine and was moving about in the community, before police located him the next day.

2023 event

The 2023 festival took place on the 19-22 October. As with previous festivals, it included site-specific art and performances that engaged with Queenstown's distinctive landscape and mining history.

2020s

In 2022 the regional director in Queenstown is artist

Helena Demczuk Helena Demczuk is an Australian painter based in Queenstown, Tasmania. Her parents migrated to Australia from Ukraine after World War II. Early life and education Demczuk lived and studied art in Gippsland, Victoria before moving to Brisbane, Q ...

. Artistic director and chief executive Travis Tiddy stepped down from their position in 2024 after 15 years working with the Queenstown Heritage and Art Festival and Unconformity.

Records

* Materials at -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unconformity, The Queenstown, Tasmania Festivals in Tasmania Arts festivals in Australia