of the Bash
From an ultra-marathon in the Simpson Desert to Australia's greatest outback music festival on the red dirt Mundi Mundi Plains, Broken Hill NSW.
to Music on the Plains
In 2012, festival founder Greg Donovan took on a global desert running challenge running 250km across deserts on four continents. No such event existed in Australia, so Greg created one himself: the Big Red Run, staged in the Simpson Desert outside Birdsville, Queensland. The aim was to raise funds for Type 1 Diabetes research in honour of his youngest son.
In 2013, John Williamson performed at the first ever the inaugural Big Red Sunset Concert atop Big Red for race participants. Word spread fast. Around 600 people gathered for a spectacularly intimate sunset concert on the dune. By 2014 it had grown into a two-day camping festival formally named the Birdsville Big Red Bash.
By 2018 the Big Red Bash had sold out at around 10,000 people. The idea for a second outback festival was born around 2017, with Broken Hill Australia's first heritage-listed city as the obvious choice.
Then 2020 arrived. The pandemic cancelled everything. With 15 months suddenly free, Greg and the Outback Music Festival Group team finally had time to turn the Broken Hill dream into reality. Tickets for the inaugural Mundi Mundi Bash launched in early 2021 and sold out in little over a month.
Anything Else in Australia
Broken Hill, nestled in the far north-west of NSW, is the state's unofficial outback capital and Australia's first heritage-listed city. Its rich mining history, world-class art scene and extraordinary landscape make it a bucket-list destination for Australian travellers.
The Mundi Mundi Plains stretching out from Belmont Station, 9km north of Silverton and 40km from Broken Hill provide a backdrop unlike anything else in the country. The Barrier Ranges shimmer on the horizon. Red dirt runs to the edge of the sky. Mad Max was filmed here. Furiosa was filmed here. And now, every August, thousands of Australians roll in to make music and memories on those plains.
After a Covid-enforced delay that pushed the inaugural event from August 2021 to April 2022, the first Mundi Mundi Bash was finally a reality. Festival-goers danced and sang along with some of Australia's greatest performers across three incredible nights on the red dirt plains. Just four months later the 'original' August edition launched in its natural calendar home. Two Bashes in one year the people had waited long enough.
6,594 festival-goers side-stepped in sync to Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits, smashing the world record set just weeks earlier at the Big Red Bash. Every dancer paid a $15 registration fee over $100,000 raised for the RFDS in a single afternoon. A Mad Max costume gathering also made history: 359 revellers celebrating the fact that iconic franchise scenes were filmed on these very plains.
Another sold-out Bash on the red dirt plains. The Nutbush and Freeze Frame dance records both stayed with NSW. On Big Blue Day, the crowd set the world record for the largest human image of a country thousands on the red dirt in the shape of Australia to raise awareness for Beyond Blue.
The Mundi Mundi Bash was awarded Best Festival and Event in NSW at the 2024 NSW Tourism Awards — an extraordinary achievement for an event not yet three years old.
The 2025 Bash delivered on every front. For the first time the road to Belmont Station was fully sealed. The Nutbush Dance World Record was broken for the very last time retiring the beloved tradition on a high. Big Blue Day broke the world record for the largest human image of a country once again. And the lineup Missy Higgins, Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Birds of Tokyo, Kate Ceberano, Kasey Chambers and more was one for the ages.
Not yet five years old and already Australia's best. "We're the new kids on the block so to come out on top is a real honour," said festival founder Greg Donovan.
The sixth Mundi Mundi Bash returns to the Mundi Mundi Plains on 20–22 August 2026 with 22 artists and a brand-new crowd activity. With the Nutbush retired after its legendary 2025 farewell. Tickets are selling fast.
2023 and 2025 World Record
6,594 people danced Nutbush City Limits in sync in 2023, smashing the world record. The attempt was retired at the 2025 Bash going out on a high. Together the Nutbush record attempts raised over $100,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
2024 and 2025 World Record
On Big Blue Day in both 2024 and 2025, the Bash crowd broke the world record for the largest human image of a country thousands lying on the red dirt in the shape of Australia to raise awareness for mental health.
2023 and 2024 World Record
359 Mad Max-costumed revellers gathered on the plains where the franchise was actually filmed a world record Mad Max gathering on the most fitting plains on earth.
Chapter
20–22 August 2026 · Mundi Mundi Plains · Broken Hill NSW