PODCAST - 2019 Festival of Open Minds, Panel of Oomph!

The Festival of Open Minds held in Bega on Friday and Saturday (September 13 & 14) attracted some of the nation’s big thinkers to regional New South Wales, but loud in our mind is always making a place for local voices to take centre stage and add their own weight.

The theme for Open Minds 2019 is ‘People With Oomph’ inspired by Bega Valley song man Damon Davis and his song of the same name.

The line up of speakers included Tim Costello of World Vision, Nas Campanella – blind Triple J newsreader,
Pastor Christie Buckingham – spiritual counselor to executed Bali 9 drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran and Emma Booth – para-equestrian competitor, represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

But our ‘Panel of Oopmh’ boasted people from the hills and beaches of the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla, locals who have been spurred into action by a need they see in their community and in themselves.

It was a wide-ranging discussion across many and varied experiences, and proof that great people – people of insight, passion, and depth are not far from our shoulder.

Audience member Peter Howe penned this poem on the back of the experience:

I searched the whole world over
I went to many kinds of nations
Took the highways and the byways
I was looking for inspiration

And I found it

In this town
In this town
In this town

Emerging from the 40-minute panel discussion was a sense of identity, one forged on a relationship with first nations people, one connected to the environment, one connected to each other, and one of embedded compassion, tolerance, and understanding.

Leading the discussion are:

Louise Brand who was enjoying retirement with her husband David when he was killed while riding his bicycle with friends in a road rage incident on Mount Darragh Road, west of Pambaula in June last year.

Louise now has a new life mission, to change attitudes and raise awareness, to make our roads safer for all.

The Ride 4 David from Bega to Tathra takes place this Sunday, September 22, info and register HERE.

Erica Dibden who is passionate about food provenance, sustainability, agriculture and nutrition.

Along with her husband Nic, Erica manages a large family, a herd of Jersey cows, and the burgeoning Tilba Tilba cheese and dairy business – Tilba Real Dairy.

Warren Foster Jr is a Djiringanj performer and creator and a founding member of the Gulaga Dancers. He runs a regular Friday Hip Hop event at the Grand Hotel in Bega, and is a mentor for the music development organisation, Grow the Music.

For Hannah Doole civil disobedience is part of how things change.

Since finishing school in Bega, Hannah has been on the frontline of climate action in Queensland. Hannah will take part in the Global Climate Strike in Bega, this Friday, September 20 from 12 pm in Littleton Gardens.

Like many people around Australia, Darren Jones wanted to do something to help in response to the Tathra and Distrist Bushfires of March last year.

What happened next was the Band Together Music Festival, which raised $160,000 for the Mayor Bushfire Fund. Band Together Two is happening on November 30 at Wolumla Rec Ground.

The Eurobodalla’s Kate Toyer said she wanted to be two things when she grew up, a veterinarian, and a girl.

As a veterinarian, married with children, in 2011 she told her wife she wasn’t a ‘normal’ guy. In 2015, Kate started her gender transformation journey.

Click play to join the conversation…

Sound recording by Gerry Corcoran at the Bega Valley Commemorative Civic Centre. ‘People with Oomph’ written and performed by Damon Davies.

• Southern Phone
• Julie Rutherford Real Estate
• Bega Valley Commemorative Civic Centre
• Bega Valley Library Service
• Bega Valley Regional Gallery
• Tathra Beachhouse Apartments
• Bega Valley Innovation Hub
• Sapphire Coast Regional Science Hub
• North of Eden Gin
• Honorbread
• Verona Road Olives
• Tilba Real Dairy
• Port Authority of NSW
• Regional Express Airlines
• Bega Valley Waste & Recycling
• Bega Booked Transport and Merimbula Eden Taxi Service