It was Easter 1972 when the local region attracted its biggest ever attendance to a music festival. Held west of Mulwala on a paddock bordering the Murray River the festival will be remembered for many reasons.
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Mulwala’s 1972 Easter Pop Festival will be long remembered in this district for its infectious excitement, its colour, thousands of fans, but it will also be remembered for its tragedies, alcohol and drug abuse.
Jeans, t-shirts, long hair and bands were the fashion at the time. The festival featured Australia’s best rock groups and two top international groups, Canned Heat and Stephen Stills. Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs along with Colleen Hewitt and Russell Morris were also notable performers.
Hundreds got a ‘free look’ from across the river, near the site which Yarrawonga Council had refused permission to the promoters to use.
Police estimated 50,000 people attended the three-day festival, which was washed out on the Monday, the last day, following 86 points (21mm) of rain.
Festival organizers were relying on Monday as their ‘profit day’, as a huge district crowd was expected. Monday’s rain was like a tornado had hit the amenities block. Masonite and hessian were ripped off walls and one shower block was completely flattened. There was a chaotic mass evacuation at the time.
Even back then the festival cost $200,000 to produce, which today would be a value over $2 million
Local director, Mr S. Fawcett of Mulwala, said that a report in a daily paper about a profit of $40,000 was entirely out of line. It was estimated that about 30,000 attended the festival, but only 16,000 actually paid. There would be an investigation into a second batch of forged tickets and their sale by racketeers. The festival earned $140,00 in gate takings and proved a financial flop
The concert never returned for a second year as organisers were forced into voluntary liquidation.