Confest is a portmanteau of conference and festival. It was first held in 1976 in the Australian Capital Territory at the instigation of former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Jim Cairns, as a response to the ousting of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam the previous year.

Today, Confest is not overtly political. It is organised twice yearly, once at Easter and once at the New Year by the Down to Earth co-operative, a non-profit organisation whose primary function is to organise Confest. In recent years it has been held in bushland purchased for the purpose at Gulpa Creek , between Deniliquin and Mathoura in New South Wales close to the Victorian border.

The festival comprises a mass camp-out over five or more days by several thousand mostly Melburnian attendees, who largely, though far from exclusively, represent hippie, feral, New Age and Pagan subcultures. Workshops are run on a do-it-yourself basis in areas designated by festival organisers, focussing for the most part on alternative lifestyles. Open-mic musical performances are given and large drum-circles play throughout proceedings.

External Links

Down to Earth site confest.com