About Burnie Shines

If you were to focus your telescope on Burnie from anywhere in the world during October you'd see a culturally rich community with music, exhibitions, performances and the celebration of the simpler things of life.

You'd see people going to art exhibitions and chess tournaments to stimulate their minds. Spectacular sports to keep them active, and lots of events that encouraged families to play together. There'd be opportunities to try new skills, taste new food and test their stamina. If you focused the telescope a little closer, you'd find that during October the whole community was involved in that cultural life, staging events that appealed to large audiences and to small. Events presented by young people skating, singing and dancing. Events for seniors touring gardens, swapping cuttings and sharing a cuppa.

You'd find that this community liked to sing! Young people singing hip hop and choirs performing classics, old favourites and gospel. There'd be special guests singing opera and jazz.

You'd find the ballet in town, and people learning old time dancing in quaint church halls. Families flocking to performances by their children, people picnicking in parks, riding bikes along the foreshore and on ferris wheels on a green field.

There'd be hills bursting with tulips, iris and brightly coloured bulbs. A magic frosting of blossoms on shrubs and trees and rainforest valleys filled with rhododendrons and bumble bees.

There'd be people jumping horses, showing off their poultry and cattle, buying vegetables in baskets and drinking coffee in cafes. They'd be buying books and telling stories. Watching films and going to concerts.

You'd see a community that doesn't just receive entertainment. They make it. Painting, felting, quilting, basket making, paper making, shopping, drumming, dancing, eating, talking, story-telling, walking, riding, running, laughing, clapping, cheering, enjoying, dressing up, dressing down, chatting, supporting, and honouring each other, working and celebrating together.

This community would look truly amazing through that telescope. A place that still held the promise of a simpler life, where the pace was slower, safer and more peaceful, where broken objects were still repaired, people still took their boots off at the back door, where they shared the food they grew and came together in real life, not just on line.

If you zoomed out you'd see the place was nestled on the north west coast of a small, heart shaped, forested island, surrounded by deep blue seas and blessed with abundant rainfall, wildlife and clean air. A remote paradise populated by people from strong communities dotted along its shores, people who enjoyed coming together to celebrate in an amazing environment.

In 2011 Burnie Shines focuses on our place in the world and we invite you to join us.