Australian Idyll: The raucous annual event that turns ordinary folk into rock stars

Up on stage, my physiotherapist is belting out a number in a blue sequinned dress with my neighbour, who’s bare-chested under an ornately embroidered Nudie suit – the kind that country singer Gram Parsons used to wear. If you’re going to win Castlemaine Idyll, you need to put on a spectacle.

Jesse Curran and Rohan Nichol perform (and win) at the 2022 Castlemaine Idyll.Credit: Richard McLeish

There can be few Castlemainians who have gazed upon the flatbed-truck stage at arts precinct Lot 19 and haven’t nudged the person next to them to vow: “I’m doing that next year.”

Now, just weeks out from the 2023 event, their moment of truth is nigh.

Castlemaine Idyll is a loose – very loose – homage to Australian Idol. Ordinary folks realise their rock-star potential by dressing up and smashing out covers in front of a live band; one that will provide add-ons of horns and backing singers at your whim.

But perhaps these folks were never ordinary. Like Jesse Curran, one-half of last year’s winning duo, says, “So many people in Castlemaine do something amazing behind the scenes. I’m not the only physio in town who likes to sing. People here with everyday jobs have all kinds of talents that, given half a second, they’re very happy to share.”

Castlemaine Idyll is a much-loved annual fixture on the town’s calendar.Credit: Fred Farquhar

Idyll was started in 2005 by Lot 19’s founder, Mark Anstey , and it is he who makes the outlandish gold trophies, often incorporating kitchen utensils and doll heads.

“It’s up to the judges to decide what they are,” he says. “One year I made one out of old RAT tests in a bouncy ball that looked a bit like COVID, and a needle. They called that the ‘Going Viral’ award.”

Each year, local radio station Main FM live-streams the action – which tends to attract a sell-out crowd of around 800 – and celebrity judges get sucked into the spirit of it, whipped up by MC Dion Brownfield.

“Clementine Ford said our performance was like watching something from Vegas,” says Curran. Other judges have included Marieke Hardy, Angie Hart, Dan Kelly and Casey Bennetto.

Curran’s winning performance in 2022, with actor Rohan Nichol, was a little-known Delaney and Bonnie duet, Only You Know and I Know. They choreographed moves, threw in some gags, and got glammed up. The crowd went wild.

Star Lady presents one of the much-coveted Castlemaine Idyll gold trophies.Credit: Richard Baxter

“We got hammered at the Bridge Hotel afterwards and they hoisted the trophy – an artisanal piece of chaos – at the bar,” Nichol says. “It’s a great way to meet people. I’d been here three years and two of those were in lockdown, so I was dying to get to know my community. I was really lonely for a long time, and doing shit like this is a great introduction to people.”

Contestants only get one rehearsal with the band, since the musicians have between 30-40 songs to learn. As music director Tara Flinn puts it, “Being involved with a contestant is such a privileged position for me, from … seeing people feeling really timid, to watching them go through that first burst of nerves and then finding their feet on stage and the rush they have afterwards.”

This year, one hopeful contender is Robert McKechnie, who has lived in Castlemaine for 10 years but commutes to Melbourne for his work with an NGO and so has found himself on the periphery of country-town life. Idyll is his baptism of fire.

“It’s peak Castlemaine,” he says. “I always told myself to do it, but never quite had the guts.”

He’s decided to cover Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings’ Mama Don’t Like My Man, because it’s his favourite song to belt out in the car. “I’ve always been put off singing because my first experience was joining a choir at school and everyone stared at me, so I thought I must have been really bad,” he says. “This will be an interesting experience, to see if everyone just stares at me strangely again. Although, with Idyll you don’t have to be perfect or even necessarily that good. It’s really welcoming for all levels of people.”

Mark Anstey launched the event all those years ago because he himself had a phobia of speaking and singing in public. “So I sang for the first three Idylls. I did [R&B staple] Fever, Reckless [Australian Crawl] and something else I can’t remember because I was so scared.”

Anstey describes Lot 19, Idyll’s home on the outskirts of town, as “Monsalvat meets Mad Max”. He’s seen so many locals now take their turn on its stage – rather than the same faces every year – that he suspects that Idyll has become a bucket-list item for many.

While Anstey’s considering phasing out having an overall winner, previous victors have certainly enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame around the town.

“Someone at the pub just the other night said, ‘Are you that chick who won Idyll last year?’” Curran says.

Nichol agrees. “There are only 10,000 people in this town and everyone in the shops knows you won Idyll,” he says. “For a week you feel like top of the pops… and then life goes on.”

Castlemaine Idyll is on Saturday March 18th, 2pm-8pm.

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.