Yackandandah

A brief history

The Aboriginal word for the Yackandandah area is of Dhudhuroa origin. To the Dhudhuroa people, Yackandandah means “one boulder on top of another at the junction of two creeks”. This relates to the intersection of Yackandandah and Commissioner’s Creeks, where granite boulders can still be found today.

Hume and Hovell passed through the Yackandandah valleys in 1824. After the gold finds of 1852 the Yackandandah Creek and its tributaries were peppered with alluvial sites. Many tent towns came and went, but the Yackandandah site, among others, flourished. Shops were established, and then services, banks, churches, a post office and transport.

In 1856 the township was surveyed, land sales began in the following year and substantial buildings were constructed. The town retains a wealth of its Victorian architecture, and picturesque tree-lined streets.

Many buildings, sites, trees and the commercial core of town are now listed by the Australian Heritage Commission, Heritage Victoria and the National Trust.

The local rural farming landscapes are another reason to visit the area – some of the farming practices date back many decades. You will see Monet type haystacks believe it or not, and rolling hillsides, olive groves, vineyards, mountains and much more. The North East is a positive cornucopia of views to delight the eye and the senses. The National Trust say about Yackandandah, “The existence of such an intact and well preserved example of a 19th century mining-based township is of great significance and should be protected. The highlights of Yackandandah are its location, nestled in the folds of the surrounding hilly ranges. The compactness of the town layout, clustered in a valley, the character and scale of the historic buildings along the main street which is lined by mature exotic trees”. Alongside Beechworth, Chiltern and Rutherglen, Yackandandah offers a fantastically well preserved historic township, uniquely retained and bursting with character.

Our Festival

What began 25 odd years ago as a means of raising funds for our local Public School, held on one afternoon in a pub with 12 local performers, has morphed into a 2 1/2 day event, with 8 venues and over 60 performers both local, interstate and overseas. YFF has now become one of the major tourism drawcards to Indigo Shire, with over 2000 people visiting us at festival time each year. Our festival has established a strong reputation for quality entertainment and attracts patrons, plus a regular band of volunteers from around Australia who return year after year. Once upon a time, we had venues at our Sports Park but this became a nightmare to coordinate scheduling-wise so we re-designed the festival to be staged in town. The idea being that all our ticketed venues should be walking distance from each other. This has resulted in creating the friendly, village-like atmosphere of YFF you see today. Our main street is closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the festival, allowing families to wander freely from venue to venue, providing a safe environment for children and adults alike. In 2024, we will feature 2 new daytime only venues on Saturday and Sunday. Backwoods Distillery, located in the arts precinct at Yack Station behind the service station in Turntable Lane, offers whiskey, gin and a relaxed atmosphere. Yack Station is also the home of The Guard, a great coffee stop. They are located inside an old train carriage beside Backwoods. Yack Creek Distillery, located about 3km from the town centre down Bell’s Flat Road, provide whiskey, gin, rum and vodka as well as craft beers for tasting. They are located right next to a local creek and offer expansive areas to lay back and relax in whilst listening to quality music. Your host Jamie, is providing a courtesy bus to help patrons access his venue without the need to use their own cars.

One of the cornerstones of our festival is that we always give back to the community in an environmentally beneficial way. In the beginning, we carried out mass tree plantings each year, in conjunction with the local Landcare group, in bushland areas surrounding Yackandandah Sports Park. More recently, YFF has partnered with local sustainable energy group TRY (Totally Renewable Yackandandah), contributing considerable funding to help pay for major PV system installations on many of the public buildings around town. In 2022, we assisted TRY in successfully obtaining a Government Grant to fund the installation of YACK1-a huge battery bank not far from the centre of town. It is envisaged that in the not too distant future, Yackandandah will have its very own standalone power grid. These initiatives, have meant that in 2018, Yackandandah Folk Festival became one of Australia’s first totally carbon-neutral events-a fact we are very proud of. Our ongoing policy to insist that food vendors on the Friday and Saturday of the festival, must use only fully recyclable or compostible cutlery and serving ware, is another way we are limiting our carbon footprint. We have also commissioned and installed several water fountains around town. One near the Courthouse, another outside the community centre and one on the Village Green. Designed by a local sculptor, these help to encourage visitors to bring and use their own personal water bottles. Our Green Team sort all rubbish generated by the festival, ensuring that any recyclable material is properly sorted and any compostible material is stored off site and eventually is used on community/local gardens once it has broken down sufficiently. This dedication meant that in 2018, what began as 35 bins full of rubbish destined for landfill, was reduced to only 5 bins full. A major saving for our environment.

Previous Festivals

The Festival started in 1998 and ran continuously through to 2019, with the event cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. When Covid restrictions covering live events eased early in 2022, the decision was made to stage a “mini festival” on Saturday March 26 as a free music afternoon/evening split between the two hotels in town. This featured a considerably reduced roster of performers but did include overseas artists with the main aims being to keep the YFF name out there in the public eye and give thanks to our band of local supporters for keeping the faith.

Programs for the previous Festivals will be available below soon.