Nearly 50 Years of Country Music Magic: The Story Behind the Charters Towers Country Music Festival
May 7, 2026
What started as a small idea tossed over a meat pie in a bakery in 1977, has has turned into one of the biggest drawcard events for North Queensland.
For almost half a century, the Charters Towers Country Music Festival has been bringing together generations of North Queenslanders through country music, community spirit and old-fashioned bush hospitality, but few know the remarkable story of how it all began.
Back in 1977, local legend Robbie Gough had a vision to create something special for Charters Towers, a festival that would celebrate Australian country music, showcase local talent and put the historic gold city on the map.
What started as a grassroots idea, tossed about at the local bakery over a meat pie, quickly grew into one of regional Queensland’s most iconic country music gatherings.
With the support of locals, volunteers, businesses and community leaders, including a young Bob Katter, the festival steadily built a reputation as a must-attend event for musicians, families and travellers alike.
Nearly five decades later, the festival continues to capture the heart and soul of the bush.
From colourful street parades and vintage floats to campfire singalongs, country pubs and legendary singer-songwriters, the Charters Towers Country Music Festival remains a celebration of everything people love about regional Australia.
Robbie Gough said seeing the festival continue all these years later is something he never imagined when it first began.
“We just wanted to bring people together through music and community. To see generations still coming along today is pretty special,” Mr Gough said.
Mr Katter said festivals like this were becoming more important than ever as inland and regional towns across Australia struggled to survive.
“Too many inland towns are dying. Shops are shutting, banks are disappearing, young people are leaving and communities are being hollowed out,” Mr Katter said.
“But events like the Charters Towers Country Music Festival breathe life back into these towns. They fill the streets, support local businesses, bring families together and remind people why these communities are worth fighting for.
“This festival was built by hardworking local people who wanted to create something that would tough out time. Nearly 50 years on, it still has that same atmosphere and character that people travel from all over Australia to experience.
“You cannot underestimate how important these grassroots community initiatives are. They create pride, preserve our culture and keep country Australia alive."
Organisers, volunteers and performers were also thanked for continuing the tradition and delivering another successful festival this year.
The Charters Towers Country Music Festival now stands as one of North Queensland’s longest-running and most beloved community events, proof that a simple local idea from 1977 could grow into a treasured regional institution.
ENDS
To bring in laws for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) 'Kill Switch', I voted with my crossbench colleagues, Andrew Gee MP and Dai Le. The Government shut us down. AI... It's been baffling me for a while now how people are taking me off on social media! Last week, I saw a video of me on that Dating Game television show from the 80s. Sure, it gave me a laugh... but it got me thinking... what else is AI capable of?! Where does it stop? Does it infiltrate the school yard? Our defence force? Our energy grid? Whilst it is astounding that technology is leaping forward, it is also a flashing neon light for danger. Something is seriously wrong when you aren't sure what's real or fake anymore and it is moving too quickly. So a 'Kill Switch' seems like a pretty sensible thing to me. It was disappointing that the Government chose to shut the debate down. We lost the vote 89-13. And that is no joke.
Families with the means to enjoy life rather than just survive it? More babies for Australia? Sounds like a pretty good thing to me. But apparently, Jim Chalmers isn’t convinced. I asked the Treasurer about income splitting and backing a new Australian baby boom... Policies that recognise the real value of unpaid care and reverse our vanishing race. The choice, either way, should be in women’s hands… NOT the Treasurers. Have a listen to his excuses…
8 September 2026: A bold plan to reverse the plunging birthrate by recognising the value of unpaid care has been rejected by Government in favour of incentivising more working parents of our “vanishing race”, warns the Father of the House of Representatives and North Queensland MP of half-a-century, Bob Katter. In addition to asking for a $75,000 payment per birth, the Federal Member for Kennedy this week asked the Treasurer in Question Time to help families crippled by the cost-of-living crisis with taxable income-splitting to boost disposable incomes for spouses raising children on a single wage by about 10 per cent on average. But instead of acknowledging annual tax relief of about $8000-$10,000 for struggling families with a single wage-earner on $80,000-$150,000 a year – which would boost household budgets between 9-12 per cent 1 – the Treasurer claimed income-splitting would “disincentivise” women’s workforce participation, leaving them “economically dependent” on men, and “cost the budget substantially” to deliver the “lion’s share” of benefits to “higher wealth” families whilst “denying” those in lower tax bands. Mr Katter accused the Treasurer of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” by dismissing outright the long-overdue “fairer family tax” policy with the introduction of a $75,000 payment for all new mothers “to spend as they see fit – from putting food on the table to investing in superannuation for their future”. “Families cannot make ends meet,” Mr Katter told the Treasurer in reference to average household debt at over $300,000 or $400,000 for under-50s, with the hyper-inflated cost-of-living now crippling 25 per cent of parent couples on a single income who suffered the “appalling inequality at tax time” that leaves a stay-at-home mum and three kids struggling by on $15,000 per person, whilst double-income-no-kids (DINKS) enjoy disposable incomes of $75,000 each. “Surely, family income-splitting makes taxation fairer, whilst a $75,000 birthing payment would help arrest Australia's plunging birthrates,” he pleaded in the Parliament. Mr Katter said the Treasurer’s devaluing of unpaid work further betrayed all parents “who bear enormous responsibility for raising our nation’s future generations to advance Australia fair”. “The Treasurer’s righteous virtue-signalling this week in the Parliament – supposedly on the side of women who quite reasonably want to be paid for their work – in turn infantilises mothers whose endless work for their family remains unpaid, like many carers, when the choice either way should be in women’s hands,” said Mr Katter. “Instead, Australian mums and dads are financially penalised when only one parent is paying income tax – which is really the only productivity measure that the Treasurer truly cares about. “But while he’s crying poor on an estimated $3 billion annual cost of income-splitting to the budget bottom line, he’s spending five times that subsidising the private childcare industry to boast about the benefits for women in the Kennedy electorate who can be on endless waitlists or have zero local early childhood places. “And when you tally the cost to taxpayers of about $14 billion propping up commercial childcare plus another $5 billion a year in parental leave – not to mention an estimated $20 billion in means-tested Family Tax Benefits – it puts into perspective the estimated $22 billion cost of an upfront $75,000 bonus for fewer than 300,000 births a year, to help lift Australia back up to relative post-war boomer rates.” Projections of the compounding benefits of lifting birthrates from below 1.5 to above the 2.1 replacement rate, align with an Australian population reaching 80 million with one million births annually in a century 2 . “I want 80 million people in this country so our industries can operate on economies of scale; so we’re not doomed to repeat the history of ‘a people without land seeking for a land without people’,” said Mr Katter. ENDS
We all know about the thriving illegal tobacco and vape industry. We all know the real causes - failures at our borders and the huge taxes on legal sales. However this issue becomes even more insidious when it is alleged that the criminals behind this trade are state sponsored terrorists organisations. Yes that’s right terrorist groups that have the backing of their country and access to the associated power and government structures. Illegal sales of tobacco aren’t simply lining the pockets of a couple of local crims…… it’s coordinated, professional and scary. Our police on the front line are vulnerable… shop owners exposed and customers preyed on. There is an urgent need to change our system, lower restrictions and cost of legal goods so the element can be quashed. In Wisdom Mongrel Patriot we discuss this and many other key issues relating to the latest laws before Parliament. To watch full episode on YouTube click here To watch full episode on Spotify click here
About 450,000 people enter into Australia each year on student and associated family ‘dependent’ visas. ALL get automatic working rights. No requirement to finish a degree, complete a course Many never leave. Our tertiary education system is being devalued with genuine students penalised by those abusing the visa system. In Wisdom Mongrel Patriot we discuss this and many other key issues relating to the latest laws before Parliament. To view full episode on YouTube click here To view full episode on Spotify click here
Today in Parliament I supported Andrew Gee MP in his urgent call to roll back rushed gun laws that are smashing local, law abiding businesses and the communities they support.
Yesterday in Parliament Bob spoke on the fact that forced labour and child exploitation occurs all too frequently overseas - in countries like the Philippines big corporations make billions, while workers are exploited and their environment is destroyed. Allowing unwanted and unneeded bananas into Australia doesn’t help these poor communities …. It actually amplifies their pain. We need to stop government ‘cherry picking’ what international agreements it follows, and what it sweeps under the table. “I consider that allowing banana imports into Australia brings an unacceptable disease to our shores….. But it also means that Australia is turning a blind eye to the misery and grief caused by large multinational corporations that exploit vulnerable countries and their citizens. “It is mind blowing that government would allow the importation of a product that we don’t need or want !!!” To watch on Facebook click here
Katter hosts public meeting to fight for fair representation
August 30 2026
The Port of Karumba serves as the primary maritime gateway for the Gulf of Carpentaria, providing key access between our southern states and the essential Asian markets and beyond. The port is a stones throw from the North West Minerals Province, vast untapped volumes of fresh water, rich soils and our northern regional agricultural sectors. The future of the port must include serious upgrades to the road network that connect it these vital resources and the rest of Australia. This submission advocates for not only broad consideration of port access and users, but also for key Inland road networks to be placed on the National Land Transport Network (NLTN) to unlock long-term, ongoing Federal funding.
