Radio Woodfordia

“But music is about something much more basic than that. It’s about human connection. It’s about community. It’s this very strong glue that sort of holds us all together.” — Linsey PollakHarley Breen welcomes back Linsey Pollak, the first ever return guest on Radio Woodfordia. In the first episode Linsey told the story of the treadle lathe he impulse bought in London for 20 pounds, which kept him in the UK for two and a half years. This time Harley finally finds out what happened to the lathe.Linsey is an instrument maker and community musician who has spent 50 years designing instruments, from carrots turned into clarinets to hybrid duduks. He is now downsizing: passing on his lathe, sending out instruments to new homes with the proceeds going to refugee support, and finishing an e-book of his instrument designs, Make Your Own, so that anyone can make their own.This conversation covers the power of music in joyous moments and sad ones, why Linsey believes we are all musicians, the Listening Sessions, saying yes to possibility, and how artists can survive by working within a community. Linsey finishes by playing his flat sax live.This episode is for:Listeners who loved Linsey’s first episode and want to know what happened nextMusicians, makers and storytellers working out how to survive as artistsAnyone who has ever told themselves “I’m not a musician”Dive in to hear about:What really happened to the treadle lathe from the first episodeWhy Linsey is downsizing from 250 wind instruments, and the e-book of 50 years of instrument designsWhy a freelance musician spent 60 to 70 percent of their time on admin, and how playing more music than ever followedPlaying the duduk at celebrations of life, including for Bill and VelvetWhy Linsey believes we are all musicians, and what AI can and can’t take from musicThe Listening Sessions, the Kin Kin marimba band and why artists need communityA live performance on the flat sax, an instrument you can make from plywoodKey topics: Linsey Pollak, instrument making, Make Your Own e-book, wind instruments, duduk, flat sax, marimba, Kin Kin, community music, Sunrise Sessions, Listening Sessions, improvisation, AI and music, artists making a living, celebrations of life, Woodfordia, Woodford Folk Festival, Jinibara CountryTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au Linsey Pollak: https://linseypollak.com/ Linsey Pollak’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SquealyD Linsey Pollak’s first Radio Woodfordia episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZTHFUJhAQ Woodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Linsey Pollak | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Production: Josh Weier | Audio Engineer: Stevie-leigh Batiste | Video Editor: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded June 2026

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this episode contains the name of a person who has recently died.“I don’t need to dress up because I’m part mermaid.” — Shannon TownsendHarley Breen welcomes Shannon Townsend, the Lady of the Lake. Shannon has been teaching swimming since she was 13, has trained pool lifeguards in Australia and around the world, and now looks after safety at Lake Gkula, Woodfordia’s 12 million litre plus eco lake.Shannon went to the very last Maleny Folk Festival and the very first Festival at the Woodford site as a teenager from Toowoomba, mesmerised by the fire twirlers and soothed by the chai tent. Years later she returned with her own children, when her father-in-law Kev Carmody was playing and she ended up on stage singing the chorus of From Little Things Big Things Grow. When a lake was built, she sent in her resume, and a few beers with Bill later, the title stuck.This conversation covers what an eco pool is, how the lake lifesavers are trained, the mermaid who met Shannon at a Woodford dance workshop, the three minutes of silence, lake yoga with crystal bowls, and a bonus original water safety song.This episode is for:Anyone who has ever felt calmer the moment they got near waterParents, volunteers and festivalgoers who want to know how the lake works and how to stay safe in itWoodfordians who love hearing how this place first got hold of someoneDive in to hear about:How Shannon became the Lady of the Lake, and a job interview that was mostly beers with BillWhat an eco pool is, and how swimmers can help itTeaching swimming at 13, training lifeguards and the volunteer lifesavers who return to the lake each yearMeeting the lake’s mermaid at a dance workshop, and why Shannon says she is part mermaidA Toowoomba teenager’s first Woodford, the chai tent, Kev Carmody and the three minutes of silenceKey topics: Shannon Townsend, Lady of the Lake, Lake Gkula, eco lake, eco pool, water safety, lifeguard training, Lake Gkula Camping, lake yoga, Sionna Yoga, crystal bowls, Kev Carmody, Toowoomba, Maleny Festival, chai tent, three minutes of silence, Woodfordia, Woodford Folk Festival, Jinibara CountryTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/Lake Gkula Camping Easter 2027: https://lakegkulacamping.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auShannon Townsend, Sionna Yoga: https://www.sionna.com.au/Lake Gkula Camping: https://lakegkulacamping.com/Woodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Shannon Townsend | Executive Producer: Benney Wallington | Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Cameron Scurrah | Audio Engineer: Stevie-leigh Batiste | Video Editor: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded September 2025

“The essence of what it is to be an artist will never die.” — OJ NewcombHarley Breen sits down with OJ Newcomb, a bassist, band manager, producer, studio co-owner, label founder and music teacher who has seen the music industry from nearly every angle. OJ grew up in a musical family, started on brass, and became a jazz bass player after being pulled into his brother’s scene, which led him to the Afro Dizzi Act and more. A run of gigs at Woodford Folk Festival in the late 90s, including a 1999 set on the Amphitheatre in front of an incredible crowd, convinced him that music was his calling. After five years of playing, he began managing, because he saw opportunities going by and wanted to run with them.Later came a couple of years touring with John Butler, including playing at Red Rocks. Today OJ runs Yama-Nui Studios with engineer Paulie B, which has been named Best Recording Studio at the Sunshine Coast Music Awards twice, and a label built around mentoring development artists. He also teaches music.This conversation covers why he backs emerging artists in a tough industry, the pressure on venues to create an experience worth turning up for (and how tight the margins are), why he believes art should be valued like a community service, and a classic Woodford love story.This episode is for:Anyone who has wondered how a creative life actually gets sustainedMusicians, makers and managers who wear more hats than they would likeWoodfordians who love the way this place changes peopleDive in to hear about:The 1999 Amphitheatre gig at Woodford that showed Oj the power of musicWhy OJ expanded from playing bass to managing, and what he learned from his year helping run a venueTouring with John Butler, and what it felt like to walk out at Red RocksWhy he thinks one artist doing their best creates a ripple that spurs others onHow permaculture shapes his studio, his label and his view of a healthy creative practice, and what “Nui” in Yama-Nui meansHow he and his then-future-wife, from the band The Dawn Light, kept bumping into each other at Woodford, and why he thinks the festival opens the door to magicKey topics: OJ Newcomb, bass guitar, music industry, mentoring, recording studio, Yama-Nui Studios, record label, Afro Dizzi Act, John Butler, Red Rocks, Sunshine Coast, live music venues, permaculture, Woodford Folk FestivalTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auOJ Newcomb: https://www.instagram.com/eco_tone/ Yama-Nui Artist Management: https://www.instagram.com/_yn.am_/ Yama-Nui Studios: https://yama-nui-studios.com/ https://www.instagram.com/yama.nui.studio/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/yama.nui.recordsWoodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: OJ Newcomb | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Production: Josh Weier | Audio Engineer: Stevie-leigh Batiste | Video Editor: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded July 2026

"Well, our whole purpose is to hide the tent." — Irene VisserHarley Breen sits down with Irene Visser — Woodfordia's Venue Decor and Installation Manager, or as she prefers to call it, "the arty farty party." Irene was born in Holland, raised in Canada, and immigrated to Australia thirty years ago in search of adventure, landing first in freezing Launceston before driving to tropical Darwin with her young daughter in a car with no air conditioning. A graphic designer by trade who spent twenty years teaching graphic design and advertising, Irene returned to her first love, clay, when COVID took the fun out of academia — she now runs a weekly "Clay Play" art group from her own back deck.Irene's connection to Woodfordia began as a volunteer, working the kitchen, the Duck Bar, and eventually the build itself, before joining the signology team and finding her way to venue decor — the drapes, backdrops and ceilings that quietly transform a bare tent into something atmospheric. She's also become the driving force behind the Arteries, the monthly creative collective that grew out of Conservatree and Bill Hauritz's original vision to bring people to the site to work — not on the land, but on art. Under her "pilots, co-pilots and navigators" system, the arteries has produced everything from paper-mâché bees and beetles to dragonflies and butterflies, celebrating the pollinators Woodfordia is working to protect.This episode is for:Anyone who's ever said "I'm not creative" and believed itPeople curious what happens on-site at Woodfordia for the other eleven months of the yearAnyone who loves a good immigration story with a detour through freezing Tasmania and tropical DarwinDive in to hear about:The origin of the arteries, Bill Hauritz's monthly creative collective, and the "pilots, co-pilots and navigators" system that keeps every project moving without herThe paper-mâché pollinators — bees, beetles, dragonflies and butterflies, made by Irene and volunteers one working bee at a timeWhy the venue decor team's whole purpose is to "hide the tent" — and how drapes and backdrops create atmosphere and better acousticsIrene's weekly Clay Play art group, and why she believes everyone is creativeKey topics: Irene Visser, venue decor, installation, the Arteries, Woodfordia, Woodford Folk Festival, ceramics, papier-mâché, community art, immigration, creativity, volunteering, sustainability, repurposingTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auWoodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/Irene Visser Art: https://irenevisserart.com/about/Irene Visser on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irene.visser_art/Become involved in the Arteries: https://woodfordia.org/the-weekend/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Irene Visser | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Production: Josh Weier | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded July 2026

"I'm conscious of the old adage that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." — Professor Ian LoweHarley Breen sits down with Professor Ian Lowe AO, one of Australia's most respected environmental scientists, for a conversation ranging from dodgy cricket umpiring to the fate of the planet, often in the same breath. Now 83, Ian is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University, with forty years working on energy, climate and sustainable futures. He was President of the Australian Conservation Foundation (2004–2014), chaired the advisory council behind Australia's first national State of the Environment Report, and spent over a decade on the Australian Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council. He has authored ten books and over 500 other publications, wrote a regular New Scientist column for thirteen years, and is a long-standing opponent of nuclear power as a climate solution. In 2015 he was appointed to South Australia's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission Expert Advisory Committee. His accolades include an AO, a Eureka Prize, the Prime Minister's Environment Award, and the Konrad Lorenz Gold Medal.Ian's connection to Woodfordia runs just as deep. A life member, he planted a hoop pine at the very first Woodford Folk Festival — now twenty metres tall after thirty years on-site. He's delivered talks and keynotes here for years, written and performed a sustainability anthem with the crowd singing along, and appeared on Radio Woodfordia live in 2025. He's also a stalwart of the John Thompson Great Comedy Debate. Most recently, Ian was appointed inaugural Chair of the new Woodfordia Foundation — established to hold the land in trust once the Forest of Goodwill campaign reaches its target — and led the ceremonial planting of a Bunya tree at The Planting earlier this year to mark its establishment.This conversation covers cricket as an antidote to solitary work, the accidental origins of the Greenhouse tent, the economics of Australia's military spending, and what it means to take on a responsibility measured in centuries rather than election cycles.This episode is for:Anyone who needs a reminder that speaking up matters, even without a guarantee of changePeople curious what it takes to buy back the land underneath a beloved institutionWoodfordians who want to understand the festival's 500-year planDive in to hear about:How a tent of twenty people on hay bales at the last Maleny Folk Festival grew into the Greenhouse — which, under different guises, remains the beating heart of environmental talks at WoodfordThe Woodfordia Foundation, the $2.66 million raised toward the $5 million land buyback, and why the fund sits at arm's length from the festivalWhy Ian sees cricket and choir singing as the antidote to solo, ego-driven workThe UNESCO biosphere status held by the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and the Great Sandy region, and what it takes to keep itCandles from Caragabal, Ian's forthcoming memoir, and lighting a candle rather than cursing the darknessKey topics: Professor Ian Lowe, Woodfordia Foundation, land buyback, climate change, environmental activism, 500-year plan, UNESCO biosphere, Greenhouse tent, nuclear power, Woodford Folk Festival, sustainability, First Nations land managementTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auWoodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/A Forest of Goodwill - Woodfordia Land Fundraising Campaign: https://aforestofgoodwill.woodfordia.com/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Professor Ian Lowe | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Production: Josh Weier | Runner: Monica Clayton | Video Editor: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara CountryRecorded July 2026#RadioWoodfordia #IanLowe #HarleyBreen #WoodfordFolkFestival #Woodfordia #ClimateAction #Environment #WoodfordiaFoundation #Sustainability #Nuclear #Podcast

"It's not just about being in a band. It's about community building and getting out there." — Alan Kelly, Barleyshakes DuoKristin Kelly grew up in Brisbane, heard Martin Hayes play fiddle at the National Folk Festival in Canberra in the early 90s, quit her teaching job, sent a cheque to the other side of the world, and went to his summer school in Miltown Malbay, Ireland. Alan Kelly grew up in Dublin, spending every Sunday at his grandmother's house — 24 cousins, a banjo, an accordion, and an uncle who yodeled through the whole afternoon, undeterred by protests, pleas, or a stick in the ribs. They met in Prague in the mid-90s and have been making music together ever since.Harley Breen sits down with Kristin and Alan — Barleyshakes Duo — fresh off their first Festival of Small Halls tour, the 50th tour in the programme's history, representing over 800 gigs across 12 years. They talk about what it means to take live music into towns where people drive two hours just to get to the shops, and what happens when a tough MC from out near Chinchilla quietly starts crying because a fiddle tune reached his Irish heritage. About the Emu Creek hall that hadn't had a new roof since 1937 and was very excited about this, and the ladies who knitted beanies for $10.They talk about Trad School — the monthly traditional music school at Woodfordia that grew from conversations with Chloe Goodyear and now brings together fiddle, guitar, whistle, and bodhrán students every month. They also talk about Barleyshakes — the full band behind the duo, with deep family and community roots woven through its lineup. Two of their children are now full band members, one of whom started at seven on spoons, has a spoon tattoo, and now refuses to play them. And mandolin player Steve Cook has played every single Woodford Folk Festival since it began — he keeps saying he's done, and he keeps coming back.And they talk about what's at stake for live music right now — screens replacing communal experience, and what it means when a programme simply asks people to show up and trust it. At every Small Halls show, not a single person was on a screen. Everyone was present.Dive in to hear about:How Kristin went from teaching strings in Far North Queensland to studying fiddle in Ireland — and the cheque she sent to the other side of the world to make it happenThe Prague band that brought Kristin and Alan together — and their brief period of fame in Switzerland before they moved to AustraliaThe Festival of Small Halls tour — 800 gigs, 12 years, and what it feels like to play to a sold-out hall in a town that's never heard of youHow Trad School started, what it gives students, and who has a spoon tattoo but won't play themDADGAD tuning, the drone, and why Queenslanders love a jigThe blokes who wandered into a bush dance, put their cans down, and held handsKey topics: Barleyshakes Duo, Kristin Kelly, Alan Kelly, Irish folk music, Festival of Small Halls, Woodfordia Traditional Music School, Trad School, Woodford Folk Festival, community music, regional Australia, folk tradition, bush dance, Irish AustralianTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auBarleyshakes: https://www.barleyshakes.comWoodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/                                                                                      Festival of Small Halls: https://festivalofsmallhalls.com/                                                  Woodfordia Traditional Music School: https://woodfordia.org/traditional-music-school/CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guests: Kristin and Alan Kelly of the Barleyshakes Duo | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Producer: Josh Weier | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded June 2026

"The real program is how people engage — the decisions they make, and what interrupts their day as they think they're going to go and do that. But instead, they go and do that." — Amanda JackesThis is a special one. In this citizens-only episode, Woodfordia Managing Director and Co-founder Amanda Jackes sits down with Harley Breen to answer questions submitted by you, the Woodfordia community. No standard interview format, no curated talking points. The citizens asked the questions and Amanda answered them.What emerges is a portrait of an organisation that thinks in centuries, not quarters — and a woman who has dedicated her life to building something she knows she won't live to see completed, and who finds that not diminishing but clarifying.The questions range from the practical to the personal. Can you stay on site after the 2nd of January? Why is the festival in December and not Easter? How does volunteering work for young people? What's the story behind the carved pavers near the tea house? How does Amanda balance authentic relationships with professional accountability? What is Woodford doing to buy the land back, and how close are we?The episode closes with Harley's own question: you could lead any organisation in this country, probably for more money, and the 500-year plan will outlast you. So why do you do it? Amanda's answer is worth the wait.This episode is for:Every Woodfordian who has ever wanted to ask Amanda something directlyAnyone who has wondered what it takes, and what it means, to build something for the long termPeople who love this place and want to understand it more deeplyDive in to hear about:Why the festival stays in December, and what Woodford is doing to make it more comfortable for those who feel the heatHow volunteering works for young people, what Champions of Woodfordia is, and why the second program is always the more powerful oneThe story of the carved pavers: from the Yellow Brick Road at Maleny to the tea house todayThe millennial New Year's Eve, the 3 minutes of silence, and Bill's idea to connect 20,000 birthday candles to a flame lit by the Dalai LamaThe Forest of Goodwill: where the campaign is, what the next target is, and why it's the community that's going to get this doneWhy the Elders aren't necessarily male — and what we might be projecting on to themGuernica, found by walking in a Madrid museum without a mapBill's tenacity, his humour, his generosity — and how that shapes the work todayWhy Amanda does this work, and what it means to live a life oriented around purposeKey topics: Amanda Jackes, Co-founder, Woodfordia, Woodford Folk Festival, Forest of Goodwill, citizens episode, 500-year plan, Bill Hauritz, volunteering, community, folk culture, arts, environmentTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE:Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.auWoodfordia: https://www.woodfordia.comBecome a Woodfordian Citizen: https://woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen/Forest of Goodwill: https://aforestofgoodwill.woodfordia.com/CREDITS:Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Amanda Jackes | Executive Producers: Bree Hickson-Jamieson, Josh Weier | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country | Recorded June 2026

"Our job as songwriters is not to ask people to feel better — it's to get better at feeling." — Dingo Spender, Mama Kin SpenderMama Kin Spender are Danielle Caruana and Dingo Spender — a duo flung to opposite sides of the country who make music by getting on planes, meeting somewhere in the middle, and going into the dark corners together to find the gold. Their 2025 album Promises debuted at number two on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart and was nominated for Best Blues and Roots Album at the 2025 ARIA Awards.This episode was recorded live at the 2025–26 Woodford Folk Festival, just hours after Mama Kin Spender played the Amphigrande. It's hosted by Jordan Royal stepping into the chair for Radio Woodfordia.Mama Kin opens with the observation that Woodford is one of those rare festivals that grows artists — the audience buys tickets before the program is released, trusting the programmers and trusting the experience, which means artists can bring their most vulnerable material and know the room will catch them. Dingo describes Woodford as a place where, if you fell backward, someone would catch you and buy you a delicious meal and sing you a song.They talk about Promises — how some of its threads existed as far back as 2019, how the songs were already there, waiting — not for words alone, but for music, rhythm, the body to fully understand itself. How the song that became their North Star felt at first like a sewer main, and turned out to be the truth.They talk about what it means to make music as two people on opposite ends of the country — the limitation as its own kind of grace, the trust that lets you go for things that are harder to reach, the creative producer who holds the space until you get to the hot spot. And they talk about what they're carrying into the new year. Joy — not as a blinder against grief, but as its equal. The realisation that being achingly human is itself an act of resistance. And Dingo's question for whatever comes next: what would the soundtrack to joy sound like?This episode is for:Anyone who makes things with another person and knows what it costs and what it givesPeople who have ever wondered whether it's okay to feel joy when the world is breakingWoodford devotees — and anyone who wants to understand why this festival means what it means to the artists who keep coming backDive in to hear about:Mama Kin on Woodford as a festival that grows artists — and why she wants to play here until she can't anymoreDingo's first Woodford: four or five gigs in a day, running between stages without putting his saxophone downThe full family Woodford — the year Mama Kin, Dingo, John Butler, and Mama Kin's daughter all played gigs, the same kid who was in nappies backstage at her mum's first festivalThe writing house, the songs that were waiting for language, and the track that felt like a sewer main and turned out to be the truthWhat a great music producer actually does — and why their creative friendship is the container that lets them go into the dark cornersJoy as practice, grief as fuel, and why being achingly human is the game worth playingKey topics: Mama Kin Spender, Danielle Caruana, Dingo Spender, Promises album, ARIA Awards, Woodford Folk Festival, songwriting, creative collaboration, folk soul, Australian music, joy, grief, communityTo come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au Mama Kin Spender: https://mamakinspender.love Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamakinspender Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mamakinspender Jordan Royal: https://www.instagram.com/j0rdanroyal/CREDITS: Host: Jordan Royal | Guests: Danielle Caruana and Dingo Spender of Mama Kin Spender | Executive Producer: Benny Wallington, Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Producers: Amelie Barham, Benjamin 'Tofty' Toft, Georgia Shaw, Madeleine Corcoran | Video Editing: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country