About Us
In 1975 the Warrnambool Rotary Club held the first City of Warrnambool Eisteddfod as a special project. The event was organised by Bruce Rogers, Beryl Beardsley and Laurel Langdon and attracted 150 competitors. Cr. Bill O’Sullivan, then Mayor of Warrnambool, called a public meeting to discuss the establishment of an annual Eisteddfod for the city.
The City of Warrnambool Eisteddfod Society Committee Inc. now regularly provides the opportunity for up to a thousand young people to perform in the disciplines of speech and drama, instrumental music, vocal music, debating, and dance. Special features of the Eisteddfod are the opportunities to compete offered to senior vocalists in the City of Warrnambool Aria Competition and the 6 days of competition for dancers of various genres.
While the Eisteddfod has been a festival of performance and competition since its inception, it is equally a festival of community. The competitors are celebrated on the day of their performance but working to support these young people and to provide them with the opportunity for professional adjudication in their chosen performing arts discipline are the Committee, the convenors, the adjudicators, teachers, parents, volunteers and friends. It is the cooperation and work of these people that enable the annual staging of up to 40 days of competition across the five disciplines.
The Gwen & Edna Jones Foundation, the R & J Uebergang Foundation and the Ray Ahearn Trust are now the primary sponsors of the Eisteddfod. In addition to these sponsors, the Eisteddfod is supported by the Warrnambool City Council, the Warrnambool Rotary Clubs and by an enormous number of local individuals, businesses and schools. Without the financial and in-kind support of these sponsors, the Eisteddfod could not take place.
The special project envisioned by the Rotary Club of Warrnambool in 1975 has grown to be an important event on the cultural calendar of the City of Warrnambool.
History was made in the 2019 Warrnambool Aria. Warrnambool's Louise Keast and Bundoora's Jia Yoa Sun were announced as joint winners of the competition. Louise was also the first local winner since 1995. Adjudicator Margaret Dalglish said that choosing the winner was the most difficult decision she has made in her close to 50 Eisteddfods she had adjudicated.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and like many community activities, it also hit the Warrnambool Eisteddfod. Due to lockdowns and many COVID cases in our community, the Committee decided to cancel all sections of the Eisteddfod.
Although COVID continued to affect the community, in 2021 a limited program was run and 2022 saw the return of the Eisteddfod as it was with 2 notable exceptions - Calisthenics and Highland Dance have both fallen beside the way.
2022 also saw the cancellation of the City of Warrnambool Aria for the third year in a row, due to an extremely low number of competitors.
During 2023, not only did we run an Aria but we increased our numbers enormously - 23 registrations, in fact; the most we had ever had in the history of the Aria. After the staging of the Aria, we faced the untimely death of our long-time Committee member and convenor of the Aria competitions, Christine Hayes. During her time on the Eisteddfod Committee, Chris served as secretary to the Committee and soon after taking on that job, she took on the role of Aria Convenor, a role which she made her own. Chris’ Dad, Bruce, one of the founding Committee of our Eisteddfod, would have been very proud of her as his particular interest in the Eisteddfod was the Aria. The committee dedicated an memorial award to a first time participant of the Aria who doesn't achieve the final, so they can return the following year to compete. This award was given until 2027 in her honour.
Fortunately, the Committee had been able to engage a local vocalist, who was a previous entrant, to take over the position of Aria convenor for 2024, but by the end of this year we saw the retirement of not only our Speech and Drama Convenor, but also our two Debating Convenors as well. This was another blow to the continuity of the Eisteddfod. The Committee needed new members urgently!
Speech and Drama Convenor was picked up by a young lady who was keen to see the competition continue even though she hadn't had any previous experience. After her first year, although it was successful, she decided that was enough and we were without a Convenor again!
Then in 2025, Primary Speech and Drama was thrown a lifeline by two local primary school teachers, who were keen to see expression grow within the community, and although the first year was a steep learning curve, with support from the Committee, they decided after retiring at the end of 2025, to give it another shot! 2025, also saw us say goodbye to our Aria Convenor who decided to return to Melbourne, but she worked tirelessly to bring another wonderful person onto the Committee to fill her role, who is taking it on with relish in 2026!
In 2026, we are still without a Debating Convenor and a Secondary Speech & Drama Convenor. As well, unfortunately the vocal section of the Music Eisteddfod has been postponed. This is due to illness of one of our committee members. We regretted this decision, but if possible we will go ahead with a Vocal Showcase (like last year). This will be held late afternoon/evening later in the year - an opportunity to perform by invitation without adjudication. We wish our fellow colleague all the best in her recovery.