Founder Greg Donovan, standing at Big Red, on the hardest decision our family has ever made — and why 2027 is the farewell the Bash deserves.
Greg Donovan · Founder & Managing Director, Outback Music Festival Group
Three days · One last sunset
After battling site inundation from a huge outback rain event in early 2026 that led to the cancellation of the 2026 event, rising costs, recent weather challenges and the extraordinary logistical demands of staging a festival at the world's most remote festival site, the Donovan family — who founded and run the bucket list event — have made the difficult decision to call time on the Big Red Bash.
A huge outback rain event in early 2026 inundated the site and led to the cancellation of the 2026 event, at a point when the Bash was 90% sold out.
The ongoing outside pressures have led us to the conclusion that continuing at the remote Birdsville site is becoming difficult to sustain for the long term.
Record July rainfall has closed roads and restricted access to the site in recent years, with so much of it outside anyone's control.
The extraordinary logistical demands of staging a festival at the world's most remote festival site, where a mini city is built from the ground up each year.
"The Big Red Bash has been successful and financially viable — and we feel privileged that both our Bash events have consistently sold-out since 2015. But the ongoing outside pressures have ultimately led us to the conclusion that continuing at the remote Birdsville site is becoming difficult to sustain for the long term."
Greg Donovan · Founder & Managing Director
"It's a lot to walk away from, but we'd rather go out on a high than risk the event being prevented from continuing by circumstances beyond our control."
Greg Donovan · Founder & Managing Director
Greg Donovan at Big Red
What the locals who know the land keep telling us
Around 6 feet of water from the inundation remains across parts of the event site, but organisers and Birdsville locals are confident the water will evaporate by February 2027, and the ground will dry up well before the final festival is staged in July 2027.
We're backing that confidence and local knowledge with scientific modelling and Bureau of Meteorology evaporation data for the region — which regularly experiences 40+ degree days across the summer months.
"What I keep being told by locals who know the land is 'she'll be right mate' — they're confident in the water evaporation trajectory. And we're backing this with scientific data on evaporation rates in the region from the BOM, which calculate that all the water will be evaporated by February 2027, even if there is further rainfall. We'll even pump it out if we have to!"
Greg Donovan · Founder & Managing Director
The desert heat and wind do the work. Drag through the months and watch the water go.
Drag, or press play
Birdsville averages around 160mm of rain a year. The average annual open water evaporation rate is around 3,500mm a year. The desert takes back far more than it ever receives.
October to February are Birdsville's peak evaporation months. Across those five the long term average is 2,003mm — and there's an estimated 1,860mm left in the deepest sections. The sums are that close.
Our model of water depth and evaporation at the festival site, built on Birdsville's long term average evaporation rates from the Bureau of Meteorology. We'll update it every month.
| Date | Evaporation | Depth at month end | Status |
|---|
Depth at the deepest sections of the Bashville campsite. Source: Outback Music Festival Group's depth and evaporation model, using Birdsville's average monthly pan evaporation rates from the Bureau of Meteorology, Birdsville Airport, 1970–2020 (34 years of statistics). Cumulative from 30 June: 124, 297, 540, 877, 1,261, 1,713, 2,174 and 2,543 mm. These are long term averages, so a hot dry summer dries the site faster and a wet one slower.
And we've made sure you're covered. Tickets go on sale with the option of full payment or a deposit, and full refunds will be made if the event cannot proceed. The confidence is ours to carry, not yours.
10am AEDT. Pay in full, or secure your tickets with a deposit and further instalments from March 2027.
Secure your tickets with a deposit, with further instalments due from March 2027.
If the event cannot go ahead, full refunds will be made.
We're expecting very high demand — this is the last one, ever. Register your interest now so you're ready to go the moment tickets open.
It started with one man, one guitar and one sand dune.
Scroll sideways →
Every one of these happens for the final time in July 2027.
Forty metres of sand, a thermos, and the Simpson Desert going gold in every direction. There is nothing else like standing on top of this dune taking in an outback sunrise.
The end of an era
The Donovan family on site at the Bash
The Big Red Bash was never built by one family alone. It was built by everyone who backed a crazy idea in the middle of nowhere and kept backing it for thirteen years.
To the Brook family, whose organic farmland has hosted the event since the beginning, and to the local Traditional Owners of this country — thank you for letting us bring this to a place that means so much.
To Birdsville and the Diamantina Shire, to the surrounding communities and the local businesses who absorbed us every July. To our volunteers, who turn up to the hardest, dustiest shifts and come back the next year. To our crew, contractors, suppliers and vendors, who build a city from bare ground and take it away again.
To the artists, for coming all the way out to the most remote music festival on the planet — and playing like it was the main stage anywhere in the world. To the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
And most of all, to the Bashers. The tens of thousands of you who pointed the car west, drove for days, camped in the dust and sang every word. Some of you have been to every single one. You turned a crazy idea in the middle of nowhere into the thing it became — and you're the reason it gets a proper send-off.
Let's give it the send-off it deserves.
Roads, flights and what your vehicle needs to handle.
How the campsite works and what to bring.
Never been? Start here.
The town, the pub and the country around it.
We're updating these guides for 2027. Subscribe and we'll let you know when they're ready.
Ticket on-sale reminders, line-up news, monthly Evaporation Watch updates and everything else about the final Big Red Bash — straight to your inbox.
Tickets on sale 12 November, 10am AEDT
