Nature Festival review: Flow Fest
Home to an ambitious regeneration project near McLaren Vale, Lot50-Kanyanyapilla hosted a unique mix of live music, nature and conversation as part of this year’s Nature Festival.
With the motto ‘Understand the past, acknowledge the present and look forward to the future’, artist and cultural geologist Gavin Malone of L50K combined live music and eco-education for Nature Fest’s inaugural Flow Fest.
Spread among a scattering of river red gums in what’s known as the Tree Theatre, people young and old lounged on blankets, dipped into picnic baskets, drank from water bottles or sipped on wine, and marvelled at the sea of blanched reeds before them that stretched to the vineyards of McLaren Vale and further to the patchwork hills beyond.
The rain held out as three musical acts took to the small stage, the dark grey of the skies intermixing with glorious sunlight proving a dramatic backdrop, and with the stars came the DJ and the dancing, and the small fire where others sat and yarned. Afterwards, many found their way to their tents. It was a perfect gem of a night, and Lot 50-Kanyanyapilla – simply known as L50K – was the ideal spot.
Though billed as a musical offering, for some the highlight of Flow Fest was an educational nature walk through the grounds led by cultural geographer and steward Gavin Malone. Malone started out as a civil servant in the Departments of Agriculture and Environment and Planning, before moving onto the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium. Phase two of his career saw him focus on sculpting and painting, and lecturing in art, architecture and design. Now, as his contemporaries consider retirement, Malone has combined his varied expertise and passion for working towards reconciliation by buying this expansive block of land to regenerate the Maslin Creek reed swamp from headland to sea.
“This is actually my final sculpture,” he told attendees as they walked past a little old boat beached at the edge of the Phragmite reeds, a signal of hope that one day he’ll sail off.
A site of deep First Nations heritage and home to Schandra Verzi’s Bush Pods Nature School, L50K has a natural, spiritual, vibrant vibe, lending itself to cross-cultural collaboration and community engagement, particularly with Burka, Mullawirra man Karl Telfer. So why a music fest? Malone said he was in a band back in the day when his hair was long.
The first act to take the stage was the melodic soft folk of singer/songwriter Katie Pomery, who closed her eyes as she strummed her guitar, her style and lyrics seemingly innocent but incredibly mature. Mid-set Pomery invited a poet to assist her with a song about being quiet, a theme that had a familiar presence as the audience respectfully and gratefully gave their full attention.
Next up was MANE, another local singer/songwriter, though vastly different from Pomery. MANE’s brand is indie pop with deep-toned, haunting vocals and lyrics that reach past, and simultaneously contain, what’s safe. Part conversational, part confrontational, hers is an act of controlled desperation.
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After local grape grower Geoff Hayter – a man on a mission to free the Willunga Creek line of weeds and restore native vegetation – spoke about Biodiversity McLaren Vale, Victorian sister duo The Maes performed, welcoming a double bassist to the stage to complement their varied mix of instruments including guitar, mandolin, fiddle and banjo. This slow, subtly romantic bluegrass set eventually made room for the first dancing crowd of the night. And then the dancing crowd grew as DJ Tom Borgas took over.
There were a few fire stragglers, as there often are, who remained after the instruments and turntables were packed away, one saying, “Imagine if this was your project – with the help of a ton of people – but your project. Imagine how good you’d feel.” In times like these, where the term ‘doom-scrolling’ is bandied about on a daily basis, we all deserve to feel good, and that’s exactly what Malone did for us through a unique contribution of optimism, encouragement and entertainment. I hope the event is part of next year’s Nature Fest program, too.
Flow Fest was held at L50K on Saturday October 11 as part of Nature Festival 2025