One of the state’s most infamous celebrations of Italian culture will grace the Hinchinbrook Shire once again when the Australian Italian Festival returns on the 7th and 8th of June 2025.
Over the decades, the festival has attracted waves of support and interest across the nation and beyond, and a particular State Library of Queensland interview conducted in 2013 further cemented the festival’s deserving place in the state’s history.
2013 President of the Australian Italian Festival Committee, Mr Pino Giandomenico, also known as Giuseppe Antonio Giandomenico, was enjoying an extended holiday in Abruzzi in Italy when he spoke on the importance and significance of the festival with the Queensland State Library.
At the time, Pino had been the President of the Committee for 15 wonderful years and was also part of the Steering Committee that introduced the festival in 1995.
“We started planning around 1990, and the first festival was a major festival that went for nearly a month – a full week of festivities – it was a month covering all the other little things around the place – and that’s the year we had Tina Arena,” reminisced Pino.
Although the inaugural festival faced many challenges, the Committee and 1995 President, Alf Bowfinger, worked closely with the Hinchinbrook Shire Council as the chairman of the Hinchinbrook Cardwell Development Area to find a way for the festival to live on. The festival transformed into a celebration of Ingham’s mixed Australian and Italian population, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“It’s not an Italian festival that’s only Italian,” Pino explained.
“It’s a festival to show the way in which the Italians have blended in with the Australian culture, and the Australians have blended in with the Italian culture, and vice versa, with other nationalities too.”
In June, the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary and over the past three decades, the key celebratory components of the event have remained the same.
“If you know the Italian culture, it’s all about wine, food and music,” added Pino.
“We’ve tried to bring in the Italian cuisine, as you know, “Mama’s Cucina” is one of the highlights of the festival – it’s got all of the pasta and the gnocchi and the different types of meat, all made the Italian way – the way Mama used to cook back in the old days.”
Pino explained that the majority of volunteers who cook for the festival are of Italian descent, adding that crafting only the sauce and arancini balls can take weeks of preparation.
“The arancini is a very laborious food to make; they spend weekends after weekends making thousands of those ‘cinis – it’s a lovely, lovely food to eat,” Pino shared.
“Ciao! Benvenuti! Siamo tutto bene! Siamo mangiamo! Mangiamo, cantiamo!” [Hi! Welcome! We are all good! Let’s eat! Let’s eat, let’s sing!]
What: Australian Italian Festival
When: 7th and 8th of June
Where: TYTO Parklands, Ingham
More Information: visit www.australianitalianfestival.com.au, email admin@australianitalianfestival.com.au or call (07) 4776 5288
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