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Festival of International Understanding

Photograph of the stage with performers at the Cowra Festival

A unique event celebrating our diversity

The Cowra Festival of International Understanding will be back in 2022, but rather than focus on an individual country, next year will see the celebration of the proud history of the Festival, all past and future guest nations and by extension, the cultural history and diversity of the Cowra region.

Taking place from 31 March - 3 April 2022, the Festival format will be similar to previous years with headline events including the opening dinner, parade, carnival, Youth Ambassador program and sporting events.

The Carnival on Saturday 2nd April promises to be a real highlight. There will be carnival rides, fireworks, community performances, the talent quest finals, as well as red-hot Latin, soul and funk band, Mahogany Flow from Sydney providing a real a party atmosphere.

Check out all the action from the 2021 Festival on the Cowra Festival Facebook page.

The Festival originated in the mid-1960s at a time when the town was coming to recognise the benefits of promoting understanding between nations. It is a credit to the local community — and recognition of their support for this first event — that the Festival immediately grabbed the public's attention. Cowra Festival of International Understanding (originally the Festival of the Lachlan Valley) is a community-based event focusing on Cowra's unique place as the home of reconciliation. Proudly hosting Australia's World Peace Bell — this honour derived from Cowra's first-hand experience of war with the POW Breakout of Japanese prisoners in 1944.

This annual Festival was first conceived in 1964 as Cowra Shire approached the 150th anniversary of Surveyor George William Evans' exploration of the Lachlan River in May 1815. It was suggested that some form of celebration be held to mark this historic occasion.

A committee was subsequently formed to organise a celebration — "Cowra's Festival of the Lachlan Valley" — after a community competition had been held to name the event. Theme of the first Festival was the historical importance to the town and district of the first European exploration of the Lachlan Valley; and included a full-week of celebrations in April 1965. As a special guest, New Zealand's High Commissioner performed the official opening with more than £5400 ($10,800) raised from the inaugural Festival which was donated towards development of the Wyangala Waters foreshores area.

Following this success; it was decided to hold this unique celebration annually with the idea of featuring a guest nation strongly-supported. The theme of "International Understanding" was also embraced at this time and — because of our unique historical links — Japan was invited to be the first Guest Nation. Succeeding years have seen a number of variations and additions to the Festival but the basic format and aim of the event has remained constant.

With Cowra bestowed world recognition as the site of Australia's replica of the World Peace Bell in 1992, the celebration's name was changed to the "Festival of International Understanding"; an alteration that also incorporated the Festival's main theme that all the peoples of the world are one.

A Guest Nation has subsequently featured and been celebrated at each Festival; with the exception of 2002 which focused on Cowra's cultural diversity and 2014 which featured the United Nations.

The Festival continues to be a major event in the Cowra Shire calendar and plays a significant role in building a sense of pride and identity in the Cowra Community.

In 1999, a book about the Festival of International Understanding was produced by former Cowra Council Shire President Cyril Treasure that tells, through programs and newspaper articles, the Festival's history for its first 33-years.

The Festival of International Understanding celebrated the 50th Anniversary in 2014 with the United Nations Information Centre in Australia the special guest in recognition of this world-body's international focus.

List of the Guest Nations for the Festival

1965 New Zealand	1984 The Philippines	2003 Vietnam
1966 Japan	1985 Spain	2004 Slovakia
1967 India	1986 Canada	2005 Malta
1968 Malaysia	1987 USSR	2006 Poland
1969 Italy	1988 Australia	2007 South Africa
1970 Great Britain	1989 Peru	2008 Chile
1971 United States of America	1990 Austria	2009 Portugal
1972 Indonesia	1991 Egypt	2010 Hungary

1973 Federal Republic of Germany	1992 Ireland	2011 Turkey
1974 Thailand	1993 Western Samoa	2012 Finland
1975 Netherlands	1994 New Zealand	2013 Sri Lanka
1976 Mexico	1995 Zimbabwe	2014 United Nations
1977 Iran	1996 Papua New Guinea	2015 Republic of Korea
1978 Fiji	1997 Belgium	2016 Kingdom of Tonga
1979 Greece	1998 Israel	2017 Belarus
1980 France	1999 Denmark	2018 Nepal