Mundi Mundi Bash Festival Opens Gates Free After Rain Chaos

Thousands had to be turned away from the Mundi Mundi Bash outback music festival in Broken Hill after record rainfall turned its campground into a field of mud this week. But two relatively dry days — and welcome sunshine for the final day — has seen organisers open the gates for hangers-on to come into the festival free of charge.

"The sun came out yesterday, it's out again today [and] any of those people who were turned away who are still hanging around Broken Hill, we're going to let them come in today," the event's founder and organiser Greg Donovan told ABC Weekend Breakfast.

Mr Donovan said the event's full program had been fulfilled, including performances from Jessica Mauboy, Troy Cassar Daly and the Teskey Brothers. The final day is set to feature The Whitlams, Baby Animals, John Butler and Jon Stevens.

Safety first as region sees a third of its annual rainfall

The Mundi Mundi site saw around 75mm of rainfall over an 11-day period, according to Mr Donovan. "To put that into context, the rain we've had just over this little period amounts to one-third of the annual rainfall for Broken Hill," he said.

The decision to restrict entry to the campsite was made after many vehicles became bogged in the mud as arrivals were checked in on Monday night. "We had another 2,000 coming the following day, there was just no way the campsite had the ability to take that many more people … 25 to 30 per cent of the campsite became unusable," said Mr Donovan.

He said around 10,000 were still able to see the festival. Around 15,000 people were originally ticketed to enter.