Celebrations of Flinders’ voyage along the South Australian coastline
In marking the bicentenary of Englishman Matthew Flinders and Frenchman Nicholas Baudin’s ‘meeting’ at Encounter Bay, South Australia, in 1802, the District Council of Yorke Peninsula, along with the South Australian Tourism Commission and three other participating Councils, held a celebration and re-enactment of Flinders’ voyage of the SA coast, entitled Encounter 2002.
Held in September this year, the statewide celebrations included an impressive 17 day program of community entertainment and participation. Festivities were held at various locations.
Encounter the Music was held at Port Victoria and included a Promenade concert, costume ball and Indigenous dancers. Encounter the Food, held at Edithburgh, included an international food fair, as well as street stalls and entertainment. Encounter the Arts at Ardrossan presented an art and craft fair at the local school, the Cheetham Salt Art Exhibition, and literature and art competitions involving Yorke Peninsula schools.
All the festivities at the various locations were linked together by the Encounter the Chart Relay. Runners delivered to each town involved a replica chart of Matthew Flinders’ voyage of discovery of the South Australian coast.
Preparation for Encounter 2002 began in 1999 when the SA Tourism Commission got together with the Yorke Peninsula Task Group comprising represantatives of the District Council of Yorke Peninsula, Copper Coast, Barunga West, and Wakefield Regional Council. The Task Group was given $5,000 in December 2000 to begin planning for the event, and a further $12,000 in September 2002. Further to this, each Task Group Council was granted funding for the various festivities that would be held in their area.
The only event that was not in the hands of the Councils was the Tall Ships program and the Maritime Museum Exhibition. The event provided the whole Yorke Peninsula region with massive gains, including increased tourism to the area, community involvement, and potential economic and social investment to the area.
