History Of The Festival:

The Tarerer Festival is to be held on the traditional site of the meeting of the coastal clans.  This multi-cultural celebration is an invitiation to gather together in the spirit of the 'meeting of the clans' from which 'Tarerer' takes its name.

As in times long gone, Tarerer is the focus for restorative arts practice enhancing the region's cultural identity, the history and environmental significance of thr land. 

At a meeting at the old picnic ground in Framlingham forest, a group of 12 people, black and white, decided to hold the first of the concerts to celebrate the abundance of talent in the local area and to encourage young Koori people.

Thought to be the only event of its kind in Victoria, Tarerer promotes harmony and exchange through the celebration of culture and country.

Cultural History:

Along the south west coast of Victoria, between the city of Warrnambool and the town of Port Fairy, in the midst of the volcanic lakes country, sits the village of Koroit.

Cradled below this historic township lies the imposing, ancient and dormant volcano known as Tower Hill.

Tower Hill erupted spectacularly 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. It lies on the western edge of a line of similar volcanos including Mt Noorat and Mt Leura.

Tower Hill or Tarerer and its surrounds, including Kelly’s Swamp and Saltwater Swamp Esturary to the east & the Killarney Swamp and Sisters to the West are the ancestral homelands of the Tarerer Gunditj, the Koroit Gunditj and the Moonwer Gunditj, three clans of the Peek Wuurong people.

The Peek Wuurong belong to the greater Gunditjmara or Dhauwurd Wuurong Nation. The Peek Wuurong tribal lands stretch from the Eumeralla River in the west to the Merri and Hopkins Rivers in the east. This large tribal group was made up of many smaller clans and clan estates.

At Tower Hill, the local clan lived in a settlement on the edge of the swamp near the caldera. This was the original outfall of the Tower Hill Lake into the Kelly Swamp. The people who lived here would have witnessed the eruption of the volcano.

The Tarerer lands were the site of a great annual meeting of the coastal clans. This was a time of great feasting, celebration, ceremony and trading.