Australian Youth Orchestra
National Music Camp – Top Ten Locations
National Music Camp has brought music to places around Australia for the last 70 years! We’ve covered a lot of ground in that time. Here are our top ten National Music Camp destinations!
10) Perth
In the summer of ’99 campers packed their favourite crop tops and congregated in Perth for National Music Camp, held that year at the University of Western Australia.
9) Brisbane
Campers ventured to the Sunshine State for the first time back in 1982! National Music Camp was held that year at Griffith University in Brisbane.
8) Hobart
Campers ticked Tassie off the bucket list in 1961, when National Music Camp took place at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.
7) Sydney
The first National Music Camp of the 21st Century was held at Sydney’s Macquarie University in the summer of 2000.
6) Point Lonsdale
National Music Camp’s original home, the tiny peninsula town of Point Lonsdale welcomed the first campers back in 1948. Little did they know that they were creating a tradition that would continue for seventy years!
5) Parramatta
During the 80s, a popular National Music Camp site was the Kings School in Parramatta; Australia’s oldest independent school.
4) Mittagong
National Music Camp took the occasional break from the city in favour of some regional music making, visiting Mittagong in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales on six occasions.
3) Canberra
Canberra was National Music Camp’s favourite noughties location, with campers returning to Australia’s capital city a whopping nine times during the early 2000s!
2) Adelaide
The Collegiate School of St Peters in Adelaide was a popular spot for National Music Camp during the 70s. More recently, campers have spent their summers making music at Elder Conservatorium, bringing the total visits to the ‘city of churches’ to fourteen.
1) Geelong
Home to National Music Camp for a total of 25 years, G-Town comes in at first place! Campers spent many happy years at Geelong Grammar School and Geelong College, revisiting the town many times over five decades.