Image: Bundanon, New York
Bundanon has announced ‘Galah Gala’, a special event billed as an art and fashion dance party, set for Saturday 5 September 2026 from 6pm to 10pm at Bundanon Art Museum in Illaroo, New South Wales. The event brings together performances by Aunty Jonny, Duncan Fellows, Cheryn Frost, Emma Kew, Gogo and DJ Lorna Clarkson, with special guests Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson.
The announcement frames the evening as a playful, dress-up gathering built around performance, music and fashion. Bundanon’s event listing invites guests to “come as the bird you were always meant to be,” with awards planned for Best Dressed Bird, Best Use of Colour and Best Headwear. The party begins with firepits, cocktails and dinner options from the pop-up Birdcage Bar and Dining, and the programme promises dancing late into the night.
Aunty Jonny, also identified as Jonny Hawkins, is presented as the event’s host figure and one of the central performers. The listing describes Hawkins as a queer performance artist, party maker and DJ, while the longer event page highlights their work across performance and screen. That page also situates Cheryn Frost and Emma Kew as an emerging creative partnership focused on conceptually bold, hyper-queer site-specific work, and notes Gogo’s drag practice and DJ Lorna Clarkson’s long experience on the dancefloor.
Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson’s appearance connects the gala to a parallel fashion programme at Bundanon across the same weekend. In a separate talk titled ‘The Art of Fashion’, scheduled for Sunday 6 September 2026 at 12pm, the designers are set to reflect on a lifetime of creativity and friendship in conversation with Bundanon CEO Rachel Kent. Bundanon says the pair first met in the 1970s as young designers with a shared love of colour and artistry, and that their partnership redefined Australian fashion through the legendary Flamingo Follies parades and a broader influence on fashion, design and craft.
The gala is also linked to Bundanon’s ‘Fashion 2026 | Stay Weekend’, running from 5–6 September 2026. That programme pairs a long lunch, a hands-on creative workshop, the gala itself, dinner and drinks from pop-up dining and bar, a recovery supper, continental breakfast, Art Museum and Homestead entry, and a guided cultural walk. Bundanon describes the weekend as a new offering within its annual program, bringing together designers and audiences to celebrate the creative and cultural possibilities of fashion.
Tickets for ‘Galah Gala’ are priced at $45 for adults, $40 for concession and $36 for members, with a $15 return shuttle bus ticket available from Bomaderry and Nowra. The shuttle schedule listed on the event page includes pick-up from Bomaderry Station at 5pm, a Nowra pick-up from the Entertainment Centre at 5.15pm, arrival at Bundanon at 5.45pm, an early departure at 9pm and a final shuttle at 10.15pm. The event is listed for Bundanon Art Museum, 170 Riversdale Road, Illaroo, on 5 September 2026.
