The hunter Coal festival has now wrapped for 2022. The Careers and Innovation expo drawing an impressive crowd with over 150 students seeing all the various roles and careers in the mining industry. It was advised that one employer signed up an apprentice on the day, and many more expressions of interest.

The mining leaders luncheon was a well overdue gathering of our mining industry, it was a sold out event and a very impressed crowd with the talents of Singleton High School hospitality students catering the event.

We were fortunate to a have the Hon. Madeline King MP in attendance as key note speaker as she reaffirmed the importance of mining and coal to the national economy and how vital it will be going forward and the transition to renewables.

Our community day was a success in its right, displaying the co-existence of mining and community. We had Bloomfield provide a BBQ lunch with beef produce from their pastoral lands as part of their rehabilitation of their mining land. We saw many families from outside our local region attend, a family as far as Sydney coming up with their children for the mine bus tours, the sponsors marquees on display, and the day’s attractions. A huge success on all counts.

At last! The Hunter Coal Festival is returning in 2022.

The Hunter Coal Festival is will be staged this year from October 21 – 29 after two years of postponements due to Covid 19. The biennial festival was originally planned for October 2020.

The 2022 Hunter Coal Festival has three main events scheduled – a careers expo, the return of the popular Mining Leaders Lunch and the festival’s biggest event, the Singleton Community Day.

The festival is an initiative of Business Singleton which works with sponsors, government bodies, community groups and local business to stage what has become one of the Upper Hunter’s largest and most popular festivals.

Business Singleton president Sue Gilroy said the fourth Hunter Coal Festival would be a major celebration for the entire Hunter community.

“With the postponements over the past two years, this festival has been a long time coming and I know people throughout the Hunter have been looking forward to it, Ms Gilroy said.

“Our planning for 2022 is very well advanced and supported by a strong contingent of confirmed sponsors including all the major working mining companies in the Upper Hunter.

“While we could add further events, at this stage we have confirmed three major events which will form the centrepiece of the festival.”

The confirmed major events are:

October 21, 2022 – Careers and Innovations Expo at the Muswellbrook RSL Club- 10am till 2pm
October 28, 2022 – Mining Leaders Lunch at Singleton Civic Centre
October 29, 2022 – Singleton Community Day at Singleton Showground- 10am till 3pm Ms Gilroy said this would be the fourth Hunter Coal Festival aimed at promoting the Upper Hunter’s major industry and its involvement in the community in a positive light.
The 2022 Hunter Coal Festival will retain the festival’s successful “Community + Coexistence + Innovation + Education” theme.

“The Hunter Coal Festival is an opportunity to highlight the ongoing co-existence between industry and community with a focus on the positive benefits to the Hunter overall as well as the contribution made by individual companies,” Ms Gilroy said.

“In the current climate, we believe the festival’s messaging is more important than ever.”

Ms Gilroy said sponsorship packages were still available and festival organisers were seeking community involvement in festival events.