ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the history of Swan Hill's Shakespeare Festival to explore questions about the cultural life of Australian country towns in the mid-twentieth century and the complex role and meaning of the arts in regional and national community building. The extraordinary level of participation during the festival's early years both shows how widely ideas about modernity and rural progress circulated in the 1950s and 1960s and illustrates the contribution of culture and the arts in strengthening a community and instilling values of citizenship. A comprehensive survey of Victorian country towns conducted by University of Melbourne agricultural researchers Alan and Jean McIntyre during 1941 and 1942 documented the range of organised cultural activities and amenities available to country dwellers. Card parties, dances and sporting events were held regularly across most of the state.
