Every year the Henry Lawson Festival Committee welcomes a special guest to join in the festivities. Over the years the festival has seen numerous influential and famous special guests.
Genevieve Jacobs AM… 2024 Festival Guest of Honour!
Home grown success story, Genevieve Jacobs AM, has been announced as the VIP for the 2024 Henry Lawson Festival of Arts. Originally from Quandialla, Genevieve will return to the region as the ‘Official Guest’ of the celebrations from the 6-10th June.
President of the Henry Lawson Festival Committee, Belinda Power, explained Genevieve embodies all that the festival stands for. Genevieve grew up in Quandialla and began her 30 year print, radio and digital media career as a journalist with the Cootamundra Herald. She was a longtime ABC Canberra presenter, Group Editor for Region Media group and is now the CEO of the ACT’s community foundation, Hands Across Canberra.
“Amongst the many other accolades, Genevieve is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a director of the Cultural Facilities Corporation, setting strategy for Canberra’s major cultural institutions, and Regional Development Australia’s Southern NSW board.
“She is also a director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture and the University of Technology’s Centre for Media Transition. Genevieve chairs the Canberra International Music Festival board and has an enduring interest in building and strengthening community engagement.
“In 2021, Genevieve was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her services to broadcasting and the community and in 2023, won a national Telstra Business Award for Building Community with Region Group.
“Genevieve has never lost her local regional roots and is also a partner in the family farm at Wallendbeen with her husband David and four children. We are exceptionally proud to welcome Genevieve back as the ‘Official Guest’ for the 2024 festival as we get ready for what is planned to be one of the best events yet!
Genevieve said “In many ways my life has been spent with Henry Lawson: his poetry was a staple in our childhood and my grandmother Daisy would frequently quote his final lines from Said Grenfell to my Spirit – “You were born on Grenfell goldfield – and you can’t get over that”.
Henry spoke plainly and beautifully about the reality of life in the bush – the isolation, the danger, the vulnerability of the men and women from whom we are descended. He knew the hardscrabble life of the miners and drovers, the women waiting alone for their men to return and often, the stark inequity of a world where the poor were, literally, second class faces in the street.
At a time when social cohesion is under pressure and cost of living is high, a festival that celebrates one of Australia’s greatest writers and brings together a regional community is more necessary than ever. Post Covid, we’re seeing the disappearance of so many events. But this festival belongs to this community. It’s in the hearts of all of us who grew up within sight of the Weddin Mountain, whose family stories include Ben Hall and Stan McCabe. There’s still gold in Grenfell – but these days, it’s in all our hearts.
| Year | Official Guest |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Hugh Mackay – Psychologist & Author |
| 2022 | James Morrison – Musician |
| 2019 | Inga Simpson – Author |
| 2018 | Alison Bell – Theatre and Television |
| 2017 | Tara Moss – Author, Journalist, TV Documentary Presenter |
| 2016 | Vanessa Grimm – News Presenter |
| 2015 | Roy Billing – Actor & Writer |
| 2014 | Mark Grentell – Director/Writer/Producer |
| 2013 | Chris Coleman – Broadcaster |
| 2012 | Dick Smith – Entrepreneur |
| 2011 | Gregory Bryan – Historian |
| 2010 | Juliettre Palmer-Frederick – Author |
| 2009 | Max Cullen – Actor |
| 2008 | Sandy Fussell – Author |
| 2007 | Hon Ian Armstrong OBE – National Party |
| 2006 | David Foster OAM – Wood Chopper |
| 2005 | Don McAlpine – Cinematographer |
| 2004 | Her Exec. Prof Marie Bashir AC – NSW Governor |
| 2003 | Alan Jones AO – Broadcaster |
| 2002 | Jan O’Neill (Lehane) – Tennis Star |
| 2001 | Colin Buchanan – Country Singer |
| 2000 | Peter Bensley – Actor |
| 1999 | Judy Nunn – Actor |
| 1998 | Paula Duncan AM – Actor |
| 1997 | Garry McDonald AO – Actor |
| 1996 | Dr Hilarie Lindsay OAM – Author |
| 1995 | Carol Willis – Camp Quality |
| 1994 | Geoff Lawson OAM – Cricketer |
| 1993 | Alan Moir – Cartoonist |
| 1992 | Leon Becker AM – Broadcaster |
| 1991 | Mike Hayes – Journalist |
| 1990 | Briget Goodwin – Film Maker |
| 1989 | Eric Rolls AM – Author |
| 1988 | Slim Dusty – Country Music Singer |
| 1987 | Di Morrissey – Author |
| 1986 | Thomas Keneally AO – Author |
| 1985 | Peter Lawson – Artist |
| 1984 | James Dibble AM – ABC News Reader |
| 1983 | Jennifer Murphy – Actor |
| 1982 | Peter Summer – Actor |
| 1981 | Malcolm Thompson – Actor |
| 1980 | Leonard Teale – Actor |
| 1979 | Steve Liebmann – Television Presenter |
| 1978 | Lorraine Bayly – Actor |
| 1977 | Clive Evatt QC – Labor Party |
| 1976 | Ted Roberts – Author |
| 1975 | John St Vincent Welch – Past Festival President |
| 1974 | Patrick White – Author |
| 1973 | Dr Hilarie Lindsay OAM – Author |
| 1972 | Hon George Freudenstein MLA – NSW Country Party |
| 1971 | Harold Goodwin – Founder of the Henry Lawson Festival |
| 1970 | Chuck Faulkner – Actor |
| 1969 | Leonard Teale – Actor |
| 1968 | Bill Peach – Television Personality |
| 1967 | Bertha Jago (Lawson) – Daughter of Henry Lawson |
| 1966 | Michael Sawtell – Author |
| 1965 | Neil Hutchison – ABC Television |
| 1964 | John Thompson – ABC Broadcaster |
| 1963 | Ald Harold Jensen – Lord Mayor of Sydney |
| 1962 | Eric Baume – Journalist |
| 1961 | Sir Eric Woodward KCVO – NSW Governor |
| 1960 | Olav Nordland – Norwegian Consul |
| 1959 | Hon Ray S Maher MLA – Labor NSW |
| 1958 | Prof Colin Roderick CBE – Author |
