A sound sculpture in a Townsville garden, an audio walk beside a creek and an installation inside an Ingham house are part of a festival that refuses to stay in one town.
Updated September 2026
PUNQ Festival is spreading contemporary art across four very different North Queensland settings: Townsville, Magnetic Island, Hinchinbrook and Charters Towers. Produced by Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts and presented in partnership with the North Australian Festival of Arts, it runs from September 23 to October 11, 2026.
It is a more interesting way to encounter a region than a single festival precinct. Some works sit in gardens, some respond to existing buildings, and others ask visitors to listen to a place they might otherwise walk past.
Start by listening
In Townsville’s Perfume Gardens, composer and Liars member Cameron Deyell has installed Sonic Compass: a circular array of speakers set out like a compass rose. The composition draws on a voyage along Australia’s east coast and lets sound move around the listener while the garden and city remain audible. The free installation runs daily from 8am to 6pm until October 11.
At Mundy Creek, the Mundy Creek Artists Collective has made Dance Brolga Dance: Reflections on Mundy Creek, an audio walk bringing together stories, cultural knowledge and the ecology of the creek. Visitors use a QR code and their own headphones along the path. It is free and open from 6am to 6pm through October 11.
A festival with more than one centre
In Ingham, Mari Hirata has turned the Japanese House into The House of Floating Flowers (Ukibana no ie), an installation about architecture, memory and the movement of stories between Japan and Australia. It is open Fridays to Sundays from 10am to 2pm until October 11, with free entry and optional arrival bookings.
The full PUNQ program reaches Yunbenun/Magnetic Island and Gudjal Country/Charters Towers too, with site-specific work, exhibitions and events. That geography is the point: four places with different histories and landscapes, each shaping what visitors encounter.
Visitors at the PUNQ Art Laneway in Flinders Lane, Townsville. Photo: PUNQ.
NAFA runs in Townsville from September 25 to October 11. Check the official NAFA program and individual PUNQ listings for locations, opening times and access information before travelling.
Find more culture and live music around the region through YELO’s North Queensland and Regional Queensland guides.
