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Thinking about entering Idyll? Read this

Welcome to The Nugget, a 24k gold newsletter about Castlemaine's people and events

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The Nugget
January 09, 2026

★ Thinking about entering Idyll? Read this ★

Shonah “you can do it” Tomkins

Backup dancers. Group breathing. A shit-hot band with a horn section.

This is what it looks like when a community has your back, and what it felt like for Shonah Tomkins stepping onto the Castlemaine Idyll stage for the first time in 20 years, in front of a crowd of 1,000 people. 

Idyll is not a gentle re-entry. It’s Castlemaine’s biggest community stage: a joyous crowd, celebrity judges, and a seriously tight professional band ready to catch you if you fall.

“I kind of did exposure therapy on myself,” Shonah says.

Backstage, the nerves were intense.

“Absolute anxiety and shaking. I just decided, you know, what, life’s too short.”

She was thinking about her late father, who would have lovingly told her to get out of her own way and her friend’s boy, Sonny, who died too young.

“I had no expectations, honestly. I just needed to do this again. I didn’t even think about the competition part of it.”

A few bars in, the fear melted and she absolutely smashed it, as you can see in this video:

Instagram Post

Then came the important lesson for future Idyll entrants: don’t celebrate too early.

Four glasses of bubbly in, Shonah started winning awards. First the Double Helix Most Natural Performer award. The People’s Choice, which means going back out to sing your song again. Oops.

Let’s just say everyone was a bit looser by then.

That night changed everything.

Before Idyll, Shonah hadn’t sung publicly for two decades. A couple of relationships with musicians had knocked her confidence, and when they ended, she stopped singing.

“I kind of always had grief around it.”

That’s a long way from her early years growing up in Tongala near Echuca, when music was pure joy. She sang Madonna and Tori Amos to cassette tapes at local gigs, karaoke machine in tow. Her dad was an inspiration, joining bands and theatre groups. John Farnham was a family favourite.

Decades later, it was Farnsy who nudged her back.

Watching Finding the Voice, Shonah realised how much she missed singing. She tracked down Lindsay Field, a long-time member of Farnham’s band and a renowned vocal coach, and took a handful of lessons.

“It re-inspired me,” she says. “But I still had no plans to sing in front of anyone.”

Instead, she sat in the crowd at Shedshaker week after week, cheering others on. As a psychotherapist, the contradiction wasn’t lost on her.

“So I just decided: Start practising what you preach.”

The final push came the night before Idyll applications closed, sitting at the Bridge with her friend Jane Goodrich.

“She said, ‘Just apply. You can always pull out.’”

Shonah applied. Panicked. Considered pulling out. Didn’t.

“You’re nearly 50,” she told herself. “I literally turned 50 last year and that was part of it, too.”

Idyll turned out to be a total reset. Shonah immediately joined the Forest Creek Folk Choir in Chewton, singing weekly.

“If you want to find joy, it’s the place to be.”

The choir went on to perform with Eliza Hull at the Theatre Royal and with Hana Stretton at Town Folk Festival. Shonah also returned to the solo stage at Shedshaker’s Songs of Sirens, singing three Tori Amos tracks.

“I was still terrified,” she says. But she did it anyway, and that is literally the definition of bravery. 

Now she’s recording songs she wrote during her years away from the stage, including one for her dad, woven with an old family recording of his voice and her niece laughing.

This year, Shonah will be back at Idyll, in the crowd, and she’s currently nudging a few friends who are “on the verge” of signing up.

Her advice for anyone watching from the sidelines?

“You can do it. If you’re nervous, do it in a group. Do a duet. You don’t have to get up by yourself. Just get up and do it. You won’t look back.”

❀ Pool daze ❀

Mount Alexander Pools’ glorious Wibit inflatable

It’s all happening at the pools this summer (except for today because 🔥 danger).

Get your calendar out and get around all the pool parties. On Saturday, the inflatable Wibit will be at the Newstead Pool and they’re also running a pizza party from 3:00 PM.

Aqua fitness classes are on at the Chewton Pool on Sundays and Wednesdays and at the Castlemaine Pool on Mondays at 6:00 PM.

The Poolside Pop-Up Tour kicks off on Thurs, 22 Jan at the Harcourt Pool, with DJ Luqman and The Lexies performing on the trailer stage from 5:00 PM.

More performances are sheduled for Chewton, Castlemaine and Maldon.

I love this for us. See you there.

♡˖ EVENTS ˖♡

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