Community
26 March, 2025
Librarian steps up to put on Harmony Week feast
The Mount Isa Library hosted a multicultural feast on Friday.
In the days leading to their Harmony Week feast on Thursday, Mount Isa library staff were concerned about whether anyone would turn up.
In fact, with only a few days to plan the gathering, they were unsure whether word had spread far enough to justify the event at all.
So it was a relief and a pleasant surprise when the library ground floor was packed to the rafters with families, senior citizens and migrants as more than 100 people celebrated the truly diverse character of our city.
Library officer Reny Castree said she appreciated these cultural events because she understood what it is like to be a new arrival in an isolated community in a new country.
Born and raised in Indonesia, she was working in hospitality in Bali before she came to Mount Isa more than a decade ago.
Trading a job in the Indonesian resorts for a job at Harvey Norman in the North West, Reny studied at night to gain the necessary qualifications to begin her librarian career. Having just arrived back from holidays to find she was now the main organiser of the Library’s Harmony Week feast, Reny hurriedly door knocked businesses to gather the necessary food donations that eventually overflowed on feast day.
From Domino’s pizza to Subway, TinTin Thai, Adobo Venue Filipino food and other plates from Red Earth, Grant’s Cakes & Pies and Outback at Isa, Reny said she was pleased there was more than enough food to cater for the larger than expected gathering.
The event was organised at the same time that Community Action for a Multicultural Society conducts its usual English conversational classes, so the feast attracted people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
“We reached out and received support from everyone that we approached and asked help from,” Reny told North West Weekly.
“There has been a lot of support for this event from the business community.
“I think it shows how we try to celebrate the many cultures and backgrounds of the people in Mount Isa.”