Woodford Folk Festival founder Bill Hauritz dies at 73

To many he was known as the founder of one of Australia's largest folk festivals but to his family he was a loving "poppa" who wanted to leave the world a better place than he found it.

Woodford Folk Festival's Bill Hauritz died late on Monday afternoon, December 8, after battling a long illness and weeks before the opening of this year's festival.

He held the first event nearly 40 years ago in the hinterland of Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Over that time the event, typically held between Boxing Day and New Year's Day, drew crowds of more than 120,000 people and attracted international and national guests including musicians, artists, performers, politicians, speakers and comedians.

The 73-year-old leaves behind wife Ingrid, children Tom and Jack, daughter-in-law Mel and grandchildren Elke and Stellan.

His son, Tom Hauritz, said the family was hurting.

This morning, he was sent a video of hundreds of monks sitting in prayer at a monastery in India, specifically for his dad.

"When I see this, along with the many beautiful words and memories being shared across all kinds of media, it is genuinely touching," Tom said.

"For all the wonder and magic he brought to the world stage, the thing that sticks with me most is how much he simply adored his grandkids — my daughter and son.

"They will miss their Poppa immensely … but the healing balm is that my kids inherit a better world for his contribution to it. I can't wait until they are old enough to truly appreciate it and carve their own unique contour into their grandfather's legacy."

Amanda Jackes, the Woodford Folk Festival director, said Bill's legacy would live on.

"We will do him proud this year at the festival," she said.

"I was talking with him about a week ago … I asked him which one [festival] do you think was the best of them, and in typical Bill response, he responded without blinking an eye and said, 'The best is yet to come.'"

'Put folk music on the world stage'

Mr Hauritz was a young musician when he first dreamt up what is now known as the Woodford Folk Festival.

"He came from a background of being a folk musician. He played almost every instrument … he was in a band called The Blowflies," Ms Jackes said.

"He felt his real calling as an organiser and that's where the vision of the Maleny Folk Festival, and Woodford started … from an idea that he wanted to put folk music on an international stage."

Mr Hauritz was 34 years old when the original festival at Maleny debuted at Easter in 1987.

It moved to the larger site at Woodford in 1994.

"He will be in every song sung, in every tune played, in every compost trip … everything that is about the land, the stories told on it, and the community that lives here … Bill will live on," Ms Jackes said.

She said he was a dear friend, an invaluable mentor and a "pathological optimist" who showed humility and respect.

"I came along to the festival when I was 17 years of age … he created opportunities for people to grow and thrive," Ms Jackes said.

'A really tall tree has fallen in our forest'

Landscaper and ABC personality Costa Georgiadis, who regularly attended the festival, said he was saddened by the news.

"I found out last night and I texted someone and said a really tall tree has fallen in our forest and it's reverberating around the whole country," he said.

"Bill had this ongoing vision and capacity to just continuously be creative. You couldn't sit there without him jotting ideas down, bouncing thoughts … if you said something, he'd not only value add to it, he'd project it, he'd put a sort of power-bank on it, and just send it even further."

Georgiadis said moving the festival from Maleny to Woodford was a large part of sustaining the event for years to come.

"He had this vision that we need to build certainty, we need to build a place where this festival can flourish forever, and then we can grow and nurture the next generation and the generation after that and the generation after that," he said.

"That's the bit that sets the whole Woodford entity apart, because it's not just a music festival to make money, it's a festival to grow community for generations."

Various Australian personalities shared tributes for the festival founder on social media, including Steven Miles, Peter Noble, Leanne Enoch, Eric Bogle, Lindsay Pollock, and Tony Burke.

The Woodford Folk Festival Facebook page also shared a tribute.

This year's festival will run from December 27, 2025, to January 1, 2026, at Woodfordia, Queensland.