In line with such goals, various levels of government have incorporated special events into cultural planning, emphasizing their potential for location and capacity building, as well as economic benefit (Dowling, 1997; see also Australia Council, 1998; Department of Communications, Information Technology). 187) and a place where an older social order prevailed. rural areas. The term "country" did not come into use until later, when some styles originally associated with rural areas developed. In stories about the American frontier (Whiteoak, 2003) had clear parallels and several local adaptations rasi: performers like Tex Morton, Australian Yodelling. Alternatively, places and their meanings are contested in and through music, whether it is the multiple and contradictory representation of Los Angeles and New York in rap music, or the celebration or exoticization of ethnicity in "world music. Festivals have been one means of positioning places in national media landscapes, not only attracting tourists, but also changing the identity of places in ways that counter representations of rural decline and create a sense of community (Duffy, 2000). Country and western music presented "nostalgia for a country paradise, symbolized by longing for a simpler way of life, looking back to a simple place" (Kong, 1995, p. However, music festivals have become by far the most common, from the annual East CoastBlues and Sweden Festival of Byron Bay to the Elvis Revival Festival in Parkes, NSW; From the Port Fairy Folk Festival (Victoria) to many country music festivals in Gympie (Queensland), Mildura (New South Wales), Port Pirie (South Australia) and Tamworth (see Aldskogius, 1993; Derrett et al. in Nashville, Tennessee.
