Loss, family and friendship: The story behind Colac’s first Taiwanese Moon Festival

“This is the way I say goodbye.” For Colac’s Jo Crosbie, organising next weekend’s Taiwanese Moon Festival is in part a way to honour and farewell her father.

The festival, celebrated by Taiwanese people around the world, marks the mid-autumn harvest and is a celebration of family (and barbecue). 

Crosbie moved from Taiwan to Colac six years ago. Her father died shortly after last year’s Moon Festival, and in response Crosbie decided to pour her energy into creating Colac's own Taiwanese Moon Festival, the first of which will be held at the showground next Saturday (September 20).

“Last year some very big things happened for me, my dad passed away,” Crosbie told the Brolga. “So this year I kept thinking about how I can celebrate and get more people thinking about family.”

The loss stirred old memories and Crosbie found herself reflecting on family, and the tyranny of distance. “We’d still talk on the phone, but it’s not really the same,” she said.

For Crosbie, the Moon Festival is both a farewell to her father and a chance to share Taiwan’s traditions with the people of Colac. 

“The Moon Festival in Asia actually means that the family has to be together, friends together, and we share everything.”

Since moving to Colac to marry her husband, Crosbie has started her own cake studio, Cake A Lish. 

Here’s how she describes the festival: “It’s like Christmas, but a bit different. We eat food, share moon cakes, have a barbecue and everyone looks at the moon. The special thing is it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are, we all share the same moon.”

The festival, which starts at 2pm, will feature lantern-making, Chinese yo-yos, a movie zone explaining the story of the moon, food trucks offering different Asian dishes, and a traditional lion dance performance.

“For this event, all of the financial part, for hiring everything, is all from the Taiwanese community group only, we just want to do more for the community,” Crosbie said.

“What I know so far is that [Taiwanese people] come here to work, but that's it, and I realised we can do more, especially because Colac is a really lovely community.

“We’re doing this event to start with, to make the overseas Taiwanese workers here feel at home, but we also want to let the Colac community know, this is our home too, we want all families to share and enjoy different cultures.”