Cooktown’s Ella Hartwig brings musical joy to kids at the Queensland Children’s Hospital before taking the stage at Australia’s biggest country music festival. Photo: Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Whether it’s singing in the hallways of the Queensland Children’s Hospital or preparing to take the biggest stage of her career, Cooktown’s Ella Hartwig says connection is the most important thing as she climbs up the country music ladder.
The 23-year-old will head to Australia’s biggest country music event — CMC Rocks — to perform on its emerging artists Back Forty stage on 21 March.
“The population that attended the festival last year is eight times the size of Cooktown’s population,” she said.
“I’m thinking of when I was 14, looking at someone like me, that would’ve been so cool, just knowing that it’s possible that someone from where I’m from could do something like this.
“It’s such an honour in the country music scene in Australia; it’s definitely one of the biggest career highlights to date.”
The exciting opportunity came after Ms Hartwig was selected as a finalist for an annual music development program in Brisbane last year, where she was mentored by the coveted festival’s line-up curator.
As a Cooktown girl at heart who moved to the big smoke to chase her dream, the singer said she felt the hardships and homesickness were paying off.
“It feels like the industry keeps giving me little encouraging nudges, and it’s giving me a chance,” she said.
“A lot of the time, when these things happen, it’s like, ‘I can’t believe they got this’, but my mum said she can believe it because of all the hard work.
“I didn’t move away for nothing, and it just feels like such an acknowledgement of the sacrifices and work I’ve put into it.”
While she worked to curate the perfect setlist for her CMC Rocks debut, Ms Hartwig maintained that connection with her audience remained the top priority, no matter where she was performing.
Through regularly volunteering at the Queensland Children’s Hospital singing for sick kids, and paying homage via meaningful lyrics to the town that raised her, the singer said she hoped to give back as much as she got.
“One of my missions is to bring people together through my music,” she said.
“Especially coming from such a remote town, I want to really instill that connection and involve people, because I didn’t get these opportunities alone.
“I’m very grateful for the community around me. A lot of music is depending on other people — you can’t really have a successful music career just on your own.”
It seems to be a year of highs for Ms Hartwig, who has also been named a Queensland Music Awards finalist in the Blues & Roots category for her song Responsibility.
