Voice of the River: A Deep Listening & Singing Retreat

Join Eddie FitzPatrick on a nourishing journey with Voice of the River — a gentle invitation to remember your voice as part of the living world. Through meditation, creative writing, group singing, deep listening, plenty of solo relaxation time and fireside singing you’ll be invited to tune deeply to the river, the bush, the birds — and within.

Together we’ll share stories, weave songs, and gather in circle, enjoying a joyful journey of remembering. Nights under open skies transform from mere camping to a profound communion with the environment. The boundary between self and landscape blurs, as the sounds of rustling leaves, distant bird calls, and the river's gentle movement weave a complex tapestry of belonging. Each moment becomes an invitation to step beyond human-centric perspectives and recognise the intricate web of life that sustains and surrounds us.

There is a magic that happens when we sing in a circle without any pressures of ‘technique’ and performing – when we’re simply enjoying the ancient way of gathering and playing together in sound. As bodies co-regulate and brain states change, we can move into a simple state of play and collective exploration in resonance and celebration of being alive.

You can expect to leave the retreat feeling well rested, connected to your creativity and a quieter, simpler way of being on country. This is not simply a journey across kilometers, but a passage through understanding—a slow, deliberate pilgrimage that allows participants to rediscover their fundamental connection to the natural world, one paddle stroke at a time.

Supported Place

We understand that life is tough for some at the moment and want to ensure that the trip is accessible for a wide range of participants. There is a fund to support those affected by cost of living pressures that would otherwise miss out. We have a small amount of fully and partially funded places.

Application for Supported Place

If you are financially going well, contributions to the fund can be made.

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About

What's included

Getting There

About the Artist

Eddie FitzPatrick is an English-Australian songwriter, storyteller and facilitator who lives and loves on Wurundjeri Country, in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Growing up in the English countryside, she sung before she could talk and connection with the earth is a keystone of her work.

As a performer, her songs ripple with authenticity as she weaves poetry, nature, and old ways of bardic storytelling into gatherings that feel like gentle rituals. Audiences have described her work as “sound healing in its purest form” and “like being anointed”. Her debut album is set to be released in 2025.

Eddie also journeys with the voice as a guide for others: inviting people into deep listening — to themselves, to each other and to the living world. She holds ‘Our Earthen Prayer’ — a women’s ritual choir — and other song circles and workshops around Naarm. Her work rests on a simple, joyful truth: that all humans can sing (and should!), and that singing together is our birthright — a tiny, radical act of aliveness in the midst of modern life.

Eddie trained at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, has studied Vocal Sound Therapy with Githa Ben-David, and worked with the Roy Hart Theatre tradition in France. When she’s not guiding song and story, she’s producing festivals and gatherings internationally — with a devotion to creativity, connection, play and the more-than-human world.

Reflections of Eddie as a guide:

‘The way the container was established and held allowed for inclusion and safety. Her presence and attention to each one of us was really appreciated. I could just be me with no fear or reluctance. It was so safely held I was spontaneous and shared freely my voice and my vulnerability.’

‘It reminds me that we are able to connect to something greater when we sing, inside ourselves and in the world.’

‘Eddie’s tenderness and thoughtfulness in the choosing of certain songs and the delivery of teaching them to us, created a beautifully crafted and safe environment to crack wide open and feel all the feels, using song and the voice as medicine.'