Dedicated to championing the
artistic achievements of Burnie citizens (and doing cool stuff).

Dream Burnie Book Cover

Catch this brain-tickling nostalgic bonanza.

The most Burnie book of all time.

Did you know?

  • Michaela Gleave has 220 million YouTube views.

  • Stuart Campbell (SUTU) has made digital art for Hollywood movies

  • Sabian Lynch’s last album as Alpha Wolf was GRAMMY and ARIA nominated.

  • Craig Leeson’s documentary prompted a ban on single use plastic bags.

  • The Bedroom Philosopher has had two songs in Triple J’s Hottest 100.

All these people are from Burnie.
Read about them and others.

About the book

Dream Burnie is available at these dreamy bookstores

Not Just Books
(Burnie)

Burnie Arts

Devonport Bookshop

Petrarch's
(Launceston)

Fullers
(Hobart)

Cracked and Spineless Bookstore
(Hobart)

The Hobart Bookshop

Readings
(Melbourne)

Metropolis
(Melbourne)

Brunswick Bound
(Melbourne)

Avenue Bookstore
(Melbourne)

Stoneman’s Bookroom (Castlemaine)

Better Read Than Dead
(Sydney)

Gleebooks
(Sydney)

Good Earth Bookshop (Wentworth Falls)

Avid Reader
(Brisbane)

Paperchain Bookstore
(Canberra)

Imprints Booksellers (Adelaide)

Matilda Bookshop (Stirling)

Artists

Explore a showcase of bonus pics and inspiring quotes from our Dream Burnie artists.

Presented by the

Burnie Arts Council

With assistance from

  • Martin Flanagan

    “Justin Heazlewood is a Burnie original. He has interviewed 20 or so people who also qualify for that description. The result is a Burnie I barely know existed.”

  • Anna Krien

    " A book about dreaming big (or sideways, inside out, upside-down - whatever shape or size takes your fancy) in small places and understanding that it is unassuming towns like Burnie that can make the most wonderful, out-there artists in the country."

  • Tony Martin

    “Despite an unfortunate interlude with the monumentally pompous Eric Hiller, this is an amazing cornucopia of artists. Who knew one small city could contain so many? Justin has managed to pin them all - and himself - down in print. Every town should be so lucky.”

  • Andrew Hansen

    “Incredible – one of the great Australian books. Every page of Justin Heazlewood's glorious tribute to Burnie and its people brims with exhaustive research, heartache, hope and warm humour. These wonderfully told stories will stay with me for life.”

  • Darren Hanlon

    “Justin Heazlewood has built a career out of his instinct to entertain with art for its own sake. Perhaps his greatest skill is now looking back to try and make sense of it all.”

  • Darren Hanlon

    “With a forensic nostalgia and school project energy Justin Heazlewood returns to the town that shaped him.”

  • Myf Warhurst

    “Justin’s vivid storytelling affectionately captures his experience of being a creative kid growing up in a small town. Through meeting other like-minded folk from Burnie, this book leads to the realisation that rather than being disadvantaged through isolation, it was the unique joys and challenges of small town life that  propelled him and others to make and do such interesting things. 

    Justin’s genuine affection for Burnie shines through in this part memoir / part celebration of the folk who made the town great and paved the way for others who follow. Any kid who grew up in or is growing up in a country town needs to read this!”

  • Wally De Backer

    “Dream Burnie is like the best dreams themselves: transmissions from strange yet familiar places, where nothing is quite what it seems, and if you just let yourself go, surprising revelations arrive.”