The Town of Port Hedland, in partnership with BHP, is launching the new multicultural Hedland Food Festival from Friday 2 September to Sunday 4 September 2022.
The festival will include a two-day culinary event where people can enjoy a variety of fare from different producers, as well as live music and activities. Celebrity chefs and food personalities, Mark Olive and Julie Goodwin, will feature at the event, conducting food demonstrations.
Mark, known as The Black Olive, has been a chef for over 30 years and is regularly seen on many television shows including A Chef's Line, On Country Kitchen and The Outback Café. Julie became a household name when she won the hit television show MasterChef Australia in 2009 and recently returned as a contest on the 2022 series of MasterChef Australia.
Further activities and opportunities for partnerships across the Hedland community will be added to the festival’s run of events over the coming weeks.
celebrity chefs
Mark Olive

Mark Olive, aka ‘The Black Olive’, has been a Chef for over 30 years and has become a well-known Australian icon with his charismatic style and creative approach to food. Mark’s passion for fusing native food and culture with contemporary lifestyle cooking has led to an international profile specialising in gourmet Australian Indigenous Cuisine. He created and starred in his own television series ‘The Outback Cafe’, which can still be seen internationally, as a host on SBS “A Chef’s Line”, “On Country Kitchen”, “Good Cooks” and on various other cooking, lifestyle and travel shows nationally and globally.
As a Bundjalung Man, Mark’s family originated from the Northern Rivers region in NSW. Born in Wollongong, on Australia's south coast, he became interested in cooking as a child, watching his mother and aunts prepare meals. It fascinated him. He trained under a European chef and has worked in a number of kitchens around the globe.
Well known for his unexpected way, Mark's unique style and passion for cooking with a variety of ingredients, some found in our own back yard, and combining both protein and plant foods is a desired brand. This paired with his charismatic nature and no fuss narration has held him in high demand.
Cooking/Demonstrating regularly for clients such as Tourism Australia, large corporates, along with public and cultural events around the country and the world. As part of Oprah’s Ultimate Audience, her lucky guests were treated to a cultural experience of indigenous food, art and storytelling during Mark’s infamous cooking demonstration. Since then, Mark has entertained a host of dignitaries and varied audiences around the world bringing his signature combinations of contemporary outback flavours to every occasion.
Mark studied at Victorian School of Arts which led to Directing his own short film titled "Passing Through", exploring issues of identity, culture and family.
A storyteller by nature, with a love of Music, Food and People suggests ‘The Back Olive’ as your perfect host.
A wonderful teacher and leader to many not just within his cultural background.
He is respected amongst the Indigenous community and has received invitations to Australia's most remote regions. Passionate about the land and all that grows from it, he is an expert in Native Fauna and the food and medicinal purpose produced from them.
In 2019 Mark collaborated with Peters for their Connoisseur Gourmet range of Ice creams, proving exceptional sales and rave reviews.
Along with a limited POP UP Restaurant on the NSW South Coast and due to popular demand Mark recently opened a Café, Dapbeto’s Midden (translated to Dapto Kitchen).
Julie Goodwin

A household name after taking home the first 'MasterChef' title.
Julie Goodwin is Australia’s favourite home-cook after taking home the title of ‘MasterChef’ in 2009. Since then, she has released cookbooks, appeared on television and at food events and written recipe columns, all whilst raising a family.
In 2009, over four million Australians tuned in to watch the finale of the first season of ‘MasterChef’, which Julie won. Audiences relished her honest and humorous personality as well as her humble cooking style, and the judges enjoyed her food as much as Julie enjoyed cooking it.
When Goodwin published her first cookbook ‘Our Family Table’, it reached number one on the book charts and remained there for over ten weeks.
Joining ‘MasterChef All Stars’ in 2012, Julie put on her MasterChef apron in the hope to raise money for charity. She ended up taking $15,000 to Oxfam as a result.
Five years on from her win, Julie opened a cooking school on the Central Coast of New South Wales named ‘Julie’s Place’. In the same year she also released her fourth cookbook titled ‘20/20 Meals’, which demonstrates how with just $20 and 20 minutes a family of four can be fed.
From a mum to MasterChef, Julie has become a household name and continues to release cookbooks and make frequent media appearances.