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Photo Caption:

Festival-goers preparing for the Wimmera Steampunk Festival coming up in April

Front L to R: Cassandra Krahe, Patrick Phelan, Sokan Sat, Claire James, Barb Leffler, Roger Leffler

Standing L to R: Shelly Fax, Tom Fax, Barb Jeffries, Ulani Hobbs, Darrell Jeffries

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 21 March 2025

Media contact: Chan Uoy, 0425 705 591

Wimmera Steampunk Festival, a whole-of-region event

An award from the Country Women’s Association after its bank account balance doubled overnight thanks to the inaugural Wimmera Steampunk Festival in 2022 was all the inspiration organiser Chan Uoy needed to ensure the festival continued.

The festival returned in 2023, attracting 4000 people, injecting an estimated $1.6 million into the local economy and booking out all available accommodation in Horsham, Dimboola and Nhill.

Inspired by Tim Burton’s fantasy film, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the third festival, ‘Carnival of Peculiarities,’ will officially launch on Saturday, April 5, in Warracknabeal. The ‘Flight of Fantasy’ launch highlights include 230 hot air balloons decorated by local school students and a sound and light show.

The main festival weekend is from April 11 to 13 in Dimboola, with a riverside market, barefoot bowls, art exhibitions, a book sale, a tractor display and live musical theatre performances of Sweeney Todd’s ‘The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’.

Festival goers can also enjoy a CWA Devonshire Tea and Sci-Fi Briar’s Peculiar Science Show for kids. A four-course dinner by Dimboola chef Cat Clarke on Friday night is sold out.

Australian world music star Mitch Tambo will headline the festival’s key event, The Costumed Street Party, from 5pm on Saturday, April 12. Eight live bands on three stages, Melbourne magician and illusionist Luke Blaze, a stilt walker, aerial acrobats, a street parade with a children’s lantern procession and a tribute to emergency services and firefighters along with plenty of food stalls will add to the street party atmosphere.

The festival will finish on a high, literally, with a sold-out High Tea at the historical Serviceton railway station on April 13.

Chan estimates up to 5000 people will attend the event, with ticket sales from Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Hong Kong.

More than 100 Hindmarsh Shire volunteers are involved in staging the festival along with volunteer committees from Horsham Rural City and West Wimmera and Yarriambiack councils.

Chan, a Hindmarsh Shire Councillor and owner of the Dimboola Imaginarium gift shop and accommodation, moved to the small Wimmera town in 2019 after managing restaurants in Melbourne for 20 years.  At the time, Dimboola was a sleepy riverside town with empty shops on the main street, but Chan immediately sensed the quirky nature of the town.

With a pet turkey that wanders across the road every morning to drop into the local café and audiences around the world celebrating its quirkiness on stage since 1968 through Jack Hibberd’s satirical play ‘Dimboola’ – Chan says it felt like the perfect launching pad for a steampunk festival.

From the outset, Chan wanted the festival to extend its economic impact to other Wimmera towns that struggled to attract visitors and remain economically vibrant.

“When I first arrived, I could see that a lot of people bypassed the Wimmera as nothing really stood out enough for people to come this way. I wanted to create an event people would travel to the region for, while at the same time, providing a vehicle for small Wimmera communities to rejuvenate themselves.”

He says the festival promotes the idea that there is much more to the Wimmera than wheatfields, conservative views, and sporting culture.

“This festival is an opportunity to interpret what it means to be peculiar and express it in a steampunk costume, celebrating uniqueness and creativity,” Chan says.

“It’s all about creating a stage for people who feel like they don’t fit into these rural communities. It’s for all the introverts and those who are different and unique – the steampunk festival is their time to shine. Extroverts are welcome, too.”

For a full festival program and to buy tickets, please visit  
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