General News
28 April, 2022
Steampunk unlocks key to inclusivity
Dimboola's Steampunk Festival was a roaring success
THE inaugural Wimmera Steampunk Festival has been a smashing success, and there is already talk of Round Two.
“People overwhelmingly want it to happen again,” event organiser Chan Uoy said.
“I’ll have to say yes because there might be protests if I don’t.”
Dimboola’s population tripled in size for the night, with attendees coming from across the state and Australia.
“At minimum, 2,500 people attended the festival; it went really well,” Mr Uoy said.
“People kept commenting on how friendly and euphoric people were, it was lovely to see people out and reconnecting after Covid, (and to see) people embracing creativity and (opening) their minds.”
Mr Uoy’s inspiration for the Steampunk festival originated with a black and white photograph of the 1909 opening of the new National Bank in Dimboola, which features 250 men dressed in top hats and bowler hats - but no women, Indigenous Australians or Chinese people, despite being part of the community during that time period.
“(It) struck me as, oh wow, we’d love to recreate that and rewrite history more inclusively,” Mr Uoy said.
Steampunk is a message in imagination - what would life be like in a world where today’s futuristic technology takes place in the 19th century?
“(Steampunk) is a creative outlet, (it gives people) free range to express themselves and their true characters,” Mr Uoy said.
The festival was two years in the making, in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the support from the local community gave Mr Uoy “energy to keep working and building momentum”.
The Steampunk Festival took place in Dimboola on Saturday the 23rd of April and continued late into the night.
The festival included live music performances from numerous bands, markets, food vendors, a solar light installation, a photography exhibit, two multicultural flash mobs and Tracey Rigney’s
Star Theatre short film on the Dimboola Hotel.
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Mr Uoy said he had already been contacted by people who want to know when the next Steampunk Festival will occur.
Local caravan parks had already taken bookings for this time next year in anticipation for the next Steampunk Festival.
“Before this people had never even heard of Dimboola,” Mr Uoy said.
“Thanks to everyone that helped make it happen, and believed in the vision.”
