Beyond the goggles: The Wimmera Steampunk community’s impact

What do you get when you combine top hats, goggles, corsets and a rollicking street party? A very enthusiastic crowd at the Wimmera Steampunk Festival, that’s what.

When Chan Uoy overheard a teenager turn to her mother at the inaugural Wimmera Steampunk Festival in 2022 and say, “I think I’ve found my tribe,” he knew all the hard work to create the festival had been worth it.

Some 3000 euphoric punters were wandering — and dancing — the streets of historic Dimboola, in Victoria’s west, clad in Victorian-era dress with a dash of punk, and soaking up the eclectic performances and installations (and divine Devonshire tea!) spilling from the town’s heritage buildings.

A peculiar theme

This April 5-13, the eclectic event is back for the third time, inviting festivalgoers to embrace the theme Carnival of Peculiarities (inspired by Tim Burton’s fantasy film, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), with ticketholders encouraged to see their personal peculiarities as strengths worthy of celebrating.

This years edition of the Wimmera Steampunk Festival captures the unique and peculiar.

“We’re turning the town into a 19th century carnival; a fantasy version of itself,” Uoy shares.

“Mitch Tambo will be performing on the stage, while aerial acrobats and fire breathers perform. Ultimately, the event is about community connection.”

Uoy and his partner left Melbourne in 2019 to purchase the town’s heritage bank building and create the Dimboola Imaginarium gift shop and boutique accommodation. They wanted to create an event that brought the “best of the Melbourne party scene” to the country.

Of course, COVID postponed the festival’s early plans, and the inaugural event was put off until post-lockdown 2022 when locals were craving connection and creativity. Suffice to say, it exceeded anyone’s expectations.

“You’ve got this sense of community and [historic] architecture as the backdrop,” Uoy says.

“We all get together and celebrate uniqueness, equality and imagination — it’s almost magic to transport to another place in time.”

The 2025 event is set to break ticket-sales records as word spreads about the nine-day affair that brings the normally quiet region alive with the imaginative buzz of inventors, artists and enthusiasts sharing their passions and delivering important economic gains for the Victorian wheatbelt.

“There will be a ticketed Sweeney Todd musical, mirror maze, a giant head inspired by Luna Park, fortune-tellers, bands, pinball machines, high tea at Serviceton and so much more magic,” Uoy says.

“We want to astonish people’s minds.”

Fire fears extinguished

Back in January, there were fears there would even be a town of Dimboola to host the spectacle at all as bushfires licked at the perimeter.

“The wind turned and suddenly threatened the town. We got an emergency alert message at 6.57am that we had to leave by 7.30am so we grabbed our laptops, passports, a change of clothes and our pet, then checked on our elderly neighbours,” Uoy recalls.

Thankfully the wind changed direction again, sparing the historic buildings that date back to the 1800s.

“Psychologically, locals are still really affected by the first fire evacuation the town has ever had,” Uoy says.

“If the wind hadn’t changed, it could have been a very different story. In a way, it’s giving the 2025 Wimmera Steampunk Festival even more meaning; it’s [a celebration] of ‘Wow we escaped the fire.’”

To honour the firefighters who saved their town, this year’s festival will also feature a special parade with the Horsham Rural City Band, local children’s lantern procession and a vintage fire engine, fitting of the theme.

“The evacuation was a reminder of what is truly important: life itself,” Uoy says.

“This year’s festival is more meaningful, symbolising the community’s survival.”

This festival compliments a vibrant, thriving community.

The closest thing to time travel

Now is the time to start dreaming up your ideal Steampunk garb. Are you a goggles on a top hat enthusiast, or inclined to attach an intricate clockwork creation to your back?

“For one moment, attendees can imagine they are in another time and place — the event is about escapism from the everyday and connection with like-minded people,” Uoy says.

“People constantly approach each other, saying, ‘My God, you look amazing! Can I take a picture with you?’”

This year, you can even travel to the event in style, with Seymour Railway Heritage Centre ferrying passengers from Seymour, Southern Cross and North Shore in a historic — and opulent — diesel engine. The steam train will come in 2027.

If you’re coming along, Uoy has one piece of advice: Go all out with your costume.

“You don’t have to dress up, but people have told me that when they didn’t, they felt out of place,” he says.

“Are you ready to come on a journey of discovery and imagination?”

Sponsored by The Wimmera Steampunk Festival. Book your ticket now to The Carnival of Peculiarities at www.wimmerasteampunkfestival.com.au.