General News
15 December, 2025
Steampunk among best in state
THE iconic Wimmera Steampunk Festival has firmly cemented its place in the region’s major attractions, claiming bronze recently in the 2025 Victorian Tourism Awards’ Festivals & Events category.
Receiving the award at a huge industry event in Melbourne on November 27, Chan Ouy was extremely chuffed with the recognition, made even more remarkable considering Dimboola was up against events in Geelong, Bendigo and Melbourne.
But he said his main response when the announcement came was relief.
“The feeling was that I'm glad I didn't give up with the award application, because the actual process was very difficult,” he said.
“It was challenging. It was hard work. Some people pay consultants to write up the awards, but I did it myself because it's all in my head.
“Giving up is easy … but I thought I'm going to persevere with this application, because the benefit from this is greater if I give it a go.
“With life, things unfold if you give things a go and it was a proud moment for that for me, because it was personal, where I'm glad I persevered.”
He said the category was possibly a first for the region – “I don't think the Wimmera has received that award before” and hoped it would attract even more people to visit, just like Steampunk has, and bring tourism dollars with them.
“Those people coming from interstate, they're spending money in Victoria,” he said.
“As they make their way through the different towns in the region, they're exploring the Wimmera, they're coming through Horsham (and) they're coming through Nhill.
“We've just created this unique event that's boosting tourism for the Wimmera and that's what the essence of the awards night was: events that boost tourism for the State of Victoria.”
He said planning for the next Steampunk in 2027 was already underway, but he was grateful for the decision to run the event every two years, as he was advised that he needed to consider the strain on volunteers in Dimboola.
“We don't have enough volunteers in small communities to sustain this, and the last thing you want is to burn them out – it's hard enough to get them,” Chan said.
“We're just a small little town with a small committee of five people, and the rest is just the community folks trying our best to pull off a big event.”
It wasn’t just volunteers – for himself, he admitted “the event nearly killed me” with some aspects of the work involved, but he said the award has changed his outlook from “I’m not doing this again” to one of “I feel it's wasted if I give up”.
“When I get a response of enthusiasm from the community – actually, people from far and wide – who say how much it means to them and also the economic benefit for the region is phenomenal,” Chan said.
“It’s ... an event that this region needs.”
Chan said he has made enquiries of the Port Fairy Folk Festival’s long-term success to see how to continue to harness the locals for the future, as he believes “the Wimmera has the potential to become something like that”.
“The award has motivated me to plan the next one for April 17, 2027, with the theme ‘The Starfarers Jubilee’ (19th-century space travel),” he said.
“(People have) already started researching … and one gentleman said he's booked accommodation already. It's incredible. It blows my mind that we had two years in a row people from Singapore fly out to Dimboola.
“It shows you that there are people out there who are prepared to spend money to get to the event."