The Festival

The Melbourne International Dragon Boat Festival

Our premier event is the Melbourne International Dragon Boat Festival. The event has been held annually since 1985.

The Festival was first held at Albert Park Lake then, for many years, on the picturesque Yarra River. With Melbourne’s imposing skyline as a backdrop, the Yarra was a much loved venue for two decades.

With the advent of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the Festival was moved to its new home at Docklands (Victoria Harbour). Having acquired a new training centre and boat house at Docklands, Docklands has become the new focus for dragon boating in Melbourne. The colour and noise of dragon boats competing, or even training for that matter, certainly enhances the atmosphere of what is fast becoming Melbourne’s premier waterside café and restaurant precinct.

The Melbourne International Dragon Boat Festival has long been one of the most important and internationally renowned events of its kind anywhere in Australia. The rich multicultural flavour of the event brings enormous excitement to the event and retains a powerful connection to the traditions of dragon boating.

Teams from all over Australia and the world have enjoyed competing at this wonderful event over many years. Teams wishing to enter should email admin@dragonboatsvictoria.com.au.

Specific details of this season’s Festival are on this website.