2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival Epilogue

2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival © AWBF

Across the globe and throughout history, wooden boats have been foundational to the story of human civilisation. Whether for fishing, trade, exploration, or leisure, these vessels have always been part of humanity's shared heritage and culture. They've taken us to every corner of the Earth and they bind us together.

In 2025 we celebrated the seafaring and boatbuilding culture of the Pacific, and the excitement was unprecedented. The Kiwis came out in full force. They sent storied vessels, interactive displays, and a collection of the country's greatest artists, academics, adventurers and boatbuilders to regale us. Maori and Pacific cultural groups travelled from afar to enliven our waterfront and Kiwis came in droves to support their countrymen.

A sizeable delegation of carpenters from Japan delivered popular workshops for both children and adults. We welcomed museum directors from New Caledonia and Tahiti, boatbuilders from the Marshall Islands, seafarers from Hawaii, and seagoing adventurers from across Australia.

This was, of course, all in addition to the Festival's ever-popular programs like the Quick & Dirty, the Shipwrights Village, Noisy Boatyard, Maritime Marketplace, Little Sailors Village, Wooden Boat Symposium, Film Festival, Seafood Kitchen, the Waterside Tavern and a fantastic Music, Theatre and F&B offering.

The fleet of over 400 wooden boats at the 2025 Festival was exceptional. Tasmania is blessed to have such a wide range of historic and new wooden boats. But more importantly, this Island is blessed to have such a committed group of boat owners, who devote many hours of their lives and many dollars in their wallets to the maintenance of their vessels. They are the holders of this ancient maritime culture, and they are the ones who attract over 60,000 people from across Tasmania, across Australia, and across the world to our humble port on this far flung island.

Wooden boat owners - be proud of your boats, be proud of yourselves, be proud of your Festival.

To the Festival volunteers: There are many community Festivals with strong volunteer involvement all over the country. However, as these types of Festivals grow larger the volunteering and community spirit is often lost. Our Festival seems to be unique - although it has grown astronomically in the past 15 years, we have nevertheless been able to maintain our community spirit and massive volunteer involvement. We engage over 400 volunteers directly, but that number quickly grows into the thousands when including the Tall Ships, community groups, not-for-profits, and other volunteer-based organisations that contribute to the Festival. People give time and energy to this Festival because it is meaningful to them - it makes people proud of the place they live, proud of their history, and optimistic about the future. And as the Festival inevitably continues to evolve, we will ensure that our community and volunteering spirit remains central.

And finally, to the people of Tasmania. It is your island on which we stage this Festival and it is your tax dollar that funds it. It is your Festival. You are the owners. And we hope we've done you proud.

Thank you,
Paul Stephanus, Festival Director