You are invited to Dress To Impress, a public picnic for The Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea. It’s an opportunity to raise funds for The Cancer Council, as well as give the members of the various niche communities a chance to connect with each other.

Enjoy a cup of tea, bring a gold coin donation and raise money for a good cause.

This is a public event, so feel free to invite anyone who may be interested. Friends, family and any fellow costumers you know.

There will be a contributions box for donations.

If you have an interest in the culinary arts, feel free to prepare something to share.

Sunday May 27, 2012
11:00am - 3:00pm
Queen Victoria Gardens, across from the NGV
St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Attire options:

◆ Steampunk
◆ Gothic
◆ Lolita, Kawaii
◆ Baroque, Renaissance, Rococo
◆ Cosplay (Video games, manga, anime)
◆ Film and television characters (Villains, superheros, under appreciated extras)
◆ Fairy tale characters
◆ Victorian/Neo-Victorian

Bring:

◆ Food and drink for yourself
◆ Cutlery, plates, cups, etc. for yourself
◆ Gold coin donation

Keep in mind:

◆ We will be in a public area. Let’s leave it rubbish-free.
◆ This is a family-friendly event; please make sure you drink and act responsibly.
◆ Queen Victoria Gardens
◆ Biggest Morning Tea

Queen Victoria Gardens are a ten minute walk from Flinders St Station heading South (across Princes Bridge) down St Kilda Road.
We will meet in the gardens, directly across from the NGV.
There are a number of trams that head down St Kilda Road. Get off at stop 14, at the Arts Centre, opposite the gardens.
There is metered parking on St Kilda Road.
Paid parking is available at the Arts Centre Car Park.

IN CASE OF RAIN: The Lady Janet Clarke Rotunda holds 80 people, and is located on Linlithgow Avenue, which runs through the middle of Queen Victoria Gardens.

Hope to see you there!

Western Australia’s The Great Steampunk Affaire (recently formalised under the state’s Associations Incorporation Act) is hosting a Verne-and-Wellsian “Immersive Theatre-Ball” in the appropriately named Cabaret Cave, at Yanchep, 40 minutes North of Perth, on Saturday 28th of April, 2012.

GSPA’s hugely successful debut event attracted well over 350 people. This event may be more expensive (the $120 ticket price dictated by the venue’s management is for five hours of entertainment and includes all food and drink, and a free shuttle service should you choose to take rooms locally) but that’s unlikely to dampen Perth’s enthusiasm for Steam.

In a conference presentation on 6th April,^* principal organiser Dr. Velocet noted that half the accommodation at the Yanchep Inn had already been booked in anticipation of the event. Tickets for this Journey are “limited by geology” to 170, and final numbers need to be confirmed very soon. At the time of this post, tickets are available here.

[* The good Doctor is a maker as well as an organiser, and his Artifactory creation "Steam Ostrich" was a featured and popular attraction at the conference's Art Show.]

New Zealand’s premiere electro-steampunk act Alex the Kid are launching their new EP “Zombies, Time Travel & Big City Living” and capturing video for their upcoming EP at two special gigs in September, one in Auckland (The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, 10-September, 9pm) and one in Wellington (Meow, Edward Street, 24-September, 9pm).

Alex The Kid will be performing alongside Steampunk and Zombie styled DJs “playing death defying & time traveling themed dance numbers.”

Entry: $10, or $5 if you turn up steampunked or zombified, and ready to take part in the video.

The Abbey Museum is holding its annual regency event, a Picnic at Pemberley on Saturday 3rd September. Last year’s program included everything from croquet, to badminton, maypole dancing, a fan class and a militia display by a re-enactment group, and the organisers would love to enhance the event this year with a spinning/embroidery display. The afternoon will conclude with dancing and a display by the museum’s noble militia.

This event is being held to raise funds to build an art gallery to house the fabulous Old Masters and Icons in the Abbey Museum collection.

The event is also looking for volunteers to help put on the display. (Volunteers would be invited to enjoy “a most scrumptious afternoon tea of muffins, cakes, biscuits, quiches and tartlets, and other regency-inspired delicacies.”

Location: 1-63 The Abbey Place off Old Toorbul Point Road Country Valleys Queensland
Cost: Adults $19.50 Children (4 -15yrs) $10.50

Bookings are essential. To book, phone 5495 1652 or email .

South Australian indie filmmakers Urtext have just released the live-action steampunk movie Aurora after some 3 1/2 years in the making.

Shot in and around the Adelaide area, Aurora tells the story of an airship crew in a determined quest to liberate the victims of ruthless slavers. The finished film belies its impressively small budget of $1800, using eight locations, over 80 costumed extras and 375 VFX shots: a significant undertaking in independent film making.

Aurora premièred on the 1st of August to over 300 people at the Piccadilly cinema in North Adelaide, and the full 30 minute, widescreen film can now be viewed online at www.aurorathefilm.com.

The League of Victorian Imagineers in Oamaru is currently accepting expressions of interest (form) for the 2011 League of Victorian Imagineers “Steampunk: tomorrow as it used to be” Exhibition at the Forrester Gallery, Oamaru, in late 2011.

The Expression of Interest process will close on 16th September, 2011. If your art is not currently exhibition-ready, concept sketches and dimensions will be accepted in lieu of photographs.

Better late than never - don’t miss the 3rd Annual Tweed Ride!

Title: Sydney Tweed Ride [SYD]
Location: Sydney, Australia
Link out: Click here
Description: ‘I say, fancy a cycle?’ - Sunday July 31st.
Sydney’s most enjoyable (and fashionable) bike ride is back! An ambling, elegant and graceful cycle around Sydney for dapper gents and fancy ladies, from Town Hall to a secret location. So grab a touch of Tweed and join us for the 3rd annual Tweed Ride - followed by Tweed games and a picnic!

The Tweed Ride starts at Sydney Town Hall on Sunday, 31st July 2011. Registration is from 8am until 9am. The ride will then lead promptly at 9. There will be coffee and tea available between 8am and 9am around the corner from Town Hall at Klink cafe (281 Clarence St) - and we’ll be on hand to show you the way. You can also get last minute mechanical assistance with your bike at MC Cyclery, located at 230 Clarence St.
Start Time: 8:00am
Date: 2011-07-31

Tally Ho! Members of the expeditionary committee of the ALTV have again landed in fair Oamaru, as previously expounded upon with great delight last December. But we have returned, for none other than the Steampunk Fashion Parade and Gala Ball and of course to celebrate the birth of our most beloved Queen, as all subjects of the Commonwealth are wont to do at some point over the course of the year, but very often this weekend.

On this occasion we have landed at the artistically inclined Chillawhile Backpackers & Art Gallery - a gorgeous old Victorian mansion filled to the brim with art and music, and most colourful denizens. Most highly recommended for those of the steampunk persuasion. We will be reporting back with images & stories of the event very soon!

It was with no small measure of pride that, as ALTV secretary, I was recently able to grant a licence to the National Library of Australia permitting the addition of this very weblog to its PANDORA archive. “PANDORA is a digital archive dedicated to the preservation of and long term access to Australian online electronic publications of national significance” according to Google’s analytical engines. Should this website vanish, posterity may instead refer here.