The SA Wooden Boat Festival has secured funding for its next two events, in 2024 and 2026, from the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC).

This ensures it will dock again in Goolwa in late October next year in time to launch the redeveloped waterfront precinct. 

Alexandrina Council Mayor Keith Parkes has welcomed the announcement, saying the SATC sponsorship highlights the importance of the Festival and Goolwa Wharf as a tourism hot spot and is a ‘show of confidence’ in the evolving redevelopment project. 

“The SA Wooden Boat Festival is normally a biennial event with this year’s successful festival being held on Hindmarsh Island because of the redevelopment work underway at the Wharf Precinct,” Mr Parkes says.

“With the support of the Regional Event Fund over two years, the Festival Committee and the Council will be able to host another festival in 2024, showcasing not only the wooden boat traditions and river heritage of South Australia but our $14.55 million investment into Goolwa’s historic Wharf Precinct. 

“This year’s festival attracted 12,000 visitors and injected an estimated $2.8 million in economic benefits into our region, earning the event a finalist position in the 2023 National Economic Development Awards. 

“I have no doubt our special 2024 festival will be just as successful and will be an opportunity for the community to celebrate the new vision for the Goolwa Wharf Precinct. 

“The SATC funding will also support a second event in 2026 and ensure that our SA Wooden Boat Festival will be held in alternate years to the biennial Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart which is scheduled for February 2025.” 

In 2020, Alexandrina announced a major upgrade of the wharf precinct after securing $3.74 million from the federal government’s Building Better Regions Fund and $1.25 million from the state government. 

Goolwa Wharf was built in the early 1850s and was Australia’s first inland port, supporting a thriving wooden boat industry and the freight of goods down the river to the sea to Victor Harbor via rail. 

Work on Stage 1, upgrading the site’s Signal Point building, is expected to be completed in November 2023. 

The remaining works are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. 

The SA Wooden Boat Festival has been running as a biennial event since the 1980s. 

The event celebrates South Australia’s river port history and promotes the attractions and award-winning food and wine offerings of the region. 

For further information about the SA Wooden Boat Festival, go to the website. For more information about the activation strategy for the Goolwa Wharf Precinct, visit the Alexandrina Council website. 

Image courtesy of Alexandrina Council.