The story
Moomba Festival in Melbourne
Moomba is Melbourne's long-running civic festival, first held in March 1955 with a parade, fireworks and river regatta, and now staged annually over the Labour Day long weekend along the Yarra River. Its best-known modern event, the Birdman Rally, began in 1976 at Swan Street Bridge, challenging entrants to launch homemade flying machines into the river for charity and spectacle.
Moomba began in March 1955 as a fifteen-day civic celebration officially opened by the Victorian state governor, packed with a fireworks display, a grand parade, a vintage car exhibition, a Henley-style rowing regatta on the Yarra, decorated river floats, cycling races and orchestral concerts, alongside the crowning of a Queen of Moomba as the festival's ceremonial centrepiece.