Joanne Johns (Melbourne)
[This is an article (translated into English) from the March 2026 issue of Esperanto sub la Suda Kruco, the magazine of the Australian Esperanto Association (and the New Zealand Esperanto Association). Join AEA now.]
On 3 March 2025, I received a short email that set us on the path to hosting the 2027 World Congress in Melbourne. It came from the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), asking if “you might be interested in exploring a proposal [to host the World Congress] for a future year, with MCB support”. I read it, and immediately sent it to the other AEA board members to ask for their thoughts. I think we all had similar thoughts to Sandor, who had doubts, but replied, “It’s worth visiting a beautiful castle even if you can’t buy or even rent one.” So I set up a meeting with MCB to hear what they had to say.
According to them, financial support would be available from the government if we met a few requirements that seemed feasible to us – for example, that the venue be the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). So, carefully dipping our toes deeper and deeper into the whole idea, we asked questions, met, discussed, until we found ourselves in the midst of preparing an official proposal. Thankfully, MCB did most of the work, creating a very eye-catching and professional website for our proposal. We just had to translate it into Esperanto.
After presenting our completed proposal in September, we had to arrange a visit to Melbourne for two representatives of UEA (World Esperanto Association), Dorota Rodzianko and Peter Balaz. MCB arranged the travel, accommodation and itinerary. The local Esperantists only had to be there for every program and make sure our guests enjoyed their experiences.
They arrived on Sunday, 2 November in the evening; that day it was 31ºC. The next day it was 16ºC and raining. It was a beautiful day afterwards, but on the weekend it rained again. So they did experience the changeability of Melbourne weather!
On Monday we visited the proposed convention centre (MCEC), a hotel, and two event spaces. We met for our usual Monday meeting, where our guests met other Melburnians, and were generously given some books. We also welcomed a guest from France, Maxime, who had just cycled the Great Ocean Road!
Tuesday was a public holiday due to the Melbourne Cup (a nationally renowned horse race), so we hosted a traditional barbecue at Heather’s and watched the race. Dorota and Peter also had the opportunity to taste pavlova for the first time there.
On Wednesday we met for a walking tour of the city, led by a local professional guide. We saw many of the sights of the city centre (but not all), had coffee, and tasted chocolates. Heather spoke highly of many of Melbourne’s attractions (coffee, chocolate, football, etc.), and it quickly became a joke among us that Melbourne has a lot of “best” things (but it seriously does!).
On Thursday someone from MCB drove us to the Yarra Valley. We visited the zoo at Healesville and saw the usual Australian animals, the animal hospital and the bird show, where many birds flew over our heads, very close. We then went to Rochford winery, for wine tasting and lunch. It was a great day, and I think apart from the driver, we all fell asleep during part of the journey home.
Peter Balaz, Joanne Johns, Heather Heldzingen and Dorota Rodzianko visiting Healesville Animal Sanctuary
We also went to Eureka Skydeck (observatory). Dorota really liked it, because there were two additional “experiences” – one virtual reality, during which you see some sights of Melbourne (in a special moving chair), and “The Edge”, a glass box that you enter, and it moves outside the walls of the building. Peter is a bit afraid of heights, but he managed to do everything with us.
Heather, Joanne, Peter and Dorota at “The Edge”, Eureka Skydeck
On Friday, we inspected six more hotels (in each we saw at least four different rooms, and the event spaces, and the restaurant, and, and, and…). My feet started to complain already in the morning. In the afternoon we went to St Kilda, and walked along the beach and pier, before returning to the city centre when the weather turned bad. In the evening I let our visitors explore the city at their leisure (because it is the best and most memorable way to experience Melbourne, in my opinion), and they walked even more.
On Saturday we went to the Queen Victoria Market, to do some shopping. There are a huge variety of tourist souvenirs there, among which Dorota found a back scratcher made from a kangaroo arm, and a bottle opener made from kangaroo testicles. As a vegetarian, she was understandably shocked (but not too much to touch them). So I had to explain that there are too many kangaroos in parts of Australia, and that Australians have a strange sense of humour.
Our last day together was Sunday, and then we went to the botanic gardens for a guided “Aboriginal Heritage Walk”. We tasted native plants and learned a bit about the history of the place. At the end, the tour guide showed us traditional possum (phalangera) pelts, which they historically used to swaddle babies. I was glad we had already seen live native animals, or our guests might have thought we kill anything that moves. We said goodbye to our new friends on Sunday, and then all we could do was wait for news. In early December, the announcement came that our bid had been successful! The castle would be ours in 2027. Now comes more work, but hopefully shared among our many friends.