Melbourne Highland Games & Celtic Festival marks a ground-breaking milestone in 2025 as the festival debuts its inaugural International Games, bringing together over 30 athletes from across the globe – including the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and North America – to compete alongside 20 of Australia’s finest.

DATES & DEETS

The International Highland Games Federation will be accompanied by a European Film Crew and will be here for the week leading up to the Games, filming the surrounding area and places of interest. They are producing a live feed for their European and North American audience.

The festival has been hosted in Melbourne for more than 50 years. It is one of the highlights of the Scottish Australian calendar and is considered the number-one multicultural festival in the City of Maroondah and greater Melbourne. 

This day-long celebration of Scottish/Celtic culture and heritage, held annually in Croydon, Victoria, echoes the original games that took place centuries ago in Scotland during the reign of King Malcolm III.  

This multicultural event that includes wonderful music and competitions in dancing and pipe bands and world-class athletic competitions, is a must-see outing for everyone. 

Organisers said: “This year’s event on Sunday, 23rd of March 2025 will be our first truly international Games, in partnership with Events Victoria, the International Highland Games Federation (IHGF) and hosted by Australia’s Highland Muscle bringing up to sixty Athletes and officials from Australia, North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Japan to compete in a traditional Scottish Heavy Games Competition.” 

Another addition to this grassroots event will be in the opening ceremony with a traditional “Scottish Clan Role Call”. 

The festival is supported by locals and travellers from all over Australia and the world, with international athletes and their entourage attending to compete in the IHGF Championship Competition in the World Hammer Throwing and World Weight for Distance Championships, sponsored by and including the Australian contingent of the Highland Muscle Organisation, whose members come from all over Australia. 

With an expected 7,000 attendees, the festival plays a pivotal role in preserving Scottish and Celtic traditions among the Victorian diaspora and fostering connections to ancestral roots for younger generations. 

The festival brings together people from all walks of life including their Patron, Mr Simon Abney-Hastings, the Right Honourable 15th Earl of Loudoun, Ambassador, the honourable Mr Ted Baillieu AO, Chieftain of the Day Carol Davis, CEO Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation Ltd and President of Clan MacLennan, and many other dignitaries alongside the number of dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly all year long with significant sponsors like the Bendigo Bank, to present the best day out for all. 

The Melbourne Highland Games & Celtic Festival is back on Sunday, 23rd March 2025 from 9am to 5pm at Eastfield Park, 119 Eastfield Road, Croydon, Victoria. 

For tickets, go to www.melbournehighlandgames.org.au.

Pictures: Melbourne Highland Games & Celtic Festival