The Drawing Board

Built & running

Not promises — click any of them.

The Marketplace Australian makers with their own stalls, one checkout across all of them. Festival calendar & event pages Every festival gets its own shareable page with dates, maps and directions. Steampunk Radio Streaming around the clock, with presenter applications open. The Picture House Films, serials and vintage advertisements — with community star ratings. International Steampunk Art Prize AUD $2,000 in prizes, judged by an independent panel including Professor Elemental. Is It AI? — The Weekly Inquest One image a week. A photograph, or a thinking engine's invention? The crowd decides. Event photo gallery Community photos from around the country, with voting. The Directory Makers, performers, clubs, costumers, authors, workshops, experiences and businesses. Steampunk Wordle Five letters daily. Fiendish. Stall badges Founding member, five-year and award badges hung on marketplace stalls. Unified event listings Markets, meetups, balls, conventions and club gatherings on one calendar with the festivals.

On the workbench now

In progress as you read this.

Between jobsThe last two came off the bench and are now running. What should be picked up next? Say so.

Pinned to the drawing board

The plans, in rough order of the community's need. Nothing here is decoration — it's all intended.

For makers & traders

Full seller dashboards — products, orders, shipping and payments, self-managed
Commission requests: "I need a custom corset / ray gun / hat" — and makers respond
Buy, swap & sell for costumes, props, fabrics and collectables
Premium business listings alongside the free directory

For the community

Member profiles showing costumes, builds, artwork and collections
Character & costume showcases — build a persona, display the wardrobe
Club pages with their own events, galleries and announcements
Digital badges and awards for winners, featured makers and contributors
State pages for NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT and NT
Newsletters personalised by state and interests
Optional supporter memberships, with discounts from participating traders

For event organisers

Ticketing and registrations sold directly through the site
Stallholder applications, so festivals can recruit traders here
Promoter dashboards for managing events and listings
A venue directory of steampunk-friendly halls, museums and historic spaces
A jobs & opportunities board for photographers, performers and organisers

Competitions & recognition

More competitions: costume, prop making, photography, writing, music, inventions
Reusable public voting and judging systems, built once and used everywhere

Stories, sound & history

Magazine articles: maker features, tutorials, fashion, history and interviews
Radio expansion — scheduled programs, presenter profiles, archived shows, and one day live broadcast
A music section for bands, DJs and releases; podcasts and interviews
Paid and free classes: leatherwork, props, sewing, jewellery, fabrication
A historical archive of Australian steampunk — so the history doesn't vanish when a Facebook page closes
International bridges, promoting Australian creators and events to the world

Further down the line

An app-style mobile experience: save events, follow makers, tickets in your pocket

An event organiser shouldn't need to build a website, a ticketing system, a competition platform and a mailing list from scratch every single time. One day, they'll simply create their event inside Steampunk.au — and switch those features on.

That's the destination: Steampunk.au as the infrastructure behind Australia's steampunk community, not just a website in front of it.

There is a lot still to build. If you're a developer, designer or writer who'd like to help build the digital home of Australia's steampunk community — or a community member with strong opinions about what should come first —

Get in touch