April 20-23, 2024
Dumbleyung, in modern times, is best remembered as the site, at the Lake, of Donald Campbells World Water Speed Record in 1964 at 277.63mph (475.2kph) – the current record is 511.11 km/h (317.59 mph), achieved by Australian Ken Warby in the Spirit of Australia in 1978, the 2 attempts to better it have resulted in fatalities, Lee Taylor (1980) and Craig Arfons (1989).
The town holds a replica of Bluebird created and installed in 2014 on the 50th anniversary of the record; the original has been fully restored and recently ran in Scotland.
There are two locations where you can access the Lake, the first is a lookout and then where the launch area was which is the base of the still existing Lake Dumbleyung Sailing Club. Above the location, on Pussy Cat Hill, a memorial site was constructed in 1984 at the 20th anniversary of the record run. The day of our visit was the leakest day we have had for months with a temperature barely up to the mid-teens not helped by a blustery Easterly wind !
The other access point to the Lake is the Ski Club:
