About our bid

Australia hopes to welcome the world science fiction and fantasy community back to our shores to experience Australia in 2028!

If our bid is successful, we’ll be hosting Worldcon in the beautiful riverside city of Brisbane. Brisbane is a green, vibrant, and culturally diverse city, with loads to see and do both in the CBD (downtown), and the surrounding area. Laid back people, friendly service, and great food and entertainment options are just some of the things you can expect from the city.

The subtropical climate means that even in July and August – winter months here in Australia – Brisbane is mild and sunny with daytime temperatures of around 21C (70F) and minimum overnight temperatures around 12C (53F).

It’s easy to navigate on foot or mobility aid, and there are plenty of public transport options, including wheelchair accessible buses. Brisbane’s streets and footpaths are accessible; people with mobility or vision impairments can walk or wheel safely around.

If you want a break from the city, just 30 minutes from the CBD is the beachside town of Redcliffe, or you could take the ferry out to Stradbroke Island or Moreton Island. Both have great snorkelling options, and if you can brave the slightly cooler water, it’s a good time of year to see manta rays!

About an hour south of Brisbane is the Gold Coast, with surf beaches and theme parks, including MovieWorld and SeaWorld. Or you could have a proper Australian adventure and head north to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

For this bid, we’ve assembled a crack team of some of Australia’s most experienced and innovative conrunners and dedicated fans. We bring a range of experience across both Australian and international conventions and festivals to our working party. You can find out more about our team below.

What else can you expect from an Australian Worldcon? Exciting programming, an enormous range of interesting and diverse panels, panellists and presenters, and all your favourite events and hangout spaces! We have world-class, accessible facilities equipped with assistive technology. We’re also investigating digital streaming options to provide a fully accessible program.

Want to find out more or interested in helping out? Drop us a line at info@brisbane28.org, sign up to our email newsletter (http://eepurl.com/iStYpM), or follow us on the social links below.

About us

Our bid committee is currently:

Random Jones (he/him, Bid Chair) first encountered Worldcon as an attendee at Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne in 2010, there he discovered a love for the event, and has been a fan ever since. After hearing about the problems associated with Worldcon 2023 he got very, very angry, which is how he discovered he cared a great deal about it, and decided to get involved. He has been involved in convention organisation on a smaller scale for decades, being heavily involved in organisation of Melbourne’s roleplaying convention scene for almost 30 years, and is also involved with the committee of Continuum, Melbourne’s speculative fiction convention.

C.Z. Tacks (they/them, Secretary & Inclusive Programming) is a writer and editor of speculative fiction. They are the current president of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild and have previously programmed and organised events including Conflux, Continuum, the Australian NatCon, and the Aurealis Awards. Their work has been shortlisted for the Ditmar Award and won the Jack White Storyteller’s Award. Tacks attended Clarion West in 2024, where they were noted for their tentacular prose and habit of convincing strangers that you can’t see the moon from Australia.

Mel Davis (she/they, Treasurer) is a long-time sci-fi fan and keen con-goer. She is a Brit living in Brisbane, with previous convention experience as Treasurer for two popular Eastercons in the UK, and is currently responsible for running the Brisbane science fiction and fantasy meet up group.

Vix Richardson (she/her, Operations) is a spec-fic author, as well as occasional panellist, cofounder and runner of various writing groups. She has a role in operations management of a medical company and is in charge of operations for the bid committee. She is also responsible for any and all common-sense the bid committee requires.

Fionn MacPherson (she/they, Project Management) is an aspirational writer, apparently an editor, and professional email sender who currently resides on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country in Canberra, Australia. They are the secretary of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, and have been involved in project managing large creative endeavours in the past, including CSFG’s upcoming anthology Never Say Die.

Dr Yaritji Green (she/her, Social Media & First Nations Programming) is a Yankunytjatjara/Djaru woman who has been attending Aussie SFF conventions since Continuum’s 2005 Creatures Natural and Unnatural. That same year, she also organised a National Indigenous Writer’s Festival in Adelaide. She has also coordinated NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Festivals in South Australia and Western Australia. She has been on Conflux’s General Committee 2024-5, and volunteered Front of House at ComicCon (Perth) 2024, also volunteered at Glasgow WorldCon 2024 (Discord, under the leadership of Emily and Andrew January). She was invited by James Bacon (Co-Chair) to be a virtual observer behind the scenes in the leadup to Reconnect - Eastercon 2025. She will be going to SMOFcon in Sweden this year to discuss Brisbanein28 and her startup First Nations Speculative Fiction Convention called “IndigiFuturism - Fight Like an Emu!” She is on the committee to promote First Nation Creatives from Australia and Overseas.

Dylan Adler (he/him) is an events professional with nearly 20 years of experience. He began his career in Melbourne’s basement rave scene and was a regular voice on Joy 94.9. Dylan is one of the founding members of the Queer Geeks of Oz panels at events like PAX Aus and Supernova, among others. For the past five years, he has been organising multi-day international conferences with over 1,000 attendees, which keeps him busy (and most importantly) out of trouble.

Aimée Lindorff (she/they) is a cultural producer, professional talker, and movie wizard from Brisbane. She’s developed genre and pop culture projects for the likes of Netflix, Discovery Channel, Supanova Expo, Brisbane Libraries, and Gold Coast Film Festival, as well as produced speculative fiction and genre events Contact2016 (Australian National Speculative fiction convention) and GenreCon - genre writers conference.

Gray Anderson (he/him) has been part of WorldCon for over a decade, with the Business Meeting as a special interest, and outside of convention life is the Vice President of an aerospace manufacturing company.

In addition, we have an advisory board consisting of former Worldcon committee members (and some former chairs):

• Perry Middlemiss (he/him)
• PRK (he/him)

Sponsoring Organisation

The umbrella organisation for the Brisbane in 28 bid is MACGUFFINS AUSTRALIA LIMITED.